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        <title>ZDNet Blogs</title>
        <link>http://blogs.zdnet.com</link>
        <description>ZDNet Blogs Focus: WGA</description>
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<title>Microsoft makes refurbished PCs its latest WGA anti-piracy target</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=922</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:02:43 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=922</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In its ongoing quest to make sure that no potential Windows revenue source is left untapped, Microsoft is expanding its tentacles deeper into the refurbished PC marketplace. On November 9, Microsoft launched a new program, the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) initiative, designed to make sure that OEMs, resellers, leasing companies and others who resell refurbished PCs are installing "Genuine Windows Software" on them. The refurbished PC market is big and growing as fast, if not faster, than the new PC market, said Hani Shakeel, Senior Product Manager, Genuine Windows Product Marketing team. Microsoft estimates there resellers will move 28 million refurbished PCs this year, making refurbished PCs over 10% of the worldwide PC market. Refurbishers reinstall the software that originally came preloaded on ... ]]>
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<title>Internet Explorer 7 update: Now WGA-free</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=788</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:43:13 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=788</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft has issued an updated Internet Explorer (IE) 7 release that no longer requires Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation in order to download.    Program Manager Steve Reynolds announced the news on October 4 on Microsoft's IE Team blog:  "Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we   re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users. With today   s 'Installation and Availability Update,' Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users."  WGA is the anti-piracy mechanism Microsoft uses to check whether users are running "genuine" Windows before allowing them to download certain product updates, fixes, white papers and ... ]]>
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<title>Microsoft has changed (some of) its monopolistic ways</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=715</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:04:28 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=715</guid>
<description><![CDATA[On September 17, the European Court of First Instance will decide whether or not to overturn the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling against Microsoft. A number of company watchers are painting the ruling as a watershed event that will have lasting impact on Microsoft and its customers.    I disagree. Despite Microsoft flying lots of its legal and marketing teams to Europe to prep for potential PR damage, I think Monday's ruling won't have much, if any, new impact. And I also disagree with Microsoft competitors like Salesforce.com's CEO Mark Benioff who claim little, if anything, has changed and that Microsoft would like to halt innovation, if it could.    Having reported on Microsoft since the early 1990s, I can say I've seen a ... ]]>
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<title>Microsoft dodging the real stealth update issues</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=787</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:34:10 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Adrian Kingsley-Hughes</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=787</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Breaking news - Latest from Microsoft  I've taken some time to properly digest Microsoft's response to the stealth update issue that I've been discussing here for the last few days and I've come to the conclusion that Microsoft is dodging the real issues about the stealth updates.    Let's begin by dissecting the official response I received from a Microsoft spokesperson yesterday.  The files that are being updated are part of the Windows Update client itself. Windows Update automatically updates itself from time to time to ensure that it is running the most current technology, so that it can check for updates and notify customers that new updates are available.  I knew that already.  This is normal behavior, and it has worked this way since the ... ]]>
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<title>Microsoft: WGA meltdown due to human error</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=684</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:42:45 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=684</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft has published yet more details about the glitch in its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) system that affected an estimated 12,000 users over the August 24-25 weekend.    Microsoft is attributing the WGA problems to "human error," according to a new August 28 blog posting by WGA Senior Product Manager Alex Kochis. Kochis explains on the WGA blog:  "Nothing more than human error started it all. Pre-production code was sent to production servers. The production servers had not yet been upgraded with a recent change to enable stronger encryption/decryption of product keys during the activation and validation processes. The result of this is that the production servers declined activation and validation requests that should have passed."  Windows XP and Windows Vista activation and validation ... ]]>
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<title>Microsoft WGA servers are fixed, but no word on what went wrong</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=673</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 03:10:03 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=673</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft has fixed whatever caused a massive worldwide outage of its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) system that seemed to last just under 24 hours. So far, however, company officials aren't commenting publicly on what happened.    At 6 p.m. EST on August 25, I received the following statement from a Microsoft spokeswoman:    "All (WGA) servers are working properly now. Only those who experienced a validation issue between yesterday afternoon and about 11 a.m. Pacific today need to go back to the validation page."    Starting Friday evening, a number of XP and Windows Vista users reported problems when attempting to download fixes, updates and other software when they were required to validate using WGA. Lack of official information from Microsoft regarding when a fix would ... ]]>
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<title>Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage system down for the count?</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=672</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 02:18:50 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mary Jo Foley</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=672</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ArsTechnica and a few other sites are pointing to Microsoft forums where complaints are pouring in regarding problems that Windows XP and Windows Vista users are encountering when trying to validate their software as "genuine" using Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) system.    On the Windows Genuine forums, frustrated users are reporting that their non-pirated copies of Windows are being marked as "non-genuine." They are encountering problems when attempting to download patches, fixes and other software that requires a WGA check before the download is permitted.    So far, the only seemingly official response from Microsoft was relayed by "Doug in Singapore," who posted the following note in the Forums:  "I   m sorry to inform you that the Windows Genuine server might be down for few ... ]]>
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<title>WGA notches win for Microsoft in piracy bust</title>
<link>http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5744</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:15:04 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Larry Dignan</dc:creator>
<guid>http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5744</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft's anti-piracy effort may be annoying to some Windows users, but it has notched a big win catching the bad guys.   On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that the FBI and Chinese Public Security Bureau busted a syndicate selling and distributing more than $2 billion in counterfeit Microsoft software. The WGA's role in the bust highlights the returns that are possible with the program.   Microsoft noted that the investigation was "the largest of its kind" and benefited from customer and partner cooperation.   In a statement Microsoft said:      Law enforcement authorities and forensic specialists identified numerous replication plant lines that were involved in the CD production and were the source of counterfeit Microsoft products that had been supplied and sold to business customers and ... ]]>
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