Microsoft anti-piracy strategy under attack

Rethink IT, April, 2005

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program has had its share of critics. But recently a number of open source advocates joined the ranks of those questioning Microsoft's methods for thwarting software piracy.

A developer of Wine--an open source implementation of the Windows application programming interface that allows Windows applications to run on Unix and Linux--said he discovered that Microsoft's Windows validation tool checks for Wine and generates an error when it is found.

Wine developer Ivan Leo Puoti's email was linked on the Slashdot.org site and immediately generated a flood of comments. While some posters said they believed Microsoft was within its rights blocking users who were running older versions of Windows, others said they believed Microsoft was unfairly targeting users running legitimate Microsoft software on top of non-Microsoft operating systems.

WGA, which Microsoft began beta testing in September, is set to become mandatory later this year for all users looking to download Windows-related patches, fixes and other software add-ons from Microsoft. The program is designed to check whether consumer and small business customers are running legitimately licensed copies of Windows XP.