You're all pirates

DRM bites again: the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage servers (which every XP and Vista install phones home to) all failed sometime earlier today.

The result? Every single Windows XP and Vista installation -- except possibly those with volume license keys -- is being marked as counterfeit when it tries to check in. Installations which are flagged as counterfeit switch to a "reduced functionality mode" which results in features like Aero and DirectX being disabled.

So far, the only public response from Microsoft has been indirectly via their technical support forums, where a user has posted the following snippet from an email he received from MS's technical support address:

Thank you for your response.

I’m sorry to inform you that the Windows Genuine server might be down for few days. I have escalate the issue to our Genuine team, kindly try to validate again on Tuesday 28 Aug 2007.

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Technical Support.

I reject your reality by punching the timestream

Coming up on the next MythBusters: superhero hour. While I'm guessing they won't blow up the moon a la LSHv4 or bonding adamantium to bones, it'll be interesting to watch how high each particular cast member's comic-geek flag flies, in addition to the usual frivolity and calamity....

(Reminds me of the chart in one of the Marvel Year-in-Review self-parody magazines from the mid-'90s that detailed superheroes' powers, their origins, the real-world effect that such an origin would have, how to best replicate it in the real world, and the effects the new origin-induction had on the guinea-pig intern. I remember Speedball's new origin involved a lot of Jolt cola....)