Yep, ronknights. Soulhuntre: It MIGHT be news to Microsoft, but not every computer is connected to the Internet. Shocking idea, I know. If I buy a PC with XP loaded, or even purchased XP for a new PC with no OS loaded, I would be sorely tempted to run a crackecd copy anyway. Or uninstall it and use 2000. My PC is my business. What I do with it, how often I upgrade it, and whether I have it connected to the Internet or not is my affair, not Microsoft's. Now, if Windows was open source and I could peek under the hood to find out EXACTLY what Microsoft was doing with this licensing scheme, I wouldn't mind a bit. If RedHat switched to a licensing scheme like this tomorrow, I wouldn't care, because I would be able to personally verify that my privacy wasn't being impinged upon. Not so with Microsoft. As for software licenses.. trust me, I am not confused. Thanks to license agreements, software makers who accidentally ship their products with VIRUSES in it are not liable. That's wrong. And your "good customer" arrangement with CompUSA is illegal, depending on which state you are in.