So, while WGA is intended to police piracy, it’s really just highlighting the true failure of Vista for the willing few who paid extra specifically to upgrade for the WOW experience. Microsoft posted a message asking users to try again in four days, hoping that by Tuesday, the company will have the server back up:
“I'm sorry to inform you that the Windows Genuine server might be down for few days. I have escalate [sic] the issue to our Genuine team, kindly try to validate again on Tuesday 28 Aug 2007.”
Until then, Windows users were left under house arrest as suspected thieves and their systems set in feature lockdown mode.