Fair enough, but I mentioned "big publishers". Indie games won't exactly excite the masses.

...which will limit you to Valve for games. I'm not confident they are going to get the numbers (sales) to incentivize big publishers to follow and develop for Linux.

GM did it in 2010 and appears to be ready to do it again soon.

I forget exactly where to do it since I've gone back to Windows 7 -- but I believe if you change the font size (in windows appearance options) to normal (100%), the borders and buttons will follow to a normal size. The default out of box was 125% IIRC.

That's what they want. There are already plenty of neck-beard oriented distributions.
This one is for the masses who want to only (or can only) use GUI tools.

And Obama did the same with all of his Democratic constituents in 2006 against Bush.
I only point this out because you identify the hypocrisy of Republicans when it applies to almost everyone holding a chair in DC.

Keyword here is PlayPack.
The $9.99 monthly subscription will give acces to select games, not their entire catalog. So yes, they are definitely similar to Netflix, where your streaming options are limited to many documentarys (many of which are excellent) and older movies.
I actually purchased a few games through OnLive because I own a notebook -- the service works quite well. My gaming rig days are over, I'm not a DRM zealot and I will pay for convienence. And it is nice to just turn on a game without installing it (using my SSD space), waste some time, then turn it off and get back to work or family.

Sarcasm is anger's ugly cousin.

As my father used to tell me as a child, "two wrongs != a right"

Personally among other uses, I look forward to this replacing devices like TrackIR -- no more goofy hat or other head gear required.

Your point regarding how impatient and dependent people get about online services is very valid.
However I stated the retailer should provide the extra membership. None of this is the fault of Microsoft (unless the product was purchased directly from them, which of course is not in this case).

Then the retailer should make it right. Perhaps provide an extra year of XBox Live for the inconvienence.
It's not like the accounts are blacklisted; the users cannot log into XBox Live until Microsoft releases the updated dashboard.

I recall many, many people claiming the same about Android; Apple had such a head start, there is no way Android would catch up or even gain traction.

Kodak had issues because the refused to embrace and adapt to the changes in photographic technology.
Microsoft, on the other hand is in fact changing. IE9 beta has good promise, Windows 7 is better than its predecessors by leaps/bounds. And WP7 is a huge departure from Windows Mobile -- essentially copying and enhancing the iPhone model.