Subj : Re: Forced registration in Whistler To : Geo. From : Glenn M. Date : Mon Mar 26 2001 04:11 am From: "Glenn M." Sounds Peachy. Did I miss a discussion here about the MS program called "Hailstorm", or is it "Halestorm"? -- Glenn Meadows "Geo." wrote in message news:3abf8172$1@w3.nls.net... | 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) .