This happened to me as well. A series of mysterious iTunes charges popped up all over my CC statement, totaling hundreds of dollars. The charges all show up as "1800-APPLE-XYZ" or some such. Call up that number, and there's a recording that refers you to itunes.com/cc (or whatever). On that site, it refers you to the useless 1800 number. When I contacted my credit card's fraud hotline they said they had been having all sorts of problems with fraudulent charges at iTunes. Mysterious charges, and they (Chase) could get no answers from Apple. Since Apple wouldn't reverse the charges, I had to file a fraud claim, and get a new card. A big hassle for me. By the way, this was in the Spring of 2010. IANAL, but if there is a history of fraudulent activity and the vendor has ignored it, then yes, I'd say they have some responsibility "to check every 99 cent transaction."

The XBOX 360 begs to differ. Where exactly is the open source video game console that is dominating the home market? Linux and FOSS more broadly has done some incredible things, but let's be real.

I dont disagree with you that the TV landscape is different than what it was years back. STB reform in 1996 as a part of the Telecoms Act would have probably been a very good thing, promoted innovation, and saved people a lot of money. 1) But, I still think this good news. A good STB/Netfix Device/DVR/htpc-lite would be a nice addition to the home entertainment world. I'm optimistic about what a Google TV STB device could do. A PS3 doesn't do all of this, and for general consumers one dead simple box would be really useful. 2) And ... Sports. The number one reason people still subscribe to TV (don't have the stat, but I assure you its out there.) People will continue to pay for sports broadcasts, and I want them to be able to use whatever STB they want to watch their pro sports.

I don't know about GP, but the laptop I bought for going back to grad school came preloaded with Vista and included a Win7 upgrade coupon. When the disc arrived and I installed it, the machine wasn't more than 4 months old. I had the exact same experience and the battery went from functional to a brick in about two weeks after win7 hit the hardware. Fortunately for me, HP shipped me a replacement battery. It's an anecdote; not data, but it might be part of a larger trend.