<quote name="Michael Torrie" date="Thu, 6 Jan 2011 at 12:15 -0700"> > Of course but why do you have to prove your innocence? One big > difference between the new republican ideas of the founding fathers and > the old common-law system was that you are innocent until proven guilty. > What MS does might be legal, but it's not morally right.
Innocent until proven guilty is a thing I cherish deeply and hope we never loose, alas we have lost it in parts and places, such as airports. That said, innocent until proven guilty is a *government* matter due to the nature of government. Because government is force, rather than just letting it come down on anyone at anytime in assumption of their guilt, the innocent first doctrine is to protect people and put the burden of proof on the government. I'm walking down the street, there's a guy on the corner ahead of me in a hoodie. I cross the street to avoid him. WAIT! Didn't I just presume him guilty? What happened to innocent until proven guilty? No, the ideal most definitely does not apply generally to private interactions. You can dislike Microsoft's policy all you want. I despise it myself. But to call it immoral... well, it *is* their software, and more to the point it *is* their service. (I point out because I personally think intellectual stuff should never have been defined as a type of property and is not ownable by anyone, practically or morally) Originally, this came up as a deal breaker for a particular free antivirus. I think that's entirely reasonable. Depends on where you use it. For my family's computer back home, I want them to have the updates anyway. I think not having updates would be more annoying than the slim chance of a temporary crippling. For a more critical situation, certainly not. The OP didn't specify what kind of system this would be for, family or enterprise... but I think it *is* a great service to point out the caveats of WGA and using an antivirus that requires it. So whoever it was, kudos and thank you. -- Von Fugal
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