"But that's not the "general experience" like you make it seem"
I am sorry but you are 100% mistaken, every IT person I have ever met minus you is frustrated with this. Literally every windows machine I have ever had has done it at least once. THOUSANDS of my customers have had this issue. It happens all the time. It is a bit better with Windows 7, but it should not be there at all. But I do agree on one point, it is not a justification for piracy. I just choose to support companies that don't have activation as much as possible. Apple is one of those companies. Propelerheads was for a long time. Cakewalk is another great example.
Let me ask you this, do you do allot of bug fixs? IE Dealing with virus's etc? If you don't I can see why it would not bother you. But if you do remove lots of bug I would bet you deal with it often. At any rate very good discussion
Another question why is Windows the only OS that does this? Its a very crippling thing. (and dont use the market share excuse ha ha)
I'm 100% mistaken? Hilarious! I'm sure you know every IT person in the world right? lol...like I said, your generalization is inaccurate, just say in your experience, don't blanket it like it happens to everyone...because it doesn't, I'm not some special person who's the only one that hasn't had these issues, I never said it wasn't an issue, just not an issue that everyone has like you make it seem.
Yes I deal with bugs at work, which is more due to user's knowledge of downloading random things lol. At home I don't get viruses or bugs, never lost any of my home pc to a virus, bug or malware, that includes my computers, wife's computers, and kids computers.
But YES, I would like for it not to be an issue. I have a mac, not the newest one but, I think the OS is light years ahead of windows and was very pleased with how it "just worked". There is a lot in there that just makes sense. However, I don't believe it's the only choice and really depends on the person and what they are looking to do.
I never said I love activation, just that it's not a big deal, I'm always pleased when I can install software with a simple serial number and move on, but it doesn't bother me when I have to do a challenge/response or an activation. I'm all for a simple serial number system even if activation happens "in the background" so to speak. I welcome any changes in activation/use of legit software...I just don't feel hindered, annoyed, or punished by the current process of software activations.