Then, why did laptop screens move from 1280*1024 to 1366*768?

In this case, they give you instructions to fix it. If you are on the net, and dont know what DNS is, you're on your own
The same thing that happens if you drive a car and dont know how to change a tyre

Redirect all queries from the malicious servers to a page explaining that they have malicious DNS servers configured and they need to fix the issue.
Some will check the problem themselves, others will call their ISP's,tech support,etc
Someone using the net should have a clue what DNS is about anyways

They will just licence software on an hourly basis
Say, a $60 game with 120 hours playtime, or an OS charged at 10c/hour of usage

Because software doesnt "wear out"

So, if I'm reading this correctly, in America, its MORE expensive to take a SIM without a phone and its cheaper to take a SIM and a phone together???

Some places dont get free phones :(
Laptops and phones, both are available in shops, directly from the manufacturer outside of US I believe. They surely are in India

I believe that you can, just that its illegal.
And, there are still a lot of other OS'es available
Even having a dual boot Android/WinRT(8) phone would be awesome

The former could be solved by phones like Intels Xolo and the latter by having just the radio control as a part of ROM and controlled by API's?

Thats only in USA though. Other countries dont have the carrier model. I buy my phone from the manufacturer and a SIM from the telco

IDK, different laptop manufacturers can differentiate themselves pretty well, XPS,Thinkpads,Elitebook,etc all of them have a reasonably well defined market

Mine is a Thinkpad R61, with a GMA950 onboard graphics
Barring wifi issues (ubuntu asks for "restricted drivers"), havent had any problems w.r.t drivers

Win 7 and 8 werent too bad with 2GB either

Doesnt that void the warranty and carry a realistic risk of permanently bricking your phone?

My laptop was a midrange one purchased in 2008.
It runs WinXP to Win8 (tried the DP) flawlessly, only RAM was upgraded to 4GB
Why cant phones have a similar level of stardardisation/compatibility across generations?
I should just be able to load a version of Android/Windows phone/Symbian onto a memory card, pop it into my phone and install it like I do on a PC