Ed Bott writes of sneaky changes to Windows licensing terms Microsoft released for its Windows Vista Operating system. Worth a read if you are a Windows user, but not the point of this posting.
Here’s an interesting comment to Ed’s posting:
http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12354-0.html?foru
mID=1&threadID=26177&messageID=492071&start=0
“Lordy…I have 4 machines in a constant state of upgrade
As I said in the subject I have four machines here at home that are in a constant state of upgrade. I purchased an OEM package of licenses and typically have to reactivate each one about 3 or 4 times a year due to hard ware changes. Typically each gets a new motherboard about once a year. I’m now retired so four full featured copies of Vista, let alone office is out of the question. It looks like I’ll be staying with XP Pro as long as possible, but how much longer will they be supporting that and what happens if I have to reinstall one after that? Will I even be able to activate it, or will activation force me to abandon it?
Posted by: rdhalsteatzd Posted on: 10/12/06″
I had never considered the possibility that one way for Microsoft to force die-hard Windows XP users to upgrade is through product activation. As a retail user, this means that when Microsoft “End-of-Life”’s Windows XP and ceases to provide patches and updates, activations may cease as well. With no more activation, your copy of XP is somewhat crippled. If your motherboard dies and you have to replace it, you may be entirely out of luck. An image backup may not work with your new motherboard, or windows activation may be triggered by the change in hardware. In both cases, you end up with systems that need to be activated in order to become fully functional. And you are at the entire mercy of the supplier.
Any software tool that requires activation either by telephone or internet is a tool at riskof the supplier no longer being able to provide the activation function, rendering the tool useless.
