Security to the Extreme?

A friend of mine sent me this by email. It’s a real Microsoft Knowledgebase article. I’ll give you the title here and let you click though to enjoy the rest at microsoft.com:

Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords

Classic. I’d love to be looking over the shoulder of a user innocently stumbling across that one.

(BTW - if you think I’m having a gratuitous pop at our friends in Redmond, relax, I’m just as quick to point out instances where we - uh - fall short of ideal )