This paper starts off as entertaining as it is shocking. Unfortunately, while I could forgive the awful format (I thought we moved beyond plain text in the late 1980s, or something) and annoying scrolling back and forth between endnotes and the main text, there are some definite inaccuracies that I can easily spot, which makes me figure that there are a few even deeper, more hidden ones.

To boot:

Windows’ anti-piracy component, WGA, is tied to system hardware components.

Wrong.

WGA, or Windows Genuine Advantage, is indeed an anti-piracy component. However, that one is not tied to “system hardware components” at all, but only to your Internet connection. The author likely means WPA, or Windows Product Activation, which is indeed completely tied to your hardware.

A one-letter difference, but in an article like that one, it matters hugely. And it’s not just a typo:

If you’re forced to swap out a major system component like a motherboard, you’ve instantly failed WGA validation.

You would certainly have to reactivate WPA, but not to revalidate WGA.

This is no different than with Windows XP, really, which as we all know is rather widely deployed, so I’m puzzles as to how someone could get this wrong.

This makes me question some of the more troubling statements. There are some sources at the end, but not directly tied to any assertion.

And again. Better format, please. Yikes!