press -- eweek, Microsoft Seeks to Bottle Up Open Source Wine

[Mike Hearn]

Fascinating. For those who don't want to read the whole thing, here is
their response:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
WGA differentiates the value of genuine versions of Windows XP and Windows
2000 from other operating systems, including virtualized versions of
Windows, by giving them access to updates and premium content. As such,
only genuine copies of Windows XP and Windows 2000 are eligible for
content that requires validation through WGA.

It is important to note, however, that security updates are not part of
WGA. They are available to all Windows users – with or without WGA
validation -- via the Download Center where they can be accessed
interactively or automatically though the Automatic Updates feature.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Premium Content"? What on earth could that be? Maybe we should ask the
new legal clinic about whether they're breaking the law or not and if so,
what should we do about it?

Rather worryingly a guy claiming to be a ReactOS developer claims in the
same story that 99% of apps break if you set Wine to WinXP mode, which is
quite clearly false. I've seen similar misconceptions before though (that
Wine can only run Windows 98 apps or whatever). Maybe we should stick
something in the FAQ about it.

thanks -mike