Its not deceptive really, but Apple's OS sales are in the retail space because I'm fairly certain that is the only channel they are in. Their OS can be bought on a PC they make, or the retail box at the store. A Microsoft OS can come in retail box, distribution (OEM/SB), Open (Education) license, MSDN/Technet subscription, royalty OEM, etc. So yes the numbers comparison is Retail Channel (Apple) vs all channels (Microsoft) but there is nothing to stop Apple from going into those other areas. Anyways, I'm not sold on the "XP calls home" stuff. I don't think that is true at all. The only times I've seen XP validate itself is: - Installation/activation + grace period - installing new WGA version - MSSE or Malicious Software Removal Tool update/installation - MS direct download validation I've had XP PCs off a network for years and it doesn't ever one day just become "You may be a victim of software piracy" just like that.