Microsoft gives up on upgrade ban

MICROSOFT'S attempts to stop people who have pirated copies of its software from getting upgrades has run aground.

A few weeks ago, Vole announced that a program called "Windows Genuine Advantage" (WIG) would scan users' PCs to see if they had a genuine licence key before letting them have any updates.

Of course within a few hours of WIG going into action hackers had torn it apart using a fairly simple hack. This was transmitted across the Interweb and made the whole thing useless.

A Microsoft spinster told the Sydney Morning Herald this morning that Vole had sent its designers back to the drawing board on WIG.

However, he added that WIG was not designed to catch counterfeiters or prevent hacks anyway.

So why bother? According to the Spinster WIG was to help innocent customers realise "the full value of authentic Windows software while protecting investments made by our partners".

So, in other words, hackers and pirates will be allowed to get away with nicking software for the foreseeable future. While the rest of us will have to pay for it.

More here. µ