Battery

While he could change his words under scathing criticism from a Microsoft exec, one Windows expert continues to insist they knowingly left the upgrade door open

Eric Ligman, Microsoft’s senior manager of community engagement for small business in the U.S. was set off by remarks in the Windows Secrets newsletter, which claimed Windows knowingly included an upgrade loophole to lure savvy customers.Ligman lost his cool and wrote a long and scathing tirade against the journalistic community for covering the loophole and against the “criminal” consumers who exploited it.

Now the Windows expert who made those remarks in the Windows Secrets newsletter is defending his stance. Brian Livingston, editorial director of WindowsSecrets.com says it is ridiculous to equate speculation on why Microsoft chose to allow the loophole, and why it neglected to fix it in Vista SP1, to supporting unlawful behavior. He defended the controversial stance, first voiced last year and then reaffirmed in the article last month that Microsoft knowingly included the work-around.

Livingston argues, “No one is encouraging people to try to ‘rip off’ Windows for zero dollars. One or two people might buy Vista without having any prior copy of Windows, but that would be a fraction of the people who are using this documented feature.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Ligman backed off his own hard-nosed stance a bit. He said that his reference to “clueless people” did not refer to the customers or readers of the Microsoft Small Business Community blog. Instead he says that blame for the problem rests solely on journalists. He states, “They are directed at those trying to confuse the customers by telling them that it is OK to do this ‘just because it physically installs.”

Despite the continued criticism, Livingston, a long time Windows power user and writer, refused to back away from his statements. Why does he think Microsoft left the loophole in? He says that Microsoft likely left the loophole in for security reasons. He states, “Microsoft developers obviously included the clean install trick because security experts say you should not install one OS over another, but wipe out the old one and install the new one cleanly.”

He notes that such a process is documented in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base online documentation through several “well thought-out” dialog boxes. He argues, “If this is so bad, why didn’t Microsoft eliminate it from Vista SP1? In the future, can responsible corporate users be assured that Vista service pack 2 will still have this feature? Will Microsoft assure us publicly that they’ll keep this trick if it comes out with an SP2 for Vista?”

Microsoft was contacted for comment, but refused to speculate on further service packs or comment on the ongoing war of comments between Ligman and Livingston. Also at the time of this writing Ligman’s original blog post on the topic is currently inaccessible, though it may merely be in the grips of an infamous internet “black hole”.

dailytech.com