he endless adds to sign on to Passport and Hotmail every time I turn on my computer.
Oh please.
I installed XP Pro on my PC and XP Home on my wife's. Maybe there was some request to have something to do with Passport during install, but that was it (and I don't even recall that). No "endless" adds [sic].
Nor is it any more bloated than Win2k (which isn't exactly the paragon of efficient computing either), and it's considerably more stable than 98SE (and I say this as someone who had few problems with that).
Yes, the product activation annoys the crap out of me, but that's an issue with the company. And, yes, I think MS is the evil empire incorporated, but if you're going to sling insults, at least be sure they're truthful.