Why I'll never buy another Microsoft product.

About a week ago my motherboard gave out on me. Luckily I'm running an AM2 chip meaning that a replacement was fairly inexpencive. After putting the new motherboard in I booted into Ubuntu 9.10 without any problems. I boot into Windows 7 however and apparently my copy is "not genuine" and a few seconds after boot I get told I might have been the victim of piracy. Now I'm tech savy enough to know that 7 is just throwing a hissy fit over the change in hardware so I go to the activation screen and re-enter my code only to be told that because my hardware has changed my license is no longer valid. I am told to call a toll-free number and input a 48 digit code just to recieve another 48 digit code which I input into the activation menu.

Ironically this total palarva would have been avoided if I had been running a pirated copy of Windows 7 as a pirated copy would have had the activation checks removed!

I will not be buying Windows 8 no matter what features it has. From this day on I no longer consider myself a Microsoft customer.