It is probably as much to do with excercising a right. Like I have a second right of way from my property which I never need to use, but I do use it at least once per year just to maintain that right.

No. If you are looking at objects seen in the mirror you are focussing at the total distance of : you-mirror plus mirror-object
The mirror wraps the distance but does not reduce how far the light must travel or the object appears.

At last : all those hours I spent in school physics drawing light ray diagrams has come in useful.

Doesn't that amount to the same thing? Not spending much time on distance focussing?

Where and how did "MASSIVE increase in Desktop Linux market share" come in to this? I never said anything about it, and never forsee such a thing happening either. WTF has it got to do with this topic?

More to the point, Microsoft are fanatical about trying to stop even a handful of people from using anything but Windows. Microsoft rate them as criminals, and are like some fat Roman emperor hearing that some people at the edge of the World are not sacrificing half their cattle and virgins twice a day in homage to him, and sending a legion there to exterminate them. Every user is "important" to Microsoft, no matter how few.

You underestimate car enthusiasts. They can do things like that. And Toyota does not deliberately put in features to stop them.

Rightly or wronly, perhaps they fear that their help lines will be tied up with people who have installed Linux (or are trying to) asking for help. Perhaps this happens - I do not know, but can imagine it can in some cases.

Now they will be able to say : "It can't be done, end of story, have a nice day." [Click]

We nearly all started with a pre-built system. What Microsoft want is to prevent someone with such a system from trying out Linux, perhaps with a live CD, and liking it.

I started with a pre-built (did not have the knowledge back then to try anything else) pe-loaded with Windows, but have built my own ever since running Linux. Microsoft wont stop me now or ever, I am a lost cause to them; but they'd love to stop others following my path. That is what this is about.

Windows97 ? You must have been scammed. I'm running Windows99 myself and I'm sure it's genuine.

How will an OTA software update build more battery swapping stations?

Thanks for sharing your definition. It is not what my dictionaries say, they are about it being a penalty, not a school lesson. Try this one as it's handy. How does prison fit into your definition? From what I've heard, not much learning takes place there that is not orthogonal to the issue of ethics.

You remind me of a corny schoolboy joke :-

Judge [to condemed burglar] ; "I hope you have learned from this my man!"
Burglar : "Yes m'Lord, I've learned not to get caught next time."

We saw that with IRA prisoners in the UK. Even in prison they continued to make waves, make news (such as hunger strikes), and even continue to administrate campaigns via the communications of visitors which the civil rights people insist on being allowed. OTOH, once someone is executed, the news media (and they are what matters) soon lose interest as long as there is no mystery about it - which is why assasination keeps someone "alive" in the public mind more than execution does.

Whichever side you are on (and this applies to "both" sides") these are just facts, in a Machiavellian sense.