Microsoft just received a patent on restricting functionality of your PC by making selected portions and functions of the operating system unavailable to the user or his ability to add applications and drivers until they pay up. A client computer runs an operating system that executes additional applications by loading them using an application loader and executes device drivers for peripheral devices by loading the drivers using a device loader. The operating system restricts the functionality of the operating system, such as by making selected portions and functionality of the operating system unavailable to the user or by limiting the...