WinXP Trust Issues: In the land of the blind...

... the one-eyed man is king.

I don't know about you but I like to take things into my own hands. Anonymity, Privacy, Authenticity.
Would you trust someone else with theses issues? Especially someone who has already been proved inefficient? Maybe yes if you are a rookie (aka blind) but as soon as someone explains you basic security issues you will immediately try to control the situation but Windows won't let you!

I've read today about "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool. M$ refers to it as an urgent security update while it simply is some code making your PC call back at M$ every time you boot and exchange information. The official story tries to assure us that no privacy rights are violated but many have reasons to doubt this (tests made and all). If this piece of code came from a different vendor do you know what it'd be called? Spyware! Yes, and it would be red flagged and removed. Of course there's already out a removeWGA tool.

This has brought to the foreground the question "Who really owns your computer? You or your software?". I have more than one computers (Desktop, Laptops) and have paid for Windows (98, XP) so that the programmers get their money etc. What do I get instead? A buggy software that made me get extra software for Antivirus, AntiSpyware and Firewall protection. So when I think I am safe from foreign malicious users I find out that I may be domestically compromised! Yes, the overpriced Operating System I've bought takes advantage of my ignorance (I am experienced but the OS is a blackbox -aka closed source-) and contacts its real owner (No it's not me, the guy who bought it), M$, supplying him with information about me and giving the chance to crackers to illegally access my PC despite all that extra protection I've bought (all that software trusts by default the OS). This whole thing looks more like a spy-tool used by the Intelligence Agencies than a home, innocent, user OS.

And just in case you didn't get all the above here's another example:
You buy a car, let's say a BMW, and then have to buy an alarm system, airbags, fire extinguisher, etc. But the car's design is such that an electric short circuit may disable your alarm, stop the airbags from opening at a critical time etc.
How would you feel about that?

Personally I feel deceived and trapped and therefore very angry.
To sum up M$ is one big μπουρδέλο.
They may underestimate me αλλά εγώ τους γαμώ το σπίτι.

I would be happy if I am on the Internet and have absolutely zero connections and listening ports when all my programs (Internet Browser, E-mail, IM, etc) are closed. But unfortunately that's not the case.

I want to receive exactly what I've paid for. But unfortunately that's not the case either.