From: "Randy H" 

In reading the Microsoft 'documentation' on Product Activation they state
that Microsoft "will likely" release an update to disable
activation once a product that uses activation reaches end-of-life status,
implying that activation will cease to be provided on EOL products as that
is a support function.

In the same section Microsoft vehemtly states that activation is nothing
more than an anti-piracy method and not a method to force users to new
versions of their product.

If "will likely" became "will" and they actually do
release such an update then I have no issue.

We'll see what happens, but I'm not that confident that such a thing will
be forthcoming.

"Geo"  wrote in message
news:41fcef7c$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> "Randy H"  wrote in message
> news:41fbfc1d$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>>>Can you gaurantee that Product Activation will still function when the
> product hits EOL?
>
> Along the same lines, have you ever heard of a software vendor who used
> copy
> protection who removed the copy protection when they no longer offered the
> product for sale? It's under copyright for life plus 70 or 120 years, why
> should they not restrict it just because it's obsolete in their opinion?
>
> Ask those who were running the OS/2 word processor Describe how it
> functions
> today..
>
> Ask those who were running the original version of neotrace how it works
> today.. There is one that forced an upgrade because they stopped the
> map/location servers it used. When I purchased the software they never
> mentioned that the one feature (mapping) I bought it for would stop
> working
> when they discontinued support for that version. I even helped them
> collect
> the information for their damn maps by entering long/lat locations for
> netlink routers.
>
> Microsoft want's to turn software into a service, no matter what they say
> is
> going to happen you can't depend on it because things change. Unless they
> are going to give you some key bypass or something that you have in your
> possession or is held in escrow then you can't assume the issue is
> resolved,
> activation makes software "service dependent".
>
> Geo.
>
>

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