This WGA debacle

It's awkward to communicate through comments. This warrants a new post anyway, so, to recap from comments below:

James said...

Windows have recently released a "security update" which verifies whether you have a legit copy of Windows or not. Since this is a secondhand laptop, I have no idea, even though Windows is telling me it's pirated. Until it's resolved, I won't receive security updates. Gay.
22/6/06 2:39 PM

Markrian said...

I see... Being a laptop I'm sure it did at one point have a legit copy of Windows, but after a reinstall and a lost license key, probably not anymore. Sucks to be locked into Windows! There might be work-arounds - in fact I'm sure someone's come up with something already, it's just a matter of finding it.

Or, you could buy a copy of Windows. (How much does that go for nowadays? A quick search on Amazon shows that full versions of Windows aren't easy to find! Ah, found it. £169.99 from Amazon for XP Home Full edition with SP2 built in.)

Another option is to switch to Linux. There're no guarantees everything will work perfectly with it, though the latest releases have progressed enormously. IBM laptops often work flawlessly. What'll it be? I'm happy to help you out whatever your decision.
23/6/06 4:07 PM

Markrian said...

I was curious and checked out the price of Mac OS X on Amazon. That's £79.99, less than half the price of XP. It's a shame it doesn't run on non-Apple hardware (yet).

I just noticed that Windows XP with SP2 is available for £63.99 from Amazon, but the difference (or catch?) is that it's the OEM version. I can't remember if that really matters, and what differences there are, if any, between OEM and retail software. OEM software is aimed at businesses which build and sell PCs. Retail is for putting in Dixons. So the average person pays out £105 more than a business for a copy of Windows XP.

After checking again, Windows XP Retail has actually gone up in price! See retail and OEM on Amazon.

Honestly, why?