Huge problems with Windows Genuine Advantage

Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage is a software purpose of which is to check the proper licence on copy of Microsoft Windows operating system.

Since Friday's evening (24 aug 2007) Windows Genuine Advantage service was unable to react to user's requests. Many owners of Windows XP and Windows Vista couldn't check the authenticity of their operating systems and, as a result, to receive updates, also some functions in Windows Vista have been disabled.

Microsoft have confirmed the existence of this problem and explained it as problems with WGA servers. Microsoft needed 24 hours to dispose this problem (it was announced before that this error won't be disposed before Tuesday). Microsoft is advising to re-check operating system if users couldn't do it before.

Alex Kokis, the manager of Microsoft have commented such errors in the WGA in his blog.

According to Kokis, the first failures in the Windows Genuine Advantage service have been noticed in the daytime on Friday, but Microsoft experts have identified problem only at the evening. At the saturday's lunch-time all problems were disposed. Kokis wrote that this problem have touched at least 12000 users. Unfortunately, Kokis haven't written about the causes of problems with WGA. But Microsoft's manager pointed that corporation will try to avoid such situations in the future.

Microsoft has updated campaign against Linux "Get the Facts"

Corporation Microsoft has cleaned the Internet from the advertising campaign " Get the Facts ", directed against Linux, having replaced it on Web-pages entitled "Compare". On pages of section "Compare" on Microsoft site, as well as in " Get the Facts ", resulted compared data about various advantages of OS of corporation Microsoft (Windows Server) above alternative decisions.

If earlier Microsoft advertising company was organised against Linux-systems (in this case it is considered particularly Red Hat Enterprise Linux), now it is organised against IBM mainframes under control of OS UNIX. Many concrete items/conclusions are accompanied by references to researches and other documents. In comparison of server decisions Microsoft and Red Hat such aspects as cumulative cost (TCO), reliability, safety, opportunities of a choice, administration, interoperability are allocated.

The computer pirate is forced to change his OS to Windows

Very curious case has occured in the USA. The former manager of torrent-tracker EliteTorrents having a nickname sk0t (Scott Makkozlend) has been sentenced to five months of prison and five months of house arrest because skot has put on distribution an episode of " Star wars ". He has already been in the prison, time for the second part of punishment now has come. Guy has put on a radiobracelet on a wrist, and authorities decided to install on his personal computer program for shadowing to check all actions of the former pirate through the Internet.

But they have faced a very big problem. It has appeared, that the program for shadowing works only under Windows operating system, but condemned on the personal computer has established Ubuntu Linux. Without thinking twice, authorities have put Scott the ultimatum: or you format disk and establish Windows, or absolutely refuse using a computer.

Such punishment skot did not expect. Being in the prison he has still gone through, but daily use Windows has appeared above his forces. " I have communicated with the lawyer, - speaks Scott, - and we shall struggle with it. I am done not disturbed with the fact, that I will be watched, the matter is that to me will have completely to reconstruct the life (other OS, other programs)... It is simply ridiculous. Why I should be arranged under their software, in fact should be on the contrary? ".