"But that's okay, I'm sure English is your first/only language." That seems to be a really lame attempt to insult native English users. There's no grammatical rules against "problems to solve with it." Even "To problem solve with it" is acceptable because the rule against split infinitives is considered obsolete and old fashioned. English has amazing flexibility. It is the perl of human languages!

"Windoze will at least let you install it on any machine you want (legally)"
That's a remnant of days when they were minor vendors for IBM. When Compaq and others put out IBM PC "clones," Microsoft took full advantage of the opportunity to stab IBM in the back.
Notably, Microsoft is as restrictive, even more so, with Xbox and Xbox360. I can install linux on any PPC or Intel Macintosh without hardware hacks or bizarre workarounds. I should be able to do that with Xboxen as well.

on my Mac, with admittedly low memory, HB can be slow. HD rips take forever. The fact that it is cross-platform FOSS and continues to be actively developed is pretty cool though.
On those counts alone I wouldn't recommend anything else.

Their idea is that RIAA or some such group could launch a "guilt-by-association attack" and create a kind of "mailing list" of users (specifically through the ISPs of users) to send out lawsuits. Your comparison to mobsters doesn't apply, because the threat isn't from law enforcement, its about rogue groups slapping civil lawsuits on people, in which case they can bring you to court on guilt by association- which sucks even if you're clean as a whistle.
However, you are correct in that so far no one has deployed this tactic, and SwarmScreen won't do much good unless large numbers of people start using it. Which involves accepting a performance penalty, against a vague and uncertain threat, without actually protecting the users identity.
IMHO it is less than proof-of-concept, it's an elaborate exercise in providing a false sense of security to torrent users. Its almost ugly.

The funniest case of this is a youtube video "Led Zeppelin's 'Original' Songs" made comparing LedZep songs with other songs. It made a case for repeated plagiarism, and yet, WMG has effectively blocked it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCMDR0yrxMw

Ridiculous!

Curiously "Barracuda" very closely resembles part of Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand." I see Amazon and other places laugh and talk about the LedZep sound or Bonham style drumming, but its really close to outright imitation. However, I would also not be surprised if LedZep ripped off these riffs from someone else. I have become sadly disillusioned with the musicians I loved as a teenager, after already being disgusted with how the public was ripped off from CD sales in the past. I heard today Zappa's widow's lawyers are bullying acts who cover him. Sad sad sad

Computer: How do I make easy money??
1 Pretend to put together the "initial version" of a computer that actually answers factual questions, a la Star Trek's ship computers
2 Generate publicity from engineered controversy
3 Profit!!!

Wait till Amazon offers the Kindle Android Fembot. And then the lawyers put restrictions on it.
Then maybe people like you will come to understand why these issues matter. Or, maybe I should rephrase that...

It would be better for all of us if you were motivated to proactively protect the innocent. Making an example of the judge won't help Hillary now.
I mean, apparently it was people who thought "we need to bring scumbag kids like Hillary to justice!" which brought kids like her before the judge in the first place... I don't see more of the same sentiment as being very helpful

"Would you like to play a game of chess?
I play very well." HAL 9000

Or maybe Blinkenlights?

God, I'm old!!!

For Windows, its a security issue.
For Linux, the freakin upgrades are free. Why not?

If I didn't want highspeed internet and be able to upgrade hardware, I'd still be using DOS(or FreeDOS). But they get you sooner or later, there will be some new feature you'll need or even just really, really want.

I think Phoenix is just creating FUD, so they won't be totally squeezed out as Windoze migrates to 64bit EFI-booting boxes.

Its easy to forget that PCs are "universal" computers, and the PC software market is unique in this regard. There are plenty of hardware manufacturers who sell (or want to sell) limited purpose devices. PC software (and firmware) companies cannot compete directly (unless they also sell the Operating System) If you want to access email, or chat, or use a word processor without waiting for the OS to boot, some company is surely selling non-PC to do this, probably with extra bells and whistles, too.(cell phones/iPhone being the latest and most obvious) Although many office drones would find it convenient and cheaper not to have to buy and carry yet another palm/blackberry/organizer/kitchen sink, the market won't let it happen.
Phoenix can't make money off bypassing the OS. Even if Microsoft didn't block them somehow, they couldn't compete against terminals, internet clients, and various non-PC devices.