Do you own the software on your computer, or do the software companies? That's really the issue that lies at the heart of a brouhaha that arose last week regarding Windows Updates that apparently are installed without user permission. What I find most fascinating about the incident is what it reveals about the world of EULAs and DRM in which, at least if you listen to the software industry, we all now live.
Do you own the software on your computer, or do the software companies? That's really the issue that lies at the heart of a brouhaha that arose last week regarding Windows Updates that apparently are installed without user permission. What I find most fascinating about the incident is what it reveals about the world of EULAs and DRM in which, at least if you listen to the software industry, we all now live.
A story last week in the Windows Secrets newsletter reported that recently Windows Update for XP and Vista has stealthily downloaded a number of updates even for users who don't want automatic updates. Subsequent observers confirmed the updates had indeed gone out. In what appears to be closest thing to an official response, a Microsoft program manager blogs that the updates -- minor patches for the Windows Update software itself -- need to be installed if the update process is to work as users expect.
While none of the observers have seen any sign the Windows Update updates cause any harm, Microsoft's argument struck many as being a Redmond-knows-what's-best-for-you approach. "The idea they can't give the user a choice in a situation like this is just nonsense," one reader wrote me. "There are some very good reasons some of us choose just to be notified of updates rather having them automatically installed ... starting with the litany of buggy releases Microsoft has foisted on us through they years. It's my machine, and they have no business making changes to executables without telling me."
Business users in particular have security and accountability issues if their software assets aren't actually under their complete control. "An owner and an operator of a computer in an enterprise can absolutely no longer claim to be able to audit the machine if control of the updates are being done without the owner even being notified," wrote another reader. "What Microsoft is doing is sheerly Orwellian, and clearly designed with the intent of taking remote control of a consumer's PC at their whim if Microsoft chooses to determine the consumer has violated their EULA or decides a licensed copy is not a licensed copy. Of course the recent collapse of the Windows Genuine Advantage servers shows what a dangerous strategy that is, and the disastrous consequences when a single point of failure at Microsoft occurs. Sadly, it is not just Microsoft. Every software vendor seems to think they can do anything they want."
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