Microsoft WGA wrongfully accuses 5M users

When it comes to Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage program, you've got a pretty clear example of why Microsoft needs to work on its public image. You see, ever since Microsoft launched the program back in June 2005, one in five Windows PCs has failed the WGA test. However, less than 0.5 percent of those 114 million machines was identified as running a counterfeit version of Windows. What about the rest? Microsoft has stated that 20 percent of all WGA failures were the result of something other than key piracy and offered the "unauthorized use of OEM keys on non-OEM hardware" as an example. Overall, the company has reported that WGA has a false positive rate of "under 1 percent." Time to give Microsoft a big pat on the back? Not so fast: doing the math reveals that that "less than 1 percent" actually equals about 5 million users who were wrongfully accused of using pirated software. As Microsoft continues to roll out WGA in other markets, that number is only going to grow. WGA doesn't seem like such a good means for fighting piracy anymore, does it?

For more on WGA:
- see this Ars Technica article