activation

[Bill]

I have heard that Vista needs to be reactivated every 90 days. Is this true
?
We are currently running XP Corp and the install did not require activating
on any of our machines.
Will Vista Ultimate be the same? I have heard that we will need a separate
server to hold the license keys the same way that 2000 Server used to work.
Is this true? If so, does that mean the on site server will reactivate the
workstations every 90 days?
Can we run without a server and still use Vista Ultimate ?

Thanks

Bill

 

[Jane C]

No, that is not true. If you have Volume Licence, there are 2 methods of
activating. MAK keys, which have to individually activate on the Microsoft
servers, or KMS keys, which have to activate on a KMS server. The KMS keys
have to reactivate every 180 days with the KMS server.

If you do not have Volume Licence media, and activate normally over the
internet direct to the Microsoft servers, you do not have to reactivate
unless you make significant hardware changes to a pc that would trigger a
reactivation request.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/plan/volact.mspx

 

[Michelle Steiner]

No, that is not true. If you have Volume Licence, there are 2 methods of
activating. MAK keys, which have to individually activate on the Microsoft
servers, or KMS keys, which have to activate on a KMS server. The KMS keys
have to reactivate every 180 days with the KMS server.

If you do not have Volume Licence media, and activate normally over the
internet direct to the Microsoft servers, you do not have to reactivate
unless you make significant hardware changes to a pc that would trigger a
reactivation request.

or just get a Macintosh, which doesn't ever require "activation". you
just install the OS and no matter what, you will never have to enter an
activation code. plus you get the use of a much more refined Operating
System and better hardware.