Remove the activation limit until malware stops corrupting HDs!

[RobertCrandall]

I buy a lot of software and I am reinstalling it constantly. I just ran
afoul of the activation limit in Publisher 2003. What a pain in the butt!
If all software / OSes / hard drives never became corrupted and if hardware
upgrades were never necessary then fine, but in the real world I have to
install from scratch every six months or more often. Why should I be limited
by an arbitrary activation limit when I am a loyal and legitimate user? If I
can't use the software that I paid good money for then can I have my money
back? I'm not a criminal, I resent being treated like one, and I'm very
annoyed by this limitation buried in the EULA.

I'm equally annoyed at Adobe for the exact same thing in Creative Studio 2
Premium and also Symantec for Systemworks Premier 2005. In the case of CS2
the activation code was admitted to be buggy on RAID drives (gee, I guess no
Adobe users have any of those) and it had to be reactivated every single time
I went to use any part of it. Then it denied me and I had to explain it all
to some poor person late at night to get it going again.

In Symantec's case I just won't use their products anymore since there DRM
has caused me endless problems and actually corrupted brand new installs
forcing me to reinstall everything else yet again. I'm inclined to avoid
Adobe whereever possible now and I'm borderline on MS products. If the
software isn't there for me 100% of the time including late nights and
weekends then I need to seek out reliable alternatives.

What a let down!

Robert Crandall

----------------
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...1e-590b125fdb68&dg=microsoft.public.publisher

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

Hmm, I've never had to reinstall my software. I keep my OS and application
software fully patched and have absolutely no problems. Why do you feel you
need to uninstall and reinstall so often?

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

My system is 6 years old. The only time a program was
uninstalled/reinstalled is when I reformatted it about 3 years ago to go
from Win98 to XP Pro.

As for malware - I use Spybot, MS AntiSpyware, and Adaware. Pretty much
keeps me free from any issues.

 

[Chuck Davis]

One member of out computer club always did the same. After hearing of his
problem (that was similar to Robert's post) our volunteer service crew
convinced him not to do it. He has now enjoyed almost three years of trouble
free operation. The only time that I have had to start over was when a hard
drive failed—never for software issues. All updates are automatic. The
computer's are on 24/7 and mine is used approximately 6 hours a day.

A retired volunteer...

My system is 6 years old. The only time a program was
uninstalled/reinstalled is when I reformatted it about 3 years ago to go
from Win98 to XP Pro.

As for malware - I use Spybot, MS AntiSpyware, and Adaware. Pretty much
keeps me free from any issues.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

Ditto for me, JoAnn

And I'm still using Pub98, do the math Bob

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

W95 ??



| Hmm, I've never had to reinstall my software. I keep my OS and application
| software fully patched and have absolutely no problems. Why do you feel
you
| need to uninstall and reinstall so often?
|
| --
|
| JoAnn Paules
| MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
|
|
|
message
| | >I buy a lot of software and I am reinstalling it constantly. I just ran
| > afoul of the activation limit in Publisher 2003. What a pain in the
butt!
| > If all software / OSes / hard drives never became corrupted and if
| > hardware
| > upgrades were never necessary then fine, but in the real world I have to
| > install from scratch every six months or more often. Why should I be
| > limited
| > by an arbitrary activation limit when I am a loyal and legitimate user?
| > If I
| > can't use the software that I paid good money for then can I have my
money
| > back? I'm not a criminal, I resent being treated like one, and I'm very
| > annoyed by this limitation buried in the EULA.
| >
| > I'm equally annoyed at Adobe for the exact same thing in Creative Studio
2
| > Premium and also Symantec for Systemworks Premier 2005. In the case of
| > CS2
| > the activation code was admitted to be buggy on RAID drives (gee, I
guess
| > no
| > Adobe users have any of those) and it had to be reactivated every single
| > time
| > I went to use any part of it. Then it denied me and I had to explain it
| > all
| > to some poor person late at night to get it going again.
| >
| > In Symantec's case I just won't use their products anymore since there
DRM
| > has caused me endless problems and actually corrupted brand new installs
| > forcing me to reinstall everything else yet again. I'm inclined to
avoid
| > Adobe whereever possible now and I'm borderline on MS products. If the
| > software isn't there for me 100% of the time including late nights and
| > weekends then I need to seek out reliable alternatives.
| >
| > What a let down!
| >
| > Robert Crandall
| >
| > ----------------
| > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the
"I
| > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
| > this
| > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and
then
| > click "I Agree" in the message pane.
| >
| >
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...1e-590b125fdb68&dg=microsoft.public.publisher
|
|

 

[Ed Bennett]

I buy a lot of software and I am reinstalling it constantly. I just
ran afoul of the activation limit in Publisher 2003.

If none of the other responses have convinced you to ditch the practise,
might I suggest you use the Phone Activation option? If you're rejected by
the computer system (which doesn't always happen, even if you've been
rejected online), you're put through to a human being who can normally
distinguish between a software pirate and a law-abiding citizen.

Read the rest if you like, the actual solution was above.

I'm not a criminal, I resent being treated like one,

Unfortunately, Microsoft can't discriminate between criminals and
non-criminals at the point of sale (plus it would be more expensive to
create separate criminal and non-criminal version), so they have to treat
everyone the same.

To give everyone the benefit of the doubt would bring back the casual piracy
that was seen throughout the '90s (and is still seen now in some products),
which cost Microsoft quite a lot of money.

If Microsoft isn't seen to crack down on such casual piracy, shareholders
tend to get quite angry, as they aren't getting as much return on their
shares as they could be.

and I'm very annoyed by
this limitation buried in the EULA.

Well, you did click "I agree".

If the software isn't there for me 100% of the time
including late nights and weekends then I need to seek out reliable
alternatives.

I for one have never had any Microsoft application suddenly become
"unactivated", nor have I heard of any case of it happening. I've heard
countless cases of it happening with CS2 (and I hang around Microsoft users
and forums all the time, not Adobe ones).