According to people like you PC gaming died years ago.
Ok... I'll be more specific...
TO ME it's practically dead.
I buy a game, maybe once a year now, because great games are that few and far between. Decent games, loaded with all the BS I mentioned (Activation / rootkits, adware, blacklisting legitimate apps, subscription models, etc. etc), I won't buy either, which narrows the field even more. Since I also refuse to upgrade (if you want to call it that) to Vista, when games go DX10 only... I'll be effectively cut off from PC Gaming. (Well, buying any new games, anyway)
So, yes, specifically to me, PC Gaming is practically dead already. And talking to a lot of my friends... they feel the same way. Of course, we're old farts that grew up computer gaming on Apple II's, and less apt to accept a ton of BS with our games.
Get your games from GOG DAMMIT!