Quite apart from the fallout to Google's reputation, there are still the complaint filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center with the American FCC, and the preliminary investigation begun by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner. (To say nothing of Google Canada's snotty response to the latter.) Do these somehow fall outside a "business perspective," or have I misunderstood what you meant by that term?

Sure, if by "done something similar," you mean "the exact opposite." Poland 'shopped a black guy out of the picture. Toronto 'shopped a black guy INTO the picture.

It doesn't work like that ANYWHERE else? Dude, have you even heard of Canada? I have a sneaking suspicion people from other countries are thinking the same thing, but I haven't lived in them my whole life, so I'll let those people speak for themselves.

Others have already pointed out that this is just spreading FUD. I haven't had the "Automatically restart" check box selected for 11 months. I haven't had a single BSOD. Yes, I used to have scads of them. XP has in fact gotten better. I'm no Microsoft apologist. I use XP when my employers make me, and so far, those decisions have made complete sense. At home, I don't use Windows (except in emulation, sometimes).