WGA XP killswitch tentatively set for Autumn

After years of being “helpless” against casual pirates, Microsoft is considering making WGA required beginning this fall. In short, if you don’t install it, your copy of Windows XP will shutdown. Of course, as far as existing users go, it seems a bit of a chicken and egg issue. If you don’t install the update that enables WGA, how can it shut you down? Will Microsoft force the installation of the WGA update? What repercussions and exploits could be had if such an event took place? Either way, this is beginning to look like the whole XP Activation mess we had only a few short years ago.