Activation is the refuge of the monopoly. How many competitive products use it? Few, if any!

Consider the expense of implementing, maintaining, and administering intrusive DRM schemes. That is resource a smaller company can pour into making their product better. So if you hate DRM, reward the smaller players who don't use it.

"But what can we do, when 95% of computers are sold with an operating system that use an oppresive, intrusive activation scheme?" Use the other 5% -- Think Different.

Apple users traditionally favor functionality and ease of use over "features" implemented for the convenience of the manufacturer. Consider that Adobe's new Creative Suite is DRM'd for Windows, but not for MacOS. Consider that numerous products -- from Quark to Quicken -- were once DRM'd on the Mac, but removed it after users refused to upgrade.

I don't steal software, and I don't deal with companies that treat me as if I do. When Adobe gets around to DRM'ing Photoshop for MacOS, that's when I start investigating Painter, Canvas, even Corel Draw.

But in the meantime, MacOS X is largely a haven from the storm of oppressive, intrusive DRM schemes. Even the music software vendors (a real hotbed of DRM schemes) have largely thrown in the towel, since the companies with the most oppresive schemes have all gone out of business.