Actually, Windows XP is time limited and will expire eventually. When M$ no longer supports XP (a few years into the future), you will no longer be able to reactivate XP should the need arise. Remember, P5 was limited to 3 or so reactivations... after which the software would be useless and/or worthless. [It's always a good idea NOT to buy trash or things that will become worthless... except of course a car]. This applies to any and all software that requires activation, so we were happy when CL gave them the boots. And unless the time based system is ultra-smart, if your clock changes or you have to reinstall your programs after a crash or virus attack... you could end up with early expire-ware. Because it's dumb, it cannot tell you had a hard drive failure; instead it logs that you're trying to steal more time off the clock. While "they" might have a solution as a quick call to tech support to reinitialize the timer... do you really want to call on behalf of your 3,000 model collection? And finally, these problems are placed upon you because you're a good, honest, paying customer. So, long after your XP has expired... you will still be able to run Win98.