Nobody has made a big stink as 99.9% of all people do not read the software license that you must agree to during the installation of the OS.
Those that merrily press "I accept" will not have a leg to stand on as all MS has to is say, "Hey, you agreed before installing the OS."
Then there those that choose not to believe it, even though it is spelled out very clearly in the license.
Heck, you see it on this very board, "I have the corporate version and it does not require activation." It was activated, they just did not have to do it and expires with equal tenacity of the non-corporate version.
Thing is, most seem to think they will be able to just buy an upgrade when it expires and MS has made it very clear, as of 7/31/2002, there will be no upgrades of any MS product available, except for W2K. Which simply means, when the license expires, you have to buy a full version of whatever MS is shipping at the time.
Again, this is all public information, but most people just do not believe it. Go figure.