Martin said:
Something like "Windows cannot be installed onto a usb disk". The thing is that with Vista, they only allow you two activations. So if you install it, upgrade your system (and Windows detects hardware has changed), you can activate it one more time. Then it's curtains. So they obviously don't believe that installing on a usb drive can be any kind of reasonable use of Windows.
The Windows licence had me seriously thinking of going all Linux during the summer. My old machine had given up the ghost, and rather than get it fixed, my mother wanted to buy a new computer.
I got a nice enough system, no OS, thinking I could just use the copy of Windows from the old computer. Nope - come activation, I was told that the licence is non-transferable. I didn't argue - I was sure I'd get nowhere (later, reading the EULA, it turned out that it was explicitly stated). I figured, screw it I'd just install Ubuntu.
My mother and little brothers were distraught though - they're all clueless about computers, and the sight of a shiny new Ubuntu desktop had them... well, you've seen 2001, A Space Odyssey. I bought a new copy of Windows, under duress, and ever since, the computer has been a source of misery. I'm told that it's not booting right now. I'm away for a couple of weeks, so it'll sit there, smug in its Microsoft-containing aura of crapness.
Anyway, end of ramble. Just thought I'd share.