Informative, thanx. A good approach for MS, convenient and streamlined. But also an endless headache, I think. Gotta call the mothership every time you do an OS install (perhaps intermittently, on some random Microsoft auditing schedule, too) - but failure to connect means your OS can't be activated? You're also locked into Microsoft's planned upgrade path for your Win version, not an issue for most people - or so they think, before trying to upgrade the bottom-of-the-bucket Windows versions which came preinstalled on their machines. No details given yet about whether you can activate/register multiple Windows OS versions on the same hardware.

And the world will be shocked and outraged and alarmed when - unexpectedly! - Microsoft's Windows Activation servers get hacked, service is denied for a while, emergency updates will have to fix something broken, etc, etc. This isn't anything new, but the more the Big Corporation shifts the balance off your computer towards their cloud, the more attractive and far-reaching the effects of online vandalism will become.

Not saying I particularly like or dislike the whole idea (although I have been inconvenienced by Microsoft's anti-piracy implementations far more than by the piracy itself), just saying that's the way it is. I actually kinda hope Microsoft screws up and looks bad, at least a little, maybe more people will break their Windows and see Tux.

This stuff isn't new, it's probably been happening for the last 20 years or more in some form, you just didn't know it. Who knows, what, where, when, and how they glean our information?

The big difference, as I understand it, is that the hardware-software pairing will be stored in Microsoft's marriage registry forever. You won't be able to use that "copy" of the Microsoft OS on other hardware without some Microsoft hassles. You might be unable to use a different Microsoft OS on the same hardware without some Microsoft hassles. Hassles which float in the cloud and follow you from machine to machine forever.

Put it another way - the worst you could expect before was that your Windows copy was permanently deactivated, you would have to buy another copy. The worst that could be expected now is that the laptop+Windows copy is permanently deactivated, without any option to reinstall a Windows OS (or perhaps any OS?) on that laptop hardware without resorting to Microsoft hassle (ie, rounds of email tag, hours at the call center, online and offline support ... all a waste of time).

My cynicism revolves around the fact that I never have problems with my software. I really don't - I buy clean copies, I install clean copies, I protect my copies, it's all perfect. But I must deal with dozens of people each year, hundreds per Windows release, who will somehow find a way to break their Microsoft. Perhaps one third of them are, in essence, basically trying to pirate Windows - they paid for the hardware but they want the software free. But the majority of these people are essentially normal consumers with normal problems and normal use - frustrated by Microsoft's involuntarily-enforced paranoia.

IDK to my understanding it's kinda like it used to be. You had a validation code, they knew it had this hardware, this hard ware, and this hard ware. If any of that changed, MS would challenge you for the proper code, and if had mostly the same hardware. If not I am going with the proper windows code here after a major hardware change..

What I fail to grasp is, why if you have all the appropriate activation codes... Why are you so worried about MS activation code. Its simple and it works!

lol, I'm not worried about my computer, I like having everything registered behind a secured datatrail. I'm worried about how much hassle (with Microsoft support and with people who own sick laptops/Windows) that I'm going to have to deal with. I hate explaining things with technical specifics when, in the end, the real problem is financially specific. From a technical standpoint I agree, there's no functional change between Microsoft's "old" and "new" registration process, aside from them admitting that they have access to one more non-anonymous detail, no big deal unless you're interested in circumventing them. From a practical standpoint I'm saying that it's going to frustrate a lot of people who didn't (and wouldn't) dare to do anything wrong.

just tell em your pc died and you had to buy a new one.
done it several times.
depends on the numbnutt your talking on the phone whit and how that person is, you may get the info stored in their database wiped so you can instal it on the new pc.