[snip]
>
>Many people have stated how bad the activation will be. SSNs, Mother's maiden name, Church Affiliation, blah, blah, blah. I think Mike Stewart posted something that pretty much shot down those arguments, for now.

Better look again:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/MS_complaint.pdf
http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/MS_complaint2.pdf


>I've have not heard anyone propose a better solution to protect Microsoft. Should MS make you have the CD mounted when you turn on the machine? There scheme sounds OK to me. I'm sure some might be inconvienced here and there, but they need to relaize that it's the pirates who are to blame, not MS. Look at what they do at the mall. You have to walk through these 'scanners' that look for 'price' tags or something. I'm not a thief, why do I have to walk through them and feel like I'm not trusted? The same people who complain about MS activation should complain about these as well.

Sorry, that is a non-sequiter. The tag scanners at the mall don't know who you are and don't require that you submitt your personal information, CC number, SSN, date of birth, mother's maiden name, age, to enter or leave the store.... You just walk through. You don't even know if they are on, and sometimes they aren't.