« Nintendo Wii Used for Rehabilitation | Home | Halo 3 – A Huge Success for Microsoft »

No More WGA Protection in IE7

By Robert | October 7, 2007

Internet Explorer 7 was highly expected and this is mainly because the huge rise in popularity that Mozilla’s Firefox showed. This brought huge expectations from IE7 but only brought controversy because of the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) check that was included in every single installation kit of Internet Explorer 7. It looks like this will be removed by Microsoft with the latest update for Windows XP users.

Ever since the inclusion of WGA in IE7, things seemed strange as the Windows XP Service Pack 2 package came with such a check that allowed people to utilize important services like the company’s Windows Update web site. This meant that the only individuals that would be caught by the new WGA would be those that had already cracked Windows XP and their SP2. On the other hand, there was no real result with this inclusion as possibilities like Firefox are everywhere on the Internet.

This is the first time Microsoft has removed WGA protection with the sole purpose of increasing the attractiveness of one product. It is plain to see that the company wants as much IE7 users as possible, including those that pirated both Windows and the browser. On the other hand, everybody is still wondering why Microsoft ever installed the genuine check system in the first place. The current move appears obvious as Firefox is gaining market share every single month and Internet Explorer 7 does not seem to gain new fans. We must also think about the fact that IE7 comes with every Vista package out there so we could expect market shares to rise in the future. Also, Microsoft’s browser also comes with a number of modifications and different tweaks as well so we could say the company is working hard at making it better for customers.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.