On Thu, 2011-01-06 at 11:04 -0800, Joshua Lutes wrote: > On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Michael Torrie <[email protected]> wrote: > > It used to be quite high in the beginning (maybe a percent or so). The > > question is, what false positive rate is acceptable? If you're the one > > who's critical information is inaccessible because of MS's mistakes, > > then even 0.00001% is unacceptable. From an enterprise POV, having any > > kind of kill switch in the software that I don't control is very very > > bad, and potentially disastrous. > > > Is it a kill switch? I thought it just didn't allow updates and gave you a > certain amount of time to work out your genuineness. This wouldn't affect > getting your data off. I will confess ignorance here. Or are we talking > about a slippery slope? What they COULD do?
When I've seen WGA activate, the system was crippled but not completely killed. Low resolution, ugly background, annoying warnings, regular forced reboots. Technically, yes you can get your data off, but other types of serious damage are still possible. Imagine, for example, if you laptop goes into cripple mode the morning of an important presentation that will have major impact on your career. Haven't ever seen WGA activate on a server (because we're not crazy enough to use "Windows" in the same sentence as "server" without laughing) but I imagine it would be pretty disruptive. > > No, it's crippled if MS makes a mistake and thinks you didn't purchase > > it legitimately. You are certainly not guaranteed to be safe from > > anything. > > Which it doesn't do very often and it isn't (at least according to my > understanding) that crippled and about which you can presumably call some > hotline and chat with them about the mistake. For a home system, sure no big deal, much easier than getting the cable guy to fix your Internet connection. For an enterprise, the increased support load alone is bad news. The potential for catastrophic failure is even more frightening. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
