Back in the old days, you could copy programs. It was very easy to make
bootleg copies of software. I can't blame software manufacturers for
stopping that practice.
Despite draconian measures by some companies, if bootlegging is the way
you want to go, you can still do it and with some ease.
The only folks that really suffer, are those of us daft enough to pay for
legit software.
And what's the big deal about reinstalling software? If you have the
disks or at least your backup disk), it's a few extra minutes to do it
right. Probably not any harder than "cloning" a new drive.
I'd like to see anyone, who's not doing it by the clone method, fully
reinstall MS-Windows in less than "hours".
The additional problem, particularly since the release of Vista, the
illegitimates in most cases don't supply a Windows install disk.
Some of them do put install files in a secret partition on the HD, but if
your HD goes .... Up what then.
Granted one or two suppliers, even have software that allows you to
produce your own Recovery disk, but it's a recovery disk, not a Win
install disk.
Many more companies don't.
Gawd knows what they'll be doing to Win 7... (Really Vista SP3) You'll
probably have to phone MS to ask for permission to switch your own
computer on.
Dave