Vista, The Gift That Keeps On %$#@ing

So, today, my copy of Vista Home Basic (retail, full price, etc. bought for me by our IT department to test our stuff on) demanded that I activate it. OK, annoying and alarming, but I'll bite. So I clicked the Activate button (or whatever it was) and held my breath. A few seconds pass, and then "Activation was Successful". OK, so a bit alarming, scary if I were -- say -- not online at the time, but no biggy.

Then, a few minutes later I notice the following at the lower right of the screen:

"This copy of Windows is not genuine."

Slightly panicking (only slightly, because I really don't give a rat's ass) I search the help for "not genuine" and follow the most appropriate seeming link. I eventually activate Vista again. Same thing -- Activation Successful.

And the message still reads:

"This copy of Windows is not genuine."

I guess XP is genuine.