so, am i even going to check?

well, i'm going to check prices at staples and best buy for a usb headset that has chrome os drivers. that ought to be kind of a business standard, right? i actually would rather use the netbook, for the reasons stated, it just doesn't have a microphone...

if i can get out there first thing in the morning, i'll wait until the afternoon to make some calls.

otherwise, yeah - i'll have to try it with the product key checker turned on. and, if it turns out that this is the problem, i'm going to send bill gates a tersely worded email threatening to take my business elsewhere.