May 7th, 2009 • Filed Under
Filed Under: News
Tags: Tags: genuine windows, joe williams, wga, windows activation technologies, windows genuine advantage


Windows Activation Technologies is the new name Microsoft’s anti-piracy features in both Windows 7 and Windows Vista.It is basically a new name for the same concept that was introduced in Windows XP under the name of Windows Genuine Advantage. The name change was necessary because of the fundamental differences between the technology used in Windows Vista and Windows 7 from that used in Windows XP according to Joe Williams, general manager, Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft. Microsoft would continue to inform customers if the software product they are using is “genuine and licensed and help them do something about it if it’s not”.

Windows 7 advances the customer’s experience of product activation and validation from that experienced in Windows Vista by displaying “more informative notifications messages” to enable the customer to “more easily complete the tasks they need to”. Williams mentions the example of product activation in Windows Vista which displayed a box that would remind the customer that the operating system was not activated. The customer was given the choice to activate or to activate later which was grayed out for the first 15 seconds.