Download from Technet yesterday? You're a dirty pirate, says MS

"WGA will eat you alive and burn down your house if you try to use them."

Haha, that made me chuckle.

You know Microsoft though, not exactly the feather touch when it comes to PR.

Oh well. My company was going to buy 17200 Office licenses as a gift for our employers next week. Because of MS's handling of this case we've changed our mind. Who knows. Maybe they'll sue us for buying the licenses in june instead of july, or something equally nonsensical. We can't risk that.

They should be forced to honor that since they had no system in place to catch the non invited. When it's just a link that gives you gold then its the providers fault that everyone can access it.

Or atleast offer a discount on a membership. When vista came out they offered it for 99$, they should offer that to the people who unwittingly signed up because we weren't informed enough about it and Microsoft made no effort to stop us.

I'd totally sign up for 99$.

I signed the EULA! a binding contract and MS breached that contract.
If i sold MS something for $0.00 and waited until after agreement was signed to say it was a mistake and take it back, no doubt MS would sue me. Now after the agreement beween MS and I, They are calling me and all others who signed on, a "dirty pirate" in public. Thats slander and insulting.

MS isnt setting a very good example here, regardless of its original purpose or intentions as all that is now nothing more than an excuse. MS did invite us since the link was accessable to the public. They allowed us to sign up and obtain access to member services without any notice on the link saying otherwise.

quickly becoming piratesquad.com... and i like it

This was posted all over, on reputable sites like Ars Technica and Neowin. The users who signed up in good faith are in no way to blame, it's Microsoft's fault they didn't have a better system set up. However they have not called any one dirty pirates, I think that was just some creative writing by someone. In fact they have not officially made any announcements so we'll have to wait and see what they decide to do about the situation.

Ah, that's fine. I was a dirty pirate before all I did was remove the activation crack and use a real key I got from Technet.

Blacklist it and I'll just have to continue being a dirty pirate anyways.

Back to Ubuntu & Open Office.

Apparently accounts that were created because of this error in Europe and Australia because under Australian laws, If a purchase has been accepted, processed and receipt issued (as they sent to your e-mail immediately afterwards) they are legally bound under Australian law to provide anyone who was able to register from Australia with their subscription.

They will have to provide people with their accounts because they have receipts or Microsoft will face fines from the ACCC.
I'm assuming its similar in Europe.

This really sucks for people in the US.

From what I have read, people who signed up in the UK and Australia still have their accounts because under Australian laws, If a purchase has been accepted, processed and receipt issued (as they sent to your e-mail immediately afterwards) they are legally bound under Australian law to provide anyone who was able to register from Australia with their subscription. They will have to provide people with their accounts because they have receipts or Microsoft will face fines from the ACCC.
I'm assuming its similar in Europe.

Is anyone willing to send me a copy of their original receipt? Like a dummy, I didn't save mine, I only recorded the numbers.

I would like to post a screenshot of this on a blog post I'm gearing up for. Microsoft needs a good online bashing from time to time. :-) I will of course omit any of your personal information from the document.

Just when you think Microsoft is getting cooler than Apple....well at least MS doesn't make me pay for SDK's!

I'm also thinking about cancelling my regular non-paid Technet subscriptions, if they'll do this over a fubared website that was their mistake to begin with, think about what they'd do over a paid account?

It seems to me like this "leak" link is a bait and switch.

I'm skeptical of this.
It would be illegal. We have receipts from the purchases we made.

They sold us a product. It was for $0.

What you're describing here would be theft.

I don't know about you, but it's pretty obvious that this seemed too good to be a deal. I didn't bother trying, because I could already guess Microsoft would never do that, and I guess I was right.

It is Microsoft's fault for not having a better system, but I also think it's upon ourselves to be more rational and think, "Now would Microsoft actually do this?" then just clicking the link as fast as you can and trying to get on this 'deal'.