Did you install this Microsoft upgrade?

I've been getting this "updates are available for your computer" message on my XP box here for the past few days, and since it's for "Windows Genuine Advantage Notification" I have not installed it. Why? Because this is what it does:

The Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool notifies you if your copy of Windows is not genuine. If your system is found to be a non-genuine, the tool will help you obtain a licensed copy of Windows.

More information for this update can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39157

So I need a 1.2 MB piece of code from MS to tell me whether or not my OS is "genuine"? This box came from Dell ... and Microsoft Windows comes with EVERY FREAKIN' BOX. What if my XP is "fake"? I guess they don't mean it could be fake, but that it could be pirated.

Since I know my XP is "genuine," why do I need MS to tell me that?

According to Ars Technica's former M-Dollar, now One Microsoft Way:

The update is intended to patch the latest hole that hackers have used to work around the WGA utility, which checks to see if the users' copy of Windows is genuine or pirated. According to tests conducted with an Ethernet sniffer program, if the user clicks the close button to cancel the installation of this WGA update, Windows sends some information back to Microsoft over the wires.

This information includes version numbers of both Windows and WGA, the language of the operating system, some registry information, and a cookie. Some hackers are worried that Microsoft is going to use this information to identify potential pirates, but Microsoft claims that the data is only used to try and diagnose failures with the WGA utility itself.

Nice, Microsoft. I guess there is "one Microsoft Way," and it involves taking it in the shorts from Steve Ballmer.

Meanwhile, I thought that XP was the first MS operating system that wouldn't install from one CD to multiple PCs. So where are the non-"genuine" Windows XP and Vistas coming from?

And what's the deal on my purchased copy of Vista? Not that I've made such a purchase, but if I had, would I be able to sell my CD of Vista to somebody else, say on eBay, and would they be able to install it on another PC? What if I wiped Vista from my box before I sold it? If they're being that chintzy about it, they should charge $50 for the OS for one CPU only and call it square.

Despite most Linuxes being free, I don't think an OS necessarily must be a free product. I think it is worth money, but to make your customers pay and pay and pay, as Microsoft seems to do, is just a load of crap. And then to spy on them with this WGA thing? It leaves a bad taste, for sure.

p.s. The only reason I even had the chance to decline the install of WGA is that I never opt for the automatic install of MS upgrades. I always choose the "custom" option. That way I only install what I want. Half the room here has IE7 on their boxes. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I'd like to keep IE6 and IE7 side by side for awhile just to check the performance. But that's not the way MS rolls, so I'm holding off on IE7 until I absolutely need it.