I'm amazed at the truly crap warranties you get in the states.
Over here in the uk it's 12 month minimum on all new electrical goods and in europe it's 3 years.
The fact that you can still sell brand new stuff in the states with a 30 or 60 day warranty is ridiculous.

Anyway as to software. makerware 2.4 is pretty good software. I've never yet used the high, medium or low quality settings as they just don't set the right settings.
Simplify 3d is good. But lacks decent dual extrusion support and the infill has no lateral strength - so is no good for parts that take stress.
It does have some very good aspects - But for the forseeable future I'll be using makerware alongside s3d. And setting up each print with my own settings :-)

It's like microwaves - brilliant gadgets, as long as you never use any of the built in programs :-)
Learn the machines capabilities and then use it properly :-)