well.

"Extra added functionality?"

Actually for a time there was, only authed pc's could get any windows updates etc,pirated versions got no windows updates at all, but they were basically pushed into letting them get at least the basic updates cause companies moaned about the ammount of pirated pcs that would now have security holes

oh and to the person moaning about a wga "update" if you don't trust it why do you have it isntalled, if it wants to UPDATE then it is already there!

"and back in the 80's somebody made a more effective copy protection mechanism than has ever been managed since."

yeah its amazing really that times have changed since the 80's isn't it, the rise of web causing a massive increase in teh ammount of pirated stuff goign back and forth, big surpirse that anti piracy measures changed as well, jsut telling someone "this is a pirate" isn't enough surprisingly, as most people will go "i know" or "don't care".