

To fight piracy, Microsoft tightens MSDN and TechNet terms again - chaud
http://www.zdnet.com/to-fight-piracy-microsoft-tightens-msdn-and-technet-terms-again-7000000131/

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UnoriginalGuy
Ouch; they've really taken something fun and made it a pain in the neck to
use.

Getting a Technet or MSDN subscription used to be enjoyable since you just got
freedom to test what you wanted when you wanted and on what machines (or VMs)
you wanted.

Now every time you activate you will have to think "Is this installation worth
an activation?" Because what the article fails to mention is that each key has
an activation limit (so 3 * 10 = 30 total activations per product).

Even on my retail copy of Windows 7 Pro I constantly hit the activation limit
and need to call them. Which you would know is damn annoying as you have to
type in and type back like sixty digit strings of nonsense.

I thought activation was originally meant to stop pirates not harass paying
customers? Where did Microsoft lose it's way?

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PopaL
With Windows 7 you can backup a clean installation (OS and drivers), no need
to reactivate, just recover from a backup ...

Same goes for a VM, just make a copy of the fresh installed VM.

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UnoriginalGuy
So I should alter the way I use the software to work around limitations
imposed by their DRM? How is that an acceptable solution?

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MichaelGG
Well that's good to know. All this time, I've always been super cautious with
my MSDN keys figuring Microsoft keeps a tight eye on activations and whatnot.
Stuff like not activating a machine because I might reinstall it within the
grace period. Good to know I don't have to worry.

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freehunter
"Welcome to ZDNet!" covering the article. Goodbye ZDNet. Why do companies
insist on things like this? Many times I see "Would you like to take our
survey?" I haven't even seen your damn page yet!

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jtdennis
Suddenly I'm happy that I did a big technet download spree a while back for a
bunch of older software. This also reminds me to request the rest of my keys
and download the XML dump of them.

~~~
voltagex_
Just to let you know, you'll have to request your keys over a number of days
as there appears to be a limit to the number of keys you can claim within a 24
hour period.

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mcmillion
Surely this will prevent people from downloading pirated copies of said
software.

