Yeah but those arguments use Airbus jets, and we all know that those things are death traps!

Sorry, but XP-SP2+ does require online activation. Standard 30-day period of trial, then you're shafted and limited to all but very basic functionality.
It also requires WGA authentication to download any of the thousands of updates, let alone hundreds of 1st-party programs like MediaPlayer 11

OEM copies don't seem to anymore. I don't know about retail; and I'm not talking about copies that have been upgraded to SP2+ but rather copies that are sold as SP2+.

I have an old laptop which basically need XP SP2 reinstalled every 30 days. It completely refuses to activate online, even though the key is valid (installed from OEM, recovery disks lost), and I cannot be arsed to call Microsoft and ask them to help me given that it's a computer that's going out of use anyway now that I've bought a new one with Win7.
After the 30 days, the OS has to be reinstalled. I am prevented from logging in if I do not activate at that point.

Odd then that my SP2 XP Pro copy doesn't even have any mention of activation on it at all.
You have to phone MS now. You can't activate OEM copies online anymore. It's not that they're removing support for XP, but rather OEM copies.
Anyway, there's an old activation trick whereby you can back up the activated WPA.dbl and WPA.bak files from the System 32 folder. After you reinstall, boot into safe mode and copy the files back over the inactivated ones.
Please note: this trick will only work if the system you're reinstalling Windows onto is identical to the one you activated on. It cannot be used to activate copies on other machines.

That trick never worked for me grr.

Did you make sure it was in Safe Mode first? It doesn't work otherwise.

Well I don't know about "recent" copies of OEM XP SP2, but my 3 or 4 year old one, (1st-gen SP2 OEM disc), recently reinstalled, required on-line activation.
It's a little booklet, with an install CD stuck to the back cover in a paper envelope, in a cellophane envelope, and it says "For distribution only with a new PC" across the top of the spine, on the front cover. Definitely not a retail box.
Sometimes, but not always, I even have to phone the help line (I reinstall every few months as I install/uninstall a lot of Apps/Utils for testing/reviewing and it craps out the registry) to get the validation accepted...it used to be an Indian call centre, but now seems to be fully automated. I don't even have to tell an operator it's a reinstall, I just press "1" to confirm it's only installed on one machine.

Yeah, that sounds exactly the same as my copy. Only mine is apparently newer. I had an OEM copy prior to that one and that one required activation. But then that copy wasn't even SP1.

And yet, unless there is a second person using your alias, you have absolutely no problem buying games in Impulse.
And yes, kids, Impulse IS a form of DRM. You have to use it to access your purchased games, you have to use it to access updates and patches to your purchased games, you cannot create a backup on a CD or hard drive that you can access without using Impulse.
So, are you just a gigantic hypocrite?

Actually, you're wrong. Impulse is not required to play games, once they are installed. You can completely uninstall it and still play your games. It is a download manager with added features. GOO, produced by Stardock and available with certain games purchased on Impulse, is a form of DRM.
The difference between Steam and Impulse is that Steam is a DRM platform, while Impulse is DRM-neutral.

Really, so I don't need to use Impulse to access patches and updates? Oh...wait...yes I do. I can back up a hard copy of my installer somewhere? Oh...no...I can't.
I would say that fits any rational description of digital rights being managed.

Precisely.
As Captain Planet says, "The power is YOURS!"

...so?
Does it require a client to access your game? Yes.
Does it require use of that client to path or update your game? Yes.
Can it be backed up in any way on a disc or your hard drive to be used outside of the client? No.
Guess what, that still equals DRM. Just the fact that you don't need it running to play your game doesn't change that fact.
Do I personally have an issue with that? No. I use Impulse, and Steam, Direct2Drive, Gamersgate, GoG, etc. I just become annoyed when people try to pretend that Impulse is not a form of DRM. It is. Doesn't make it evil, but it is.