bit-tech.net | Microsoft clarifies Vista activation to bit-tech hacks

This article pretty much speaks for itself, but I will add a little to it.  I hate that the software world is moving in the direction of  limiting consumers’ usage of products that they legally obtain.  It is getting to where you can do a lot more with stuff you don’t even buy.  This is the same problem that is affecting the firearms industry.  You can make all the gun laws you want, but those laws only affect people who follow rules and order.  If you don’t follow any law, but live only by what you think is right and wrong, then these laws really don’t matter.  It looks good.  It looks like we are trying,  but it is ineffective.

The criminals are not going to worry about limited activation.  They are going to run illegal corporate copies that do not require activation.  They are going to reverse engineer the activation code and make it usless and keep Microsoft patching to repair their product.  We are only hurting the consumer.  However, Microsoft did strike a swift blow to the pirates with their Windows Genuine Advantage tool.  It checks the system for valid keys before allowing software updates and downloads from the Microsoft website.  But this will, in the end, be broken by the hacker world.  When you have that many skilled people attacking your code, it will eventually yield answers.

I will put my complaint in the open.  If I pay for your product, I want to use it in which ever way I desire.   Stop making these licenses that completely limit my use of products I legally own.  There are too many open source alternatives to paid software right now that have no cost associated with them.  If you will not allow me to use what I buy, then I will make alternatvie choices.  These other available options are viable and have been tested on corporate and home environments.  Maybe they are not as polished, but with more more supporter, they may add me to the many supporters they have already and eventually gain market-share and deliver a more polished product.

Microsoft is not the only company with this approach to licensing.  There are many other software developers that want to limit what the word ownership means.  The bad thing is that they seem to think this limited use of their product is more valuable than past versions of the same.  I might actually be willing to purchase reduced usage of a product for reduced price terms, but that is not how they play the game.  The sad thing is, they might eventually be playing the game alone.

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Filed under: Technology by Philip Williams