That's completely incorrect. Legitimate users of Windows have to deal with activation for a minute or two and in the vast majority of cases they never see it again. People who steal software are angered by it - all of the people I knew who had problems with XP activation in college, for example, were trying to steal it.
It's not perfect, but it more or less serves its purpose.
From past experience, I've had to jump through hoops to get my legitimately purchased XP Pro reactivated when I reinstall. With Vista and crap like this, I will never purchase another MS OS. There is absolutely nothing besides game playing you can do with Windows that can't be done with free software.
Unless they are building a system, and decides upon certain choices. I decided to add a SATA drive, and change the video card, for example, and had to endure some long conversations. This was with XP; I cannot comment on Vista.
Fixed it for you.
Until you replace your motherboard or get a new BIOS.
There seem to be a lot of reports to the contrary. Apparently, over a million legitimate Windows users have been wrongly informed that their copy of Windows is not "genuine". And now the hackers are stealing activation keys from the legitimate users, which will result in more hassle and irritation for Microsoft customers.
Fortunately, there are other popular operating systems that don't require activation keys at all.