Well, with all the bloat, you'll likely need the 1.5 terabyte hard drive, so you're doubly screwed.  You'll also need a brand new computer with enough RAM, HDD space, and a handful of dual-core processors to handle all that bloat.  So, you're triply screwed.  You know, I bought and had balanced and mounted an entire set of wheels and tires for my car for that price.  There are just so much more *USEFUL* things on which you could spend all of that money.  And when you need to upgrade because they've dropped support (a la Windows 95, 98, and 2000), you'll be forced to pay even more.  Linux is free, the updates are free, and there are free ebooks out there designed to help beginners (I know this because I wrote one) transition from Windows to Linux.  *THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT* *JUST DO IT*!

You know, if it was $20 or something, I probably wouldn't mind picking up a copy or two.  But, instead, I'll stick with the XP Pro I paid full price for years ago.  Buying Windows once, full price, is enough for a lifetime at this point.

linux just makes more sense. period. i mean, spending that much for a monopoly product is just insane. I had to reactivate a freinds xp over telephone and that made me love my fedora core with a passion. think. guy from india gives me 50 some digits to enter even after i entered the stupid 25 digit product key. oh, and bought the whole thing.

and microsoft wonders why pirating happens.