I personally have seen how difficult DRM can be. I do computer work for several small businesses and individuals. Many of them have had issues with DRM. Some were flagged in the last raid on illegal copies of windows XP, when the had legit copies. Some have never been able to properly activate their copy of windows. I personal have helped them deal with this issue. 1 person stands out above all, a friend of mine who was given a computer with illegal Windows media center edition on it. He came to me initially with the problem of not being able to activate,(no big deal) I explained to him that the only way to do this was to purchase a real copy and he spent his $ 89.00 to purchase a legit copy of windows. I Reset his cd key to the new key and the product activated with no problem. The very next day he was locked out. He called Microsoft and they told him he would need to purchase another copy because his new copy was illegal. He refused to do this and we battled it out with Microsoft over the next few days. The product finally activated and we thought our problems were over. 1 month later to the day he was locked out again. Once again he called Microsoft to complain they told him to either purchase a new cd key or call their $2.50 a min. tech support as it was not their problem. The computer again found its way to my apartment were I wiped the drive of windows and did a complete reinstall. After the install I tried to activate his computer on the Internet, I was told via a pop-up-box the copy of windows had exceeded its maximum activations. I called the activation line and got a hold of some one at Microsoft, they told me they could not activate the product as the installation key was incorrect. I hung up the phone in anger and gave my friend back his computer. I told him we had 30 days to figure out something. He ended up calling Microsoft and giving them a piece of his mind. They activated his product reluctantly, they didn't even apologize for the inconvenience. The whole adventure to get the product activated to over 2 months and several hours of both my time and his. This should never happen! How long will it be before he if locked out again? How long will it be before they refuse to activate all windows XP products? And people are forced to move to another product. I personally avoid activation at all cost because of this experience.

I've never had any problem verifying and getting a new CD Key with Microsoft. I've done that three times in the last two years for new machines I've bought or acquired.

?

Microsoft is evil! I have heard rumors of them doing a daily check to verify if you software is legit.

Clearly, Mike, you need to read my editorial on Product Activation: http://www.twistedlincoln.com/mainpage/editorials/product-activation/

The point isn't how easy it is to put up with. The point is how offensive it is to have to put up with it at all. Product Activation and DRM forces the consumer to submit to the will of a software provider, even after they've rightfully paid for a product. No one should have to ask Microsoft, or anyone else for permission to use a product they've legally purchased.

This is true for once I agree with Twisted L. Microsoft geeks are like even though you paid for it. It is still mine, and I can take it away from you. Let me put it this way. You buy a house from me. You paid cash but when you purchased the house you sign paperwork that states that, you can't paint it, you can't repair it without contacting me, and at anytime I can lock you out of the house and leave your but in the cold, because I thought that you violated the rules!

True story! I owned Home World 2 for two years. I got a CD crack so that I could play the game and preserve my cd. I had to uninstall the whole game and reinstall it to play it again now without the cd crack.

This morning I tried to play my original Home World 2 CD and I get a trojan virus detection message! To my shock it tells me that I am not using the original homeworld 2 CD! Is this a joke? I have the original cd right here! I will take a picture of it and send it to you. Who are you people and why do you have access to my computer in such a fashion? Number 1 I never heard of you number 2 give me access to my game that I paid $40.00 dollars US for. Number three if you don't I will find a way to sue you, nuff said.

Needless to say I didn't get a response back from the company I sent that email to. That was very annoying! The company's name was Securom.