Subj : Forced registration in Whistler To : All From : Geo. Date : Mon Mar 26 2001 04:55 am From: "Geo." Why forced online registration in Whistler is a bad idea. Ok, picture this. You've been running windows XP for a few years, so one day for some reason you decide a clean install is the way to go. You reinstall your OS but when you go to register it you find out that Microsoft has dropped all support for it (it's an old version now) and you can't register it. The software tells you that if you don't register it then it will shut off after 30 days or whatever. Sound unlikely? Just happened to me with CuSeeMe. I was running version 2.1.1.1, current version is 4.something. I reinstalled it and it and I can't enter my serial number, the software tells me it's expired. This is the non-demo downloaded version you get when you pay for it. I write to the Cuseeme people and they tell me it's not supported anymore and I will have to buy an upgrade. I check their site for upgrades and it says I have to be running version 3 to upgrade. So in reality the software I paid for cannot be reinstalled and if I want the current version I get no price break, it's like buying it all over again. With the way MS drops support for old versions of windows, I wonder how long it will be before you cannot reregister an old version online anymore. I think before anyone buys windows XP that MS should commit to some predefined time period where they guarantee that we will be able to reregister the software online. Without that information I would be very worried about using windows XP. Geo. --- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP * Origin: Barktopia Gating Project http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45) .