Windows Genuine Advantage now breaks Wine

Even if you paid for, and have a legit copy of Office or Word

[grelmar]

Eweek [eweek.com]

Microsoft has set WGA so that if it detects that a user is running a Microsoft application on Wine, they'll be blocked from updating their applications from Microsoft's download site.

Sorry, but that copy of Excel, or Word, PowerPoint, or whatever, you bought just so you could be fully document compatible with someone else, will no longer be eligible for upgrades through WGA if you're running on a Windows machine.

Aparently, they buried into the EULA that the license is only valid if the software is run on a Windows machine.

So... MS is out to do what it can to break Wine.

Nice opening shot across the bow.

[grelmar]

Better Article [microsoft-watch.com]

"They (Microsoft) block Wine, which is designed as an inter-compatibility application," Ionescu said. "This is specifically illegal according to the Sherman Act, which they must abide since they were officially named as a 'Legal Monopoly' (by the U.S. court that ruled on the U.S. Department of Justice vs. Microsoft antitrust case). The Act specifically says that Microsoft cannot block interoperatibility."

(it's the very last paragraph of a two page article).