Microsoft takes tougher measures against XP "Pirates"

They're at it again. The "Windows Genuine Advantage" (WGA) programme is being toughened up to make life less pleasant for users of pirated software. As well as a permanent watermark on screen, the desktop background will change to a plain black colour, and will revert to this once every hour if the wallpaper is changed. These changes are only being done against Windows XP Pro, because they are "focusing on the product edition that is most often stolen."

Or are they?

Many people use XP Pro in preference to XP Home for the simple reason that XP Home really isn't that good. So if you want to upgrade the most common way is to buy an OEM version of Windows XP Pro and use that instead. This is where the problems come in to play (and I think is one of the reasons behind the WGA scheme). Many OEM licenses are being blocked by WGA (I should know, my legally bought copy of XP Pro, complete with license sticker also fell foul of this).

This is because Microsoft don't want people buying OEM versions, they'd much rather you spent a couple of hundred pounds to buy the "Full" version of the product. The problem is the resale of OEM copies of products is perfectly legal in the UK - even if Microsoft don't like it. So their solution is to block these genuine copies of Windows - and if complain about it you are given the response that you need to "talk to the company that sold it to you."

Personally I think they're just after finding new ways of persuading people to upgrade to Vista.