Product Activation

[Mark]

How come Microsoft can't employ the same type of activation or deactivation
of Vista that I-Tunes employs? Activation and deactivation works great with
I-Tunes. If you're going to move your music to another computer, all you do
is tell I-Tunes to deactivate the present computer. Your songs no longer
play on that computer. Then when you transfer them to another computer, you
tell I-Tunes to activate the new computer.Why couldn't Microsoft employ this
kind of technology for their operating systems? Let's say that you were
going to upgrade a bunch of hardware on your computer. Since you know that
this will cause the operating system to have to be reactivated with a phone
call and explanations, why couldn't you just tell the computer to deactivate
itself before you upgrade or move it to a new computer? Wouldn't Microsoft
still be protected? Couldn't they make it so that the deactivated computer
would no longer boot into the operating system? Sure, you'd have to
reinstall it but you'd probably have to reinstall it anyway if you installed
new hardware. You'd definately have to reinstall it on a new computer. Then
after it's installed again, you could just tell the computer to activate
itself. That way, Microsoft would have a record showing that a certain
product key was deactivated before it was reactivated with different
hardware. I-Tunes gives you five activations but couldn't Microsoft just
make it one activation and deactivation per computer?
Any Thoughts?

 

[Scott Thomas]

My thought is Microsoft is dumb.

 

[David B.]

Wow, any other insightful thoughts?

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[Robert Moir]

How come Microsoft can't employ the same type of activation or
deactivation of Vista that I-Tunes employs? Activation and deactivation
works great with I-Tunes. If you're going to move your music to another
computer, all you do is tell I-Tunes to deactivate the present computer.

Of course they could have chose to do this but there is one important issue
with doing it this way.

The vast majority of itunes deactivations and reactivations are going to be
because you've got a new computer and are moving your library.

The vast majority of Windows deactivations and reactivations are going to be
because the OS installation is boned, and hence can't be booted in order to
deactivate.

 

[Microsoft MVP]

Yes, black people are black because they come from near the equator and
Mexicans are that color because they are a little further away. Since they
are used to the sun and working outdoors, it is better for them to work
outdoors.
White people are white because they are from Northern climates and/or live
indoors much of the time, so we shouldn't be living in the South or working
outside in the South.

 

[Mark]

Of course they could have chose to do this but there is one important
issue with doing it this way.

The vast majority of itunes deactivations and reactivations are going to
be because you've got a new computer and are moving your library.

The vast majority of Windows deactivations and reactivations are going to
be because the OS installation is boned, and hence can't be booted in
order to deactivate.

So, why not just be able to deactivate the product key? That way you could
do it from another computer.

 

[Robert Moir]

So, why not just be able to deactivate the product key? That way you could
do it from another computer.

Because you'd be really annoyed if I sat here as an anonymous stranger and
turned your copy of Vista off because I managed to enter the wrong key
(whether by accident or maliciously)? You'd need some way to demonstrate you
have the 'authority' to deactivate a machine, which would be best
demonstrated by physical and admin access to the machine (this is what
itunes uses) and with the OS this takes us back to my "what if you can't
because the install is boned and won't start up".

I've got to say I'm _not_ happy with the whole concept of activation and
WGA, but for all the many numerous faults around the whole concept, I think
the people who have designed the Windows implementation have gamed all of
these issues out already and while the current system might suck, I'm
willing to bet they've done lots of work and satisfied themselves that all
the other solutions suck even more.