More on the Garden Phone

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the discussions surrounding Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool in Microsoft's fight against anti-piracy. WGA continues to be controversial:

MS says WGA has caught 60 million Windows cheaters by ZDNet's Ed Bott -- According to a Microsoft manager, 60 million people have failed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation test. Microsoft claims the tool is nearly perfect at rooting out improperly licensed copies of Windows, with "only a handful of actual false positives." But the numbers don't add up.

At this point, I continue to agree Ed that the numbers just don't add up. However, Microsoft's WGA Team has a different point of view. Microsoft is claiming that

About 1 in 5 of the 300 million PCs that have run WGA validation fail.

Microsoft's claim means that the WGA Team believes that between yourself and four of your friends, family or workmates, one of them is operating a computer with a conterfeit operating system. Microsoft isn't claiming it is intentional in every case, but counterfeit, nontheless. Should you be among the "one in five" who hits a snag with WGA, see the WGA Team's suggestions in "What should customers do when they're given counterfeit software?".

Read the WGA Team's point of view in their blog at Windows Genuine Advantage.

Follow Ed Bott in his blog at "Windows and a whole lot more"