The surprise announcement by software behemoth Microsoft that its first Service Pack for Vista will eliminate the widely loathed “kill switch” that restricts the software’s functionality if not successfully authenticated within 30 days represents a partial victory for consumers and another blow to the tottering edifice of digital rights management.
In an interview posted on the Microsoft Web site, Michael Sievert, corporate vice president for Windows Product Marketing, said that instead of losing functionality, unauthorized Vista users “will be presented with clear and recurring notices about the status of their system and how to get genuine. They won’t lose access to functionality or features, but it will be very clear to them that their copy of Window Vista is not genuine and they need to take action.”
IDC analyst Al Gillen, like many other industry watchers, said he was surprised by Microsoft’s announcement. “This does represent a step backward for Microsoft,” Gillen said. “It’s always been pretty aggressive about trying to reduce piracy, so this is a significant move.”
WGA Irritates Customers
Vista’s “kill switch” (not surprisingly, Microsoft prefers the phrase “reduced functionality mode”) is part of the company’s Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy initiative. Microsoft says that WGA has been a success; the company reports that the counterfeit rates for Vista are roughly half that for Windows XP.
But there have been widespread reports from consumers that WGA either failed to authenticate their copy of Vista properly, or reduced Vista functionality even after a successful registration. In last August, a Microsoft server erroneously identified nearly 12,000 copies of Vista as counterfeit, leading WGA senior product manager Alex Koch to apologize in a WGA blog post.
“I want everyone to know that I am personally very disappointed that this event occurred,” Koch wrote. “As an organization, we’ve come a long way since this program began and…