“I don’t have a problem with the Windows Genuine Advantage program: Microsoft has a right to validate that I own a license for their product” I wasn’t arguing their right to do this; I was arguing their ability to do so. If my box has a Genuine Microsoft tag on the outside that says I have a license for Windows XP Pro then how is a program going to detect that? Not that it is all bad; I worked at a place last year where a number of machines got tagged as “not genuine”. Apparently, my predecessor had upgraded them without paying for the upgrade. I used our Open License to take care of the problem (it would have been cheaper to simply pay for an upgrade but that’s our problem and not Microsofts) but there was no way to tell WGA this.

I do not watch high definition content on my computer either. I do download tv shows; my computer isn’t very comfortable for watching them though. Netgear has a neat device that would allow to show those files on my tv; that might be worth getting. I’m a little apprehensive about what I’m doing as I am violating someone’s copyright. I keep hoping the producers of these shows would just get with the program and make them available.

I mostly agree with your comments about hardware drivers. For past version changes, it doesn’t matter if it was major or minor; updating drivers for every thing you’ve shipped in the last 2 years can be a major undertaking. And no one is going to commit major resources to do it unit the product ships; Microsoft can and has made last minute changes that have invalidated all previous work. I do not like the practice; I just understand it.