In the world of computer software, there is no greater threat to the livelihoods of programmers than software piracy.  If given the choice between buying one’s software at retail, or downloading it or buying it for $5 on the street, many people around the world will choose the piracy route.  Why buy Photoshop for $649 at CompUSA when you can download it off BitTorrent for no money at all?  Of course, the answer is that doing so is stealing, and that for small software houses it may mean the difference between being in business and going bankrupt.  But many people ignore these facts, and still others do not know that they are using pirated software, either because someone installed it for them or because it came with their computers.

It makes sense that Microsoft would be the hardest hit by piracy – they are, after all, the largest software maker in the world, and Windows and Office have become de facto standards in most realms.  Some analysts estimate that 21% of computers in the US running Windows are using pirated versions.  The percentage in other countries is drastically higher – for example, in China the figure could be over 90%.  Piracy is costing Microsoft hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars a year, and they have every right to do something about it.

But is what they’re doing really a good solution?

Over the past month or two, people have been waking up in the morning, going over to their computers, and seeing a message on their screen that says, “This copy of Microsoft Windows XP is not genuine.”  The message is the result of a piece of software being pushed out to all Windows XP computers via Windows Update, called Windows Genuine Advantage.  In Microsoft’s marketing lingo, “not genuine” equals “pirated.”  Great – Microsoft is catching the people who are cutting into its revenues.  Except that it’s not that simple.

First of all, some people have been getting the message erroneously – that is, they know for sure that they have a legitimate copy of Windows XP but WGA still says their copy of Windows is “not genuine.”  Hackers have found ways to get around this, but the average Joe won’t know of those ways.  To make it worse, the message will pop up every day if WGA has determined that a Windows installation is illegitimate – a huge annoyance (which of course is the idea for actual pirated copies to get them to buy a Microsoft-certified non-pirated copy).

There are also times when the WGA update will fail to install, giving an error which needs to be corrected unless you want to be bombarded with daily update notifications.  And sometimes it will install incorrectly and break your system.  I’ve heard people complain about blue screens, getting stuck at the shutdown or login screen, driver conflicts, broken internet, and having Automatic Updates stop working, among other problems.  To make it worse, Microsoft tech support for WGA problems is by all accounts fairly skimpy.

The biggest problem for some people, though, is that WGA “phones home” periodically – that is to say, it contacts Microsoft over the internet to exchange information.  People are really crying foul on this aspect of the software – many people say that WGA is spyware.  The fact that it’s bundled with other updates and installed without the user’s consent is also coming under fire.  In fact, there’s currently a lawsuit pending against Microsoft alleging that WGA is spyware and seeking damages.

This is all without getting into the philosophical questions about whether piracy is really that harmful to Microsoft anyway, or whether it’s harmful to the economy as a whole.  Some people point out that in places like China, pirated software has helped the economy as a whole by making it easier for businesses to turn a profit.  Frankly, I’m convinced that piracy is harmful, and unethical to boot, but even so that doesn’t mean Microsoft should be so heavy-handed about stopping it.