WGA: Whose Advantage now?

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Windows Genuine Advantage had serious problems this weekend beginning on Friday and lasting nearly a full day and turned thousands of computers into large metal paper weights this weekend, as the Windows Genuine Advantage software kept pinging the ‘home’ server for assurance that it was genuine, but the server malfunctioned! According to recent reports, it was out of service for nearly 19 hours! While this was embarrassing for XP users, it was outrageous for Vista Users who in many cases were denied full functionality of their PCs.

It has always seemed something of a misnomer to name the program Windows Genuine Advantage, because it really does not provide much advantage. In fact, it seems to have been a huge DIS-advantage, esp. if you have legitimately paid for your Vista License, and then find that you can no longer use it.

This raises a number of questions about the exact purposes of WGA.

1. Will Microsoft continue to allow Vista users to use their license for more than 10 years, as I can do now with Windows 3.1 or 95 or 98. What happens when Microsoft decides to call it a day, and force us all to upgrade to XP-Vista-SuperPremium-Deluxe-Basic Plan at about $2500.

2. Is WGA a multi-headed beast aimed to cut piracy, but also generate not just present profits from those would-be pirates, but also from genuine users who don’t WANT to upgrade?

3. If you take your PC to a repair shop, and they rip off your License number without telling you, you get your PC home and turn it on! Boom! Reduced functionality! Can you call the police? Is this considered a crime akin to robbery and theft?

I see a Penguin or a large cat in many people’s futures right now! I think Microsoft will continue to turn out much software, but this is the heyday for their Personal Computing side of the business. I predict that these kinds of problems will be the death knell for the consumers’ love affair with Windows… Variety, creativity and challenge will all return to the desktop.

Right now, though, the challenges to consumer habits are there: security issues, windows problems, price increases, alternate OSes in phones and handhelds, and competition; but there is not yet a serious alternative to Windows. Sorry, Apple! Once the alternative(s) arrive, all it will take is a bush fire to start the conversion.

Buzz: Alive Directory for Blogs – great categories, good editorial!

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I have been known to be skeptical of directories of blogs, and was churlish enough to criticize a blogger for espousing such a policy. But you know, I have recently been adding InvestorBlogger to a number of blog directories as a way to boost traffic and for SEO reasons. So far, some have generated a lot of traffic and others none!

alive

Highly Promoted Blog DirectoryAnd so, I’m giving Alive Blog Directory a little buzz… In fact, I was quite impressed with the Alive Directory’s Blog Post which examined factors for determing quality web directories, including an important but underrepresented quality in most search engines, automated directories, etc, these days – editorial review. As a website owner, the tips actually could be helpful in eliminating the vast majority of useless directories and focusing on those directories that have value, either in terms of SEO or traffic (or BOTH!).

A cursory look at the directory itself shows a wide range of categories, no more lumping your personal diet blog or your favorite movies blog in the very explanatory ‘Other’ category, or ‘Misc’, or even just ‘Blogs’! Though this directory is not free, perhaps that fee will help to discourage the ‘adult’ websites, junk directories and numerous spam filled websites from spamming their categories and turning them into ‘bad neighborhoods’.

A suggestion, though: create a page or set of pages, highlighting the benefits of using your service and portraying the results of websites that did so. Perhaps an interview or two would be sufficient to generate a good testimonial page! That would definitely add kudos.

Paid Posting: Do you disclose or don’t you?

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Over the past few days, I’ve been involved in a discussion about disclosure of paid posts as the number of opportunities on Payperpost requiring that bloggers NOT disclose in individual posts has increased.

Increasingly this turn of events is causing friction between advertisers and bloggers. Yet both groups need to come to some kind of agreement about this, because many bloggers do prefer to disclose, while many advertisers are divided.

In fact, recently in the middle of the discussion I found myself caught in the middle. I had an advertiser who had assumed (rightly or wrongly) that I didn’t disclose. When I finished the advertiser’s request (which I put a lot of work into, by the way, with two pictures, numerous links, and well beyond the number of words requested), I found that the advertiser was dismayed because I disclosed. We had to work out some sort of compromise, but he was upset (I didn’t tell him) and I was upset (I prefer to disclose clearly).

In fact, in the thread, one blogger who hadn’t been in favor found herself on the other end when looking for shopping cart software. Azdana writes:

But then again, some of my recent experiences have made me start to reconsider my disclosure policy. Lately, I’ve been looking for some shopping cart software for my site. I went to E-pinions and started reading reviews. For one of the products, it was very obvious to me that the ‘reviews’ were submitted by friends/cohorts of the software company. That shopping cart program may have been the best on the market, but I passed over it because the reviewers were trying to influence my decision without disclosing their relationship to the shopping cart creator.

(ed. updated to include this story) There is an interesting article on the Wall Street Journal from August 26th that skirts over these issues, too. But one of Payperpost’s best clients, Brian Combs, of Apogee is quoted as saying he would like all bloggers to be upfront in their disclosure, but “you have to be realistic. With newer vehicles, there are going to be question marks.” Mr. Combs says he wouldn’t be surprised by a shift to greater disclosure soon.

I’m still evolving my own position, but it would help to know: What is your position on disclosing? Do you think all posts should be disclosed or not? As a reader, what do you favor? Why?