From: Rich Gauszka 

It's an inane activation scheme. From Microsoft's own definition one could
make the case that Adobe's activation is a content owner setting the
business rules of a file ( a program in this case ). Most would use
'activation' for clarity in this context - so Subject changed

http://www.microsoft.com/security/glossary.mspx#d

digital rights management (DRM)

Any technology used to protect the interests of owners of content and
services (such as copyright owners). Typically, authorized recipients or
users must acquire a license in order to consume the protected
material—files, music, movies—according to the rights or business rules set
by the content owner.


Rich wrote:
>    What does this have to do with DRM?  Or do you use DRM for everything
> from actual DRM to encrypted email to password protected ZIP files to
> SSL/TLS?
>
> Rich
>
>
>     "Rich Gauszka"      > wrote in message
>     news:45e4792a$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>     Adobe - If you use a disk defragger the activation doesn't like it?
>
>     http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2007/02/acrobat_activat.ht
ml
>     when it comes to stupid IT designs as far as the activation issues I
>     encountered with Adobe. I upgraded from Acrobat 7.0 to 8.0, because the
>     demos and features looked great. After installing it, I didn't
>     really use it
>     for a few months. Then I went to use it and it said it was not
>     activated."
>
>
>     When the reader went to the menu, he was puzzled to see both the
>     "Activate'
>     and "Deactivate' buttons turned off. "Seems stupid --
shouldn't one
>     always
>     be highlighted?" the reader wondered. "After calling in,
Adobe told
>     me to
>     run the repair function. I did, and it worked for one day, and then
>     it was
>     deactivated again and both buttons were off again. I called again
>     and waited
>     on hold forever to be told to uninstall and reinstall. So I
>     uninstalled and
>     it deactivated. I went to reinstall and it said I did not have an
>     original
>     product to upgrade from. Wow, like I'm supposed to keep all
>     hundred-plus key
>     codes I've ever had from Adobe. So after about 3 more people and a
>     lot more
>     time on the phone I got around the installation and activated again
>     with a
>     temp key. Then within hours it deactivated again."
>
>
>     The reader then entered a support nightmare from which he is yet to
>     awaken.
>     For weeks on end, tech after tech would tell him to run the repair
>     function
>     and reinstall. When that wouldn't work, the techs would begin
>     speculating as
>     to what changes he should make to him computer to placate the
>     activation
>     gods. "Gee, the guy would say, why do you need to mirror your hard
>     drive?"
>     the reader wrote. "Then they send me to another and the guy says,
>     gee, if
>     you upgrade or restore your drive, or change your configuration, or
>     backup
>     to Ghost, or use a RAID array, or use a disk defragger, the activation
>     doesn't like it. Then they start asking why I need to do these
>     things, which
>     is none of their business."
>
>
>     Some of the Adobe techs mentioned that what the reader really needed
>     to fix
>     the activation problem was "Patch 2.70." Unfortunately, it seems
>     Patch 2.70
>     is not provided to just any old Acrobat customer, and the reader had to
>     supplicate his way up the support ladder to find someone who could
>     authorize
>     sending it to him. "I finally get to the right guy and he asks me
>     why I need
>     it and why I can't stop mirroring and defragging and using Ghost.
>     Finally he
>     says he'll escalate the issue and I'll have an e-mail in 24 hours.
>     Next day
>     there's no e-mail so I call back. It was never escalated and I have
>     to start
>     the process of filing to get the patch all over again."
>
>
>     The reader is a stubborn man, though, and he eventually prevailed
>     upon Adobe
>     to send him Patch 2.70. It didn't help. Several more weeks of
>     escalations to
>     supervisors and higher levels of Adobe support have followed, without
>     success. Last week Adobe promised to send him a copy of Acrobat -
>     presumably
>     the corporate version - that would get around the problem. But at last
>     report it still hasn't shown, so the reader's copy of Acrobat 8 remains
>     deactivated.
>
>
>     "The amount of time, support, and money that Adobe and I have wasted
>     on this
>     is crazy," the reader wrote. "I understand protecting
your product, but
>     these people have gone way overboard with this activation that's
>     tied so
>     closely to the hardware that you can't do anything that doesn't
>     upset it.
>     Many people back up, restore, defrag and mirror disks and many more
>     will do
>     so as the prices come down. I think Adobe needs to clean some
>     management
>     house, toss out this stupid activation process, and get something
>     that works
>     instead of the runaround."
>

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