Did the DRM in Vista actually stop you from doing anything? I used it for years and had no issues doing anything at all.
I honestly do not know, because my encounters with it on friends' and neighbors' machines were so thoroughly disagreeable that I never allowed it in the door here.
I do not steal software or content..but I have issues with anything running on my machines that could get in my way or tell me what to do. Shrinkwrap contract be damned, if I pay for something, I own it, period.
DISCLAIMER: A lot of this was NOT Vista's fault!
Some sleazy discount chains were running promos with "Vista" machines..laptops, mostly, and they were woefully inequipped to run it. I cannot recall how little RAM they had...the experiences were so horrible I have spent years trying to forget them. In all cases, the people returned the machines. A few toughed it out to get the XP downgrade, but generally the discounters had to eat most of them.
I am not exaggerating to say these systems were bad. It got to the piont where people would show up with a laptop, and I'd take one look at it and start shouting, "Get that F**** thing out of here and never bring it back".
Again, it was not Vista's fault. These sleazy retailers did not do MS any favors by doing this..it just added salt to the wounds, and made everything much worse. One issue was the "Vista Ready" sticker on machines that barely, maybe, possibly, had the most minimal resources that could be imagined and stretched to run Vista. Factually, it was not precisely fraud, if one were willing to go into Talmudic depths of reasoning to parse the details.
So add the DRM "Spyware" to all the above, and a potently odious mixture was formed.
If we hear reports of trumpets and maidens scattering rose petals about this new OS, maybe I'd take a look at it. Right now, it's "Wait and See, and Prove It".