I think all this stuff about Bill making money throws up all off. The oil companies can also charge whatever they want because it's their business and, like it or not, if you want what they or Bill has to offer you can buy or not.

What ticks me off is that WGA reports back with so much more info (and has the potential to report back with even more in the next update of that program) than is necessary for the protection of the MS product. I wouldn't necessarily object even to MS turning off an unauthenticated OS from headquarters.

But, as it is, WGA is unequivocally SPYWARE by almost any standard and coming from the world's biggest software company rather than from dinky fly-by-night software company, it is a chilling developement. The rationale that it's being intalled voluntarily (unlike other so-called spyware) is hokum. We (and all the spyware companies) know that practically no one reads the EULAs and the limits of the transmitted data are not clearly defined anyway.

It is unfathomable that we can defend the MS position with the thought that they're simply defending their intellectual property.
Yes, we're renting Bill's property but I think we have a little right to privacy in using it.