Word from Microsoft as of 1:27 this afternoon is that the Windows Genuine Advantage glitch that was treating users as if they had stolen copies of the software has been fixed. The immediate problem may hav been solved; we still don't know why it happened, or how many people were impacted. (Gregg Keizer's story over at our sister site Computerworld has some more details about what we do seem to know so far.)
Microsoft will, presumably, patch up whatever technical snafu was responsible for the outage. But the fact this could happen at all shows that Windows Genuine Advantage is fundamentally flawed. I think Microsoft owes its customers more than an explanation: I think it owes them a copy-protection scheme that doesn't uneccesarily inconvenience them, never accuses them of having pirated software when they don't, cannot disable functionality on a legimate copy of the operating system, and isn't marketed with a patronizing campaign that tells us it exists for our benefit, not Microsoft's.
In other words, "We're sorry and it won't happen again" is not going to be an adequate response this time around. If Microsoft can't make WGA work, it needs to eliminate it.
To think of it another way, if Windows were a department store, it would be one that insisted on periodically rifling through the possessions of every paying customer on their way into and out of the store, and which, through its own incompetence, accused a small but meaningful percentage of them of being thieves on a regular basis. Would you want to give that store your money if there were other viable options?
