Wasted another hour trying to get Windows XP to work again (while avoiding totally shady stuff). Not much success.

Windows XP has scarred me for life. 😂 I bought this thing, cost me 140 bucks, but I can’t use it anymore because Microsoft says so. Screw that.

I won’t buy commercial software anymore and haven’t done so in a long time. You want an online activation or, better yet, some sort of subscription? Screw that.

Up until the end of the 1990ies and very early 2000s, it was okay to buy commercial software. Things like StarOffice 3.1 still work just fine today, because you can just install it, done.

Free/libre software is the way to go.