I just got this interesting note from Alex Pournelle (Jerry Pournelle’s son and one of the most accomplished tech-geeks I know), to wit:
I’d say this qualifies as breaking news.
We have been attempting to install a Microsoft-provided Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) product key on a Windows XP Pro machine for the last week. We purchased the key directly from the Microsoft WGA department, and attempted to install it, without success so far.
Now, the machine in question started out as Windows XP Home, and was later updated to XP Pro. (That combination is troublesome to WGA, and we recommend NEVER trying it.) When we came on the scene (much later), it had never seen the Internet, so we of course immediately ran updates, which meant the machine ran afoul of the WGA validation.
After a week of attempting to get the WGA validation to pass, and repeated calls to Microsoft, we were told the “Server is down” and “being worked on”. As you probably remember, they had similar problems last year, which prevented a lot of people from validating their Vista installations. At the time they swore a mighty oath It Would Never Happen Again. I’m extremely disappointed.
I have the Microsoft Product Support Services staffer’s badge number, should anyone wish to follow up with Microsoft. I’m planning to check again on Monday and will advise.
Sincerely,
Alex Pournelle
Cripes, this should actually be covered by mainstream media, but you will hear or read nothing.
related link:
Jeff Atwood blog
As the late Johnny Carson put it, “Surprise!”
One word: Linux
…and here we see a glimpse of the future when Windows XP reaches the end of its support cycle and Microsoft wants customers to buy its new OS.
Microsoft will simply take down its Win XP activation servers and as old installations of XP are reinstalled(due to hardware upgrades or replacing failed drives), users will face the option of ditching their old hardware or installing a new OS(be it from Microsoft or someone else) just to keep their computers and apps running.
Gomer Pyle USMC,
SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE
More proof of your ongoing contention, John, that Microsoft has lost it’s corporate direction. IBM, Sun, now Microsoft. Of course we all had Apple down for the count not that many years ago. So, who knows.
Still, MS is getting just about as bone headed as Sony.
#3 The only reason I run windows is because it was pre-installed and I’m used to it. If it ever becomes more than a couple of minutes to get it going again it’ll take a hike and as #2 suggests, Linux replaces it.
Why so many problems in the Las Vegas area? The whole western USA looks to have bogus copies. The map looks suspect.
That map epitomizes bugosity:
some place in the middle of Minnesota
has many times more “Unique PC Validations” than Chicago?? Ok.
I guess Chicago and New York must have
more adept users and/or pirates too.
#3 MRN “when Windows XP reaches the end of its support cycle…” Which is still years away and lets not get all ‘tabloid’ second guessing what Microsoft might do.
If there are enough Windows XP boxes in the field then why would hardware manufacturers not have XP drivers? Windows XP hardware driver support comes from the manufacturer not Microsoft. Lets face it, GOUSA still has quite a lot of dial up internet – I can hear the modems squawking from here! 😆 (Cripes!)
There will come a point in the life of any OS when it is not compatible with new hardware – any Windows 98 boxes still out there? Anyone still running Win98 I am sure is not a hardware upgrade candidate. 😉
Cheers
I mentioned something, awhile back about MS Blocking XP, to get VISTA going.
ALSO, I kinda know what the problem is…
Installer version 3.1 and 3.1v2…THEY ARE SCREWING EVERYTHING UP.
ANd on that date, THOSE were the updates, that were added with WGA.
Microsoft left Vista’s back door unlocked…
It seems that Microsoft has left the back door open for Vista piracy – perhaps if one is cynical one might conclude it is to boost Vista market share as they did with Windows 3.11 – and Office 97 as well? Ah, the good old days – no activation…just a serial…
Vista installs without needing a CD key and in doing so you will need to input it and activate Vista within a three day period during which time WGA is as “happy as Larry”.
The trick is to stop Vista’s three day activation grace timers so as far as WGA is concerned that instance of Vista is still within its grace period!
Of course this is illegal and something that Microsoft would not tolerate and something that should not be encouraged. I only mention it as it seems just a bit odd this can be done.
Anyone else have some thoughts on this?
Cheers
#13 pedro – Err..Uh..Ok Ok I’m guilty!! Meya Culpa! Yes!! This is the second time for that! But hey, thanks Pedro for noticing. But HELL, c’mon, you have to admit this is SO more on topic isn’t it? WGA servers go down..again? No way! 😆 I could not resist – I won’t do that again and that is a MicroSoft promise too! Hey did I just invent something? A “Microsoft promise”…Yoo Hoo!
Windows 7 has been on the Windows road map for a long time. People criticized MS for taking too long between versions…sigh…
I don’t see what the problem is anyway. If someone has a PC they bought 10 years ago running Windows 98 and they haven’t changed anything along the way of hardware and software why should they worry about what MS does?
If people are THAT worried about MS not activating XP sometime in the future why not do a fresh install now – well later when the WGA servers are back on line – and ‘ghost’ an image of their HDD and use that when they feel the need to re-install XP.
Also many OEM XP boxes don’t activate anyway so there is no problem to do a system restore using restore discs or the system restore option during boot up.
And cripes, if it THAT much of a wide spread worry then someone ought to code an easy to use General System Restore software package to make your own system restore disc or partition.
There are many many options and one of them is not whining about Microsoft maybe one day YEARS from now canceling WinXP activations!
IMHO this is what is wrong with so many things – people complain about everything but then do nothing about it expecting that “Don’t worry, Mom is going to clean up your room”. Not you Pedro I am ranting in general terms. 🙂
Cheers
#9, I think the blue in Minnesota is the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Area
Its all a matter of number of percentages
Economics in the end is all about supply and demand and in this case the absolute numbers / figures / percentages
.0000000001 % of a large number – is a large amount and a large amount of cash / income
Its like the old SCTV (Second City) Skit where John Candy is asked by a PBS type film expert / interviewer why on earth he made a 3d remake of the classic movie “Midnight Cowboy”
In fact the interviewer demanded and alluded that she could see no rational reason why anyone would make a 3d remake of this classic movie
John Candy’s expert answer was “Well ma’am it’s like this . We thought that if only 1 % of 1% of the people who had originally paid to see the original movie Midnight Cowboy accidentally went and saw our movie and paid for it “We would be on the “gravy train””
If WGA was down 50% of the time it would still be less frustrating than setting up Linux for MOST users.
I have to disagree a bit with #18.
1st, I went through the same crap upgrading from XP home to XP Pro – glad to see it wasn’t just me.
But, when I gave away the box [my last and final Windoze machine] to an old friend, I supported the friendship by installing Ubuntu as a dual boot alternative. It’s all he uses.
“Cripes, this should actually be covered by mainstream media, but you will hear or read nothing.”
Ayup! People are more interested into watching another hairless picture of Britney’s snatch than some geek rant.
If only Linux was supported by the folks that create software for people who actually use their computers to do other than browse the web and post messages on blogs, then it would be great. But as of now, the capabilities are not substantial enough to even consider it as other than a server operating system.
#15 Pedro –
…so stupid to have your fingers crossed hoping nothing wrong happens to you doing normal stuff you describe.
Personal Computer development is still in in a state of flux. Upgrades both in hardware and software are part and parcel of owning and using a personal computer. Until technology plateaus out there is always going to be something better and faster on the horizon.
How we use a PC (Apple Mac too) is all up to us. For most users who view their PC as merely a tool replacing the typewriter / fax this development has little impact – that is until something breaks down then if the hardware is too old its game over for the entire box.
It is what it is. We enjoy the speed and features of today’s PCs and forget it was not that long ago a 12mhz 8bit processor and 128k of RAM was cutting edge…and expensive too!
http://tinyurl.com/2waw8v
http://tinyurl.com/33w5cs
So with Windows 7 on the horizon – well almost two years from now is it so Earth shattering?
We all got used to having it your way forgetting where it all came from and where it is going to.
Microsoft released Vista and people complain about hardware and software compatibility – same as when Windows XP came out. I had to trash hardware that I had no XP drivers for and looking back all that would be junk now anyway!
We buy all sorts of junk we don’t need anyway so what’s a couple of hundred dollars on a OS? That’s what – a month’s worth of petro/gas now? To hear people talk its like they have to add an extension to their house! 😆
Do we need all the features of Vista? For most users probably not but that story has played over and over so many times. From Windows 3.11, Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/?…
Linux as a choice? No – not for the common everyday user until one day Microsoft or Corel port their Office software to that platform. If Microsoft had no ethical dilemma porting Office to Apple Macs why not Linux? User base for one – a lot more users of Apple Macs than Linux.
Is Microsoft EVIL for not doing this – Not any more EVIL than Apple – in fact I would say I would be far happier welcoming the Microsoft overlords than Apple!
That’s one of the things I like the most about macfans, how adamantly they defend their instant gratification in lew of their basic rights as a customer. Steve will take care of them.
For me, I use XP and I upgrade hardware every 24/36 months or so and usually get high end stuff so I could if I had to stave off any upgrade for a long time.
(Quad Core/Asus P5k MB/2g 1066mhz Crucial RAM/PNY 8800-650mb PCIe and dual 300mb SataII HDD)
Cheers
I’ve had Vista since March of last year. I had to reactivate it once after I made major changes to my system. The process was fast, actually spoke to a MS rep on my first call. I’m in the Vegas area.
I have Ubuntu Studio and XP on my 2nd PC. I prefer Vista.
@#23: “If only Linux was supported by the folks that create software for people who actually use their computers to do other than browse the web and post messages on blogs, then it would be great.”
Well, using Linux exclusively for everything BUT the web surfing since late 1990’s I must disagree. Actually many Linux applications free you up from restrictions of other OS’s. So for 10 yrs. I did writing, book publishing and editing, photo (and other image) editing/creating, web design, hi-tech engineering design, presentations, scientific and engineering data processing,… And on the entertainment side MythTV does more than MS Media Center or AppleTV ever would be able (by design). My home telephone system runs on Linux too…
And for ease of use/install: last year I gave my 10 yr old nephew, more a sports-find than a geek, short list of instructional websites. Next day he had not only Linux running but a whole MythTV based entertainment system he wanted… People just assume it is hard, (I’ll admit it was in late 1990’s but not anymore)…
There are SO many of us just waiting for the chance to dump Microsoft for good. Not because their stuff is bad, but simply because they’ve taught us to hate them, with patronizing, irritating crặp like this.
Microsoft never confuses its “customers” with its “users”. We’re users, and our opinions don’t matter. PC OEMs and corporate IT are the customers.
Give me a hard copy of something any day! I do not believe in downloading expensive and important software, nor do I buy licenses that are important ether. I want a copy of something with the license in hand. Plus, I buy a full version of Windows. Best thing to do is save your files erase and install a clean copy. Don’t do upgrades. Your just asking for trouble!!!
#25 – now imagine you had to get in the phone support queue for every application already installed on that computer.
1 hour to upgrade your system, 2 days to get approval from all these guys who already have your money.
You add up all the ways MS and the rest of the corporate world use to ensure profits and you might start thinking there’s a plot out there to take away ownership of anything you don’t get a patent on..including your wife and kids ?
On another note..
Looking at the map, c’mon ! There ain’t that many people in Wyoming or South Dakota !
I’m a Mac user and I wan’t impacted by this nonsense one bit. Friends don’t let friends use Windows.
I still use the horse and buggy, and like Mac users I wasn’t impacted by this nonsense one bit.
echo #2
I say good… let operating systems expire with no reinstallation after 5 years.
Having software and hardware manufacturers have to support utterly obsolete operating systems on ancient hardware is a major pain, stifling innovation and causing everyone problems, like unpatchable ancient OS becoming zombies and spewing Spam.
A computer is a $1500 investment meant to work for about 5 years and no more. After that you need to replace it, including using a new OS that is up to date and will work for the next 5 years. That’s life… don’t like it??? Take your whine somewhere else.
That does not excuse having the activation servers go offline, but that is not what most respondents are arguing about here.