I'll have you know I paid for this

Somehow you have to figure that Microsoft put a lot of effort into the name "Genuine Advantage": it sounds like it bestows benefits on the user, when of course the real advantage accrues to Redmond, which is a regular Sir Francis Drake on meth when it comes to policing piracy.

The newest incarnation of the program actually points an accusing finger at the pirate, which wouldn't bother me particularly, inasmuch as I have a legit purchase of XP, except that this being Windows, sooner or later something is going to break, and there's no reason to think that Genuine Advantage will cut me any slack when it does. (Ask this guy.)

And you can be sure Microsoft is tracking this stuff: 35 million validation failures, including a disproportionately-high number in western Oklahoma for some reason known only to God and/or Chairman Bill.

Posted at 9:14 AM to PEBKAC