I think people should have the option of knowing a license agreement before they buy a product.Even Taildragger was not clear using words like MAY Reactivate, thus leaving that open to interpretation, by whom, MSFT of course....And I also am of the opinion that FSX will not be a problem with reactivation, but the door is open, and the future we see is the scheme for Vista.The question is how many inconveniences is one willing to put up with before it becomes an intrusion. And of course using words like MAY instead of WILL is about the biggest spin move I've observed in a while.And I also don't think there is anything wrong with questioning these schemes. So when you say what is wrong with people, I say what is wrong with questioning tactics one may not agree with?Oh and by the way, at least the EULA's are now avaialble before purchase.Gave me a whole new approach to Installing the VISTA RC. Decline for now.

>First - we asked for this - with all the "No CD" cracks out>there.>>Second - every piece of software you buy from Microsoft will>have this in the future.That's what I find so interesting. Once we confirmed we'd be using activation and getting rid of the CD requirement there was much rejoicing. Now, there's much angst. Gee, what's next? ;) Anyway, as many people have pointed out it works pretty much the same as XP and, yes, it's corporate policy--so I'm happy to listen to your feedback, I just can't do anything about it. :(

>activation ONLY cares if you make a *SUBSTANTIAL*>change to your system I guess they consider changing one hard drive a substantial change to your system.I back up my system with a second hard drive in a removable drive caddy by making a clone of my hard drive as the back up.To test the clone, I rebooted to the cloned HD and ran FSX as a test... FSX wanted to use its second activation.So just changing a hard drive appears to be enough to trigger the re-activation.

you're phrase "If an activation attempt is unsuccessful you can all a support number and explain your situation and they may grant you a new activation."What folks see instantly is the word "may", which allows the chance that they may NOT grant you a new activation. Now you've got folks really concerned.Microsoft needs to find a way to console their honest customers, assure them that they won't get denied a key after they've exhausted the standard key renewal point.Now, I'm a homebuilder and tweaker. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to re-activate windows xp. I will state that although xp claims to only need reactivation after a major change, its forced me to re-activate after simply changing video cards. I can't know if fsx will be that fussy or not. But....I've always been permitted to activate by simply telling the person I rebuilt my computer. There seems to be no "may" about it, I CAN re-activate...after explaining I rebuilt my computer.I'm going to assume the same with fsx....but lots of people are right now freaking out because you allowed the possibility that the guy could say no.Do you really think its possible that an honest person will be denied the use of the product due to a computer rebuild?That's what people need to know.Best,Bob Bernstein

<>Well, I can only say what I know. I don't know what guidelines that the CSRs use when dealing with activation issues so I presume there are cases where a request is denied. If that has people freaked out I'm afraid I can't offer much to console them.

I really do not understand Microsoft at all. The only reason for the weird EULA is greed. Hey buy vista from us it's only 400 dollars, and get fsx also ! Then we check your pc everytime it starts up to make sure it's still the same one, because you see you do not own the product.You pay us to only have it running on 1 pc, and o my if you upgrade anything substancial we will deactivate your product and make you call us so we can maybe maybe (like tdagger said "might") give you out of the goodness of our heard, a new key.The people who affects this nonsense most, are the people who keep the pc industry alive by buying all the new hardware when it comes out. This also drives the new software sales, like vista and fsx.With this EULA microsoft is giving the people who pay, the worst user experience ever. What's the point in all the hassle when there are pirated versions even before release, that do not annoy you on a regular basis ?!Here in the EU it's driving people away : What's the point in paying inflated prices to get a deflated user experience. As long as pirated software is easier to use, who is going to pay ?If you want us here in Europe and Asia to pay for your products, you will have to give us the right to use it as we please, just as is possible with all other consumer products. I want to be able to lend/sell my software that i paid for, just as would be possible with a book. Also add perks for people that pay, like online play, extra stuff and so on.Give people an incentive to buy, instead of one to use bittorrent.

I am thinking could not Vista or FSX simply read in the Chip sets ID number and if it's still the same since the last install then I think that Microsoft or any body else for that matter could safely assume that it's not being installed on more machines than what the licence is set up for. If in addition the code also looks for say the "phyical adress" for your network chip on your MoBo as well and since both the chip set and the "network chip" are both soldered to any given motherboard that should be more than enough to tell any app that you are not installing said app on another machine but are simply say adding a new Video card, memory or even a new CPU. The above can be done as several apps that I use in my studio all ready do the above and if I need to reinstall an app I can with out any real problems. Dan Martin Team Flight Ontario. BTW I am haveing great fun with FSx it runs good on my machine at home (ASUS M2N32 sli with a GeForce 7950and Nforce 590 chip set)with 2 gigs ram.

doesn't work Dan...the motherboard is always replaced when I rebuild my computer. Have to, the socket is always different for the newer processors.No, the answer is to console the honest user that the activation procedure will reward an honest discussion with the activation center with a new key. Console us that all we will have to do is to explain the fact that we rebuilt our computers. At least my experience with xp has been like that, and I really don't think microsoft would be well served by denying an honest person the key for that person rebuilding. Rubs wrong on too many counts. There are mistakes being made here. Conceptual ones. Piracy is a phantom, no one can say what Microsoft has lost due to it. It can be argued that claims of losses are wildly exaggerated by the assumption that pirates become customers if their pirate path is cut off. That may not be the case, thus doubt over the problem. The fact is that flight sim has always sold VERY well. Top game at times, yes? Those sales are surely profitable. So, no matter how you look at it, Microsoft is winning, in spite of whatever piracy is going on.In that light, it boggles my mind to imagine that Microsft feels the customer should face uncertainty that they'll really be able to use the product they bought license to as long as they might like to.I know Mike is unable to speak for Microsoft here. I'm not asking him to. I'm hoping "Z" is reading.Bob Bernstein

To be honest I'm not convinced by the install many times on an unchanged system commnts I've read here.I uninstalled FSX because I wanted to changed some software and also move it to a different drive with more space, when I reloaded, presto, it wanted to reactivate FSX.This means I've used my two lives. Don't intend to carry out the third until or if it becomes a "no other option" decision.Ron

This whole activation business has finally convinced me - no FSX until late next year when I anticipate upgrading to a new system, there are heaps of reasons to delay a purchase anyway and this ridiculous activation nonsense is the last straw!Bruceb

McGrath, FWIW Means "For What Its Worth"

Me, I'm just happy I don't need to leave the DVD in the drive.I installed twice on a desktop PC without activation problems. Then I installed on a laptop to troubleshoot a problem where pressing a Fox 2 Pro button would instantly reboot the PC. I had no problem activating on the laptop -- and it did not have the reboot problem either.So I'm not going to worry about activation problems for now and call the support line if I happen to have any in the future.

Well that's if one replaces the MOBO what I am talking about is when you have to re-install not build a new system plus at least with AMD systems with their memeory controller the chip sets do not have to change as often.

I have never had to have the CD in the drive, you do know there are patches out there to fix that? I don't even recall ever reading a post complaining about that issue, I assumed everyone was doing what I did. I think the bottom line here, is that the honest users need confirmation from Microsoft that we are going to be able to continue to use their product that we purchase. Period. So what if we have to make a phone call. I have to do that every time now with XP, without changing a thing in my computer. So I think someone should contact the proper people at Microsoft and get them to post our answers in here, and put an end to this nonsense. Don't you agree?I just remembered something. We have to do the same thing with some 3rd party aircraft. And there's no phone call, it's email and wait a few days in some cases.

Agreed Jim. I too build systems on the side, so I have the same concerns about FSX and reinstalls, ** if what we hear is true **. If Microsoft refuses to honor my purchase after 2 times, I will have no choice but to do something I would rather not do.I think activation has its merits, but placing an artificial limit on the # of times for an install is not the answer. RhettAMD 3700+ (@2.5 ghz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (94.47), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian