Microsoft To Nix Some Net Product Activation

25 Feb, 2005 at 12:47am ET Article published in Tech

Customers who find themselves reinstalling Windows XP should be ready for a headache: Microsoft will no longer support activating the product over the Internet for PCs which have Windows pre-installed.

Intended to curtail the stealing and selling of certificates of authenticity, the new security measure will start at the end of this month. At first, it will be limited to the Windows XP software preinstalled on systems shipped by the top 20 PC sellers.

“The main reason (for the change) is to address piracy in this area,” a Microsoft representative said on Thursday. “Microsoft has found various people selling the labels of authenticity that they have copied or have pulled off other PCs.”

The change is the latest attempt by Microsoft to target software pirates who try to sell stolen copies of Windows XP or the certificates of authenticity that mark the software as legitimate. The company has a plan to check that people’s operating systems are properly licensed before allowing them to download certain updates. The plan, known as the Windows Genuine Advantage initiative, was introduced in January.

Starting Feb. 28, Microsoft’s product security will require that customers who need to reinstall their operating system call a customer service representative to get a code that will reactivate their Windows XP system. New systems shipped from the top 20 PC makers, also known as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), will be preactivated, stated a memo posted to the blog Aviran’s Place. The Microsoft representative said the memo was authentic.

Source: ZDNet

Comments

25 Feb 2005 ~ 12:50am primesuspect So will this mean that ALL OEM copies will be phone-activation only?
25 Feb 2005 ~ 12:55am Madball phone activation sucks donkey balls.

I always have to talk to some dude from India that speaks way too fast.
25 Feb 2005 ~ 12:56am primesuspect even worse, it can take like up to 10 minutes.

That BLOWS if you have to activate more than 1 or 3.
25 Feb 2005 ~ 1:35am RWB Does it cost money to call them?
25 Feb 2005 ~ 2:05am DanG No, it's toll free anywhere in North America.
25 Feb 2005 ~ 3:17am shwaip I don't know if it is still the case, but for my phone activation, i had to read some 25 digit alpha-numeric sequence to a computer...twice, and then once again to a real person who finally activated me. damn that was annoying.

So will this mean that ALL OEM copies will be phone-activation only?

I reckon it means that those copies which come pre-imaged on a hd are the only ones that apply here. You rarely ever get the actual install disk, just an hd image of after the pc has been activated, so there's no real need to activate...unless you don't want the standard install that comes with the compaq/dell/etc.
25 Feb 2005 ~ 8:00am Enverex

DanG wrote:

No, it's toll free anywhere in North America.

afaik, Microsoft sells Windows in places other than North America too...
25 Feb 2005 ~ 10:35am GHoosdum Good point, Enverex. When you're activating, you select your region/location/country in the activation window, and it tells you what number to call. AFAIK, they're all toll free numbers, but in, idunno, Djibouti or somewhere like that it might be a toll call...