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A Genuine Microsoft Mistake | 28 comments (28 topical) | Post A Comment
Activation/WGA is what drove me away from Windows[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 11:42:18 AM PDT

I had been a longtime fan of Microsoft until they released Windows XP with activation. When activation made its way into the Windows version of Office, it was clear it was time to move elsewhere.

After checking out a few alternatives, I made my way to the Mac and OS X, dropping nearly every application I regularly used when my main system ran Windows (from 3DS Max to Visual Studio) in favor of activation free, OS X compatible equivalents. The only applications that made the switch with me were Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Microsoft Office because the Mac versions did not use any sort of activation scheme.

Since then Adobe has added activation to its Mac offerings, and while I tried to put off upgrading for as long as I could, I broke down and upgraded to Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium because it added native support for OS X running on Intel CPUs. Big mistake.

After only a few months of use the licensing system "failed catastrophically" and all of my Adobe CS3 apps refused to run (if you want to read the story behind this and Adobe's frustrating, yet comical response, you can do so here).

I have since sworn to never again purchase any software that uses activation or anything like WGA/OGA. I've been burned several times by failures in such schemes for software that I legitimately purchased and had every right to use.

I dread the day Microsoft adds activation and OGA to the Mac version of Office. I've no doubt it is coming one day, but I hope not too soon. While I've replaced Excel and PowerPoint with Numbers and Keynote from the iWork suite (both of which blow away the offerings from Microsoft and the OpenOffice.org in terms of usability), I still haven't found anything that bests Word when it comes to word processing -- at least for my needs. Hopefully Pages or OpenOffice.org's Writer will get to that point before MS brings activation and OGA to Office for the Mac.

I still keep a Windows machine around for the times that I absolutely have to write software for Windows, but I'm actively working to make sure those occasions are fewer and further between. Activation, along with WGA, has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't even give software vendors a chance anymore if their products employ such junk.



[ Reply to This ]


Corporate Licenses[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by tscoff on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 09:35:04 AM PDT

At work I'm able to buy corporate site licenses and they do not include activation for the most part.  I wish that I had that option for my personal computers too.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


Won't help[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#14)
by LasVegan on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 07:25:31 AM PDT

Corporate licenses do not have activation but they still have WGA. Activation normally doesn't bother a running machine, WGA can.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


WGA wasn't auto-approved tg[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous User on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 09:05:21 AM PDT

We got this patch on our two WSUS servers during this time frame.  Fortunately, Microsoft was kind enough to force the patch to be approved, even if you have some automatic approval rules.  So this sits unapproved on our servers.

Mainly because we paid a @#$% load of money for an Office VLK only to have M$ invalidate it and ask us to pay again.

Yea, I'm running a Mac with Openoffice 2.4 now.  Wish we could do the same thing company wide.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



Agree with you![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by James Bond on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 05:44:43 PM PDT

I have also made it my policy not to purchase any software that uses any sort of internet activation any longer. It will come back to bite you some day. as you have already experienced.

As for Windows XP, well I am using a Corporate version with no activation (yes it still has WGA, but I simply refuse to install the WGA Notifications whenever it is "available" and/or simply download a crack to disable it). I am also using a Corporate version of Windows Server 2003 (which does not have WGA) and Ubuntu. I will never get or use Vista. Windows XP and 2003 probably will be the last Windows I use. I also have 2 Macs.

Microsoft (and any other company that employs software activation like Symantec) will never see another cent of my money. For Adobe I still cut them some slack since it still has software that are good and has no activation, like Photoshop Elements. But I will not purchase any other Adobe products that employs activation like Photoshop or Dreamweaver (I am still using an older version of that from Macromedia).

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yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#28)
by maderikapapa on Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 01:46:56 AM PDT

出会い系出会い系サイト出会い喫茶出会い掲示板ナンパ出会いカフェ人妻出会い無 009;系サイト優良出会い系攻略 完全無料。アダルトビデオアダルト動画アダルトアニメアダルト画像アダル 488;サイト無料DVDアダルト風俗サンプル無料風俗優良アダルトサイト比較海 806;。人妻画像人妻パラダイス知合い人妻援護会人妻コレクション風 439;告白。熟女画像東京熟女掲示板動画熟女ビデオおまんこオナニー。エロ画像エロフラッシュアニメ 456;ロ動画エロゲームエロ漫画無料エロサイト。エッチ画像エッチ動画エッチ小説写真エッチ 450;ニメエッチ0930。セックスアナルセックス画像セックス動画セックスフレンドスワッピングSEX写真セックスボランティセ 483;クス体位東京セックス仕方 SEX。おっぱい画像おっぱい村長おっぱい楽園掲示板お 387;ぱい命おっぱいゲーム。巨乳動画巨乳画像アイドル巨乳 522;示板風俗。セフレ募集セフレ掲示板セフレ画像掲示板セフレの作り方出会い無料素人セフレ。童貞狩りエロ漫画童貞狩り童貞喪失童貞オークション素人童貞逆援。不倫パートナー不倫出会い人妻不倫不倫を楽しみたい方にはお薦め 154;妻画像など満載出会いサイトを楽しむならココ無料出会いで一緒に遊ぼう出会いはLOVEｱｹﾞｲﾝで決まり

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#20)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 06:57:33 PM PDT

出会い系出会い系サイト出会い喫茶出会い掲示板ナンパ出会いカフェ人妻出会い無 009;系サイト優良出会い系攻略 完全無料。アダルトビデオアダルト動画アダルトアニメアダルト画像アダル 488;サイト無料DVDアダルト風俗サンプル無料風俗優良アダルトサイト比較海 806;。人妻画像人妻パラダイス知合い人妻援護会人妻コレクション風 439;告白。熟女画像東京熟女掲示板動画熟女ビデオおまんこオナニー。エロ画像エロフラッシュアニメ 456;ロ動画エロゲームエロ漫画無料エロサイト。エッチ画像エッチ動画エッチ小説写真エッチ 450;ニメエッチ0930。セックスアナルセックス画像セックス動画セックスフレンドスワッピングSEX写真セックスボランティセ 483;クス体位東京セックス仕方 SEX。おっぱい画像おっぱい村長おっぱい楽園掲示板お 387;ぱい命おっぱいゲーム。巨乳動画巨乳画像アイドル巨乳 522;示板風俗。セフレ募集セフレ掲示板セフレ画像掲示板セフレの作り方出会い無料素人セフレ。童貞狩りエロ漫画童貞狩り童貞喪失童貞オークション素人童貞逆援。不倫パートナー不倫出会い人妻不倫不倫を楽しみたい方にはお薦め 154;妻画像など満載出会いサイトを楽しむならココ無料出会いで一緒に遊ぼう出会いはLOVEｱｹﾞｲﾝで決まり

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


A Genuine Microsoft Mistake | 28 comments (28 topical) | Post A Comment
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