Nothing cleanses the head of those darn "serious thoughts" like taking unrepentant joy in the fact that we, as Mac users, choose not to expose ourselves voluntarily to the various hazards and indignities of Windows use. In that spirit, we're happy to pass along a recent Fred Langa article over at Information Week, as pointed out to us by faithful viewer Eric. Are you having a rough time struggling with Mac OS X's various "quirks"? Then console yourself with the knowledge that, even if you forget to register it with Apple, at least you'll still be able to boot your Mac after a month.

You probably already know that one of Windows XP's "features" is mandatory product activation; every user needs to stand up and be counted. Microsoft enters some facts about each customer and his/her computer setup in some mammoth database, and gives said customer a big honkin' key that, when entered, "activates" the operating system. If Windows (or whatever other Microsoft product is being used) is not activated within a certain time frame or number of uses, it goes into "reduced functionality" mode. It's rather draconian as anti-piracy measures go, and like most things that Microsoft inflicts upon its users, it's caused a whole lot of grumbling, and then, eventually, acquiescence. (Monopoly? What monopoly?)

Here's the bit that you may not have known, though: apparently, when Windows XP remains unactivated past its due date, "it simply locks you out, period." Try to login, even with an admin account, and all you get is a message telling you that you still need to activate your product; your options are to proceed with the activation process, or, uh, go watch TV instead-- because you certainly aren't going to be using your computer for anything other than a big, ugly doorstop until you activate that sucker. Apparently XP puts your system into a stranglehold, and until you play by Microsoft's rules and activate it, you can't even access your files to copy them to another system so you can keep working. Nasty.

So the next time you're grousing about how Classic applications keep sticking windows right underneath your Dock, remember, it could be a lot worse. And somehow we have a feeling that, even if Mac OS X included some sort of activation lockout, at least it'd show you tasteful OpenGL-blended forest scenes or something while it informed you that you're boned...