Every time MS runs WGA (which is to be 'enhanced', whatever that means, and mandatory in Vista) it checks to see you have licensed copy of the software - all it needs is to generate a hardware id with the installation code and compare it to their database to check the installion is the one activated.-Carol Haynes
The problem with "phone home" approaches is that they can open up a nasty can of worms which MS probably don't want to deal with. For a start, the phone home usually can't be mandatory*, to account for people with no internet connection or, more likely, office machines which are not allowed internet access. The problem with this is that there's no way for the "phone home" system to tell if the lack of access to the verification server is caused by a genuine no-internet situation, or by a firewall disallowing access for the purposes of avoiding the check.
* By "can't be mandatory", I mean that if the check fails to access the verification server for whatever reason, it simply gives up and tries again later, i.e. not being able to reach the server doesn't constitute a verification failure, no matter how many times it tries.
-NeilS
As I understand it WGA will be mandarory in Vista - MS have already said that computers that don't pass WGA will have basic functionality disabled in VISTA - I am only surprised it has taken them this long to start doing that. Wait to hear the outcry when the false positives start meaning people can't use their systems at all.
At the moment what they are going to disable seems fairly trivial but they originally said activation and WGA would not limit use of computers or critical downloads - it is already doing that in XP you can only bet that the restrictions will increase during the life of VISTA.
The upshot is that if WGA is mandatory then phone home will be mandatory (otherwise how can WGA check?). If they are going to check all they need to do is a hardware snapshot (as during activation) and compare your windows key with the hardware snapshot and your activation status and voila they know if VISTA is installed on the same hardware as last time it was activated. If it isn't they can legitimately refuse activation until the previous version has been deactivated.
I wouldn't object to that system too much - but what I do object to is that if my mobo blows up and I replace it then that blows my one upgrade possibility for my version of Windows - and I ain't going to pay for another commercial version when I replace major system components again.
Anyway what constitutes transferring it to a new computer?
Is it a new computer if you change your mobo (and nothing else) ?
What if I upgrade my CPU (especially in systems with serialised CPUs) ?
What if I move all the components into a new case?
What if I rip out all my PCI cards and replace them with new stuff?
Keyboard? Mouse?
You are almost guaranteed to have to reactivate XP if you change a netowrk card (because of the number of points awarded to a network card).
The major difference to me is that in Windows XP if you need to reactivate you get no questions asked if it has been 90 days since you last activated - and that to me seems to be a sensible compromise.
For me the problem is that I build my own systems and they evolve considerably. If I build a new system I may buy a new mobo and continue to use all the other components from before (eg. I am still using a perectly funtional ATI Radeon AIW graphics card which is fine for a non-gamer). I may use the same CPU and memory if they are compautible with the new mobo and when I can afford it upgrade them. Six months down the line I have a new computer. I even did this with my first computer (built by an OEM company) ... after 6 months it was in a new case, had new hard drives, twice as much memory, three PCI cards added, various USB devices added, a new monitor keyboard and mouse - in fact the only thing left of the original system was the mobo (and that had a new BIOS) and CPU, which had a new cooling fan, (I wonder if it was still under warranty). Does this class as a new computer? What if my PIII chip had blown and I replaced it?
Rant ...
The new policy with Vista is nothing to do with copyright or intellectual rights - it is pure money grubbing extortion from a criminal organisation that has lost practically everytime they have been to court over their criminal behaviour. It's just they have so much money they often avoid court and even when they are convicted of criminal activity they manage to wriggle out of taking responsibilty for their actions.
All I can say is thank god for the EU - the US government are too much in the Gates pocket to make much of an impact on the monopolist practices.
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