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  • #16
    Originally posted by Fluff
    Will be interesting to see what sort of product activation they incorporate into Windows Vista.

    I doubt that there will be a corporate style key.
    What Gurm said. I work in enterprise IT as a desktop guy. No chance in hell anyone would buy an OS that would require activation, no matter whether the server was inside or out. If activation took 1 minute, time 75k systems ... that's 1250 hours in lost productivity. At a good corporate tech pay rate of about $20-$25 an hour, that's just about $25k-$32,250 in lost money just because of activation during roll-out. Now add in that during the life of the operating system that each system will, on average, be rebuilt (i.e. OS re-installed for some reason like HDD failure) and you double that amount, plus add on the lost productivity of the client waiting for the system, and those people often times make more money than the tech.

    So let's estimate a $100k loss due to activation for a healthy enterprise with 75k system at an average of 1 minute per activation per 3-year period (the average life of a corporate asset). But let's say that the time it takes to generate encryption and secure connections to MS or the authentication server takes longer. for each additional minute activation takes you tag on another $100k.

    Add that to the already astronomical cost of enterprise licensing ... people would suddenly start looking elsewhere for their OS, like OS X (which has the MS Office Suite available for it) or Linux (though less likely).

    Thus ... it will never happen.

    MSs attempt at curbing piracy will be Vista Ultimte Edition. My guess is that it will be priced at Home Pro prices ($150 upgrade, no questions asked, $250-$300 for a new license) and make it incredibly hard to pirate. By taking out advanced MCE and tweaker style features from Enterprise (the only non-activiation version) they are trying to get gamers and tweakers, the preceived #1 pirate of WinXP, an incentive to buy instead of pirate.

    Just my $0.02.

    Jammrock
    “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
    –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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    • #17
      IMO this kind of fragmentation without lowering prices (or going partially freeware as in the article) is opening the door wide for OS X to walk right on in and take the home/small business market a lot faster than anyone ever imagined.

      Dr. Mordrid
      Dr. Mordrid
      ----------------------------
      An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

      I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

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      • #18
        Also take into consideration that some corps, like mine, use third party proxy servers for internet access. You have to provide a username and password to get a connection out. Activation doesn't work at all from our network, so it would all have to be done over the phone. We only have about 40,000 desktops, but phone activation would probably take at least 5 minutes per. That's 3333 hours of work. Not gonna happen.
        Lady, people aren't chocolates. Do you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive, bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine. -- Dr. Perry Cox

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
          IMO this kind of fragmentation without lowering prices (or going partially freeware as in the article) is opening the door wide for OS X to walk right on in and take the home/small business market a lot faster than anyone ever imagined.
          I'd love to see it happen, but I still have doubts.

          Though when you look at it from the perspective of, "which edition of OS X do I need? Oh, there's just two... well of course I wouldn't need the server edition. I can get a license for five computers for only $199?" Of course, those five have to be Apple's own and they'll already come loaded with OS X, but the latter part sure makes upgrading cheaper.

          Combined with the fact that I don't think we've seen the full scope of Apple's move to Intel. Anything is possible, including MS' continued domination.
          “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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          • #20
            Originally posted by Gurm
            There will always be a corporate key. When a fortune 500 company has to roll out TEN THOUSAND seats behind a one-way-only firewall, activation is simply NOT an option.
            What if the info was just sent via a web browser?

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            • #21
              Originally posted by Kooldino
              What if the info was just sent via a web browser?
              Would still require access through the firewall. Still wouldn't happen.
              “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
              –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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              • #22
                Activation is THE most anoying feature MS has ever come up with
                If there's artificial intelligence, there's bound to be some artificial stupidity.

                Jeremy Clarkson "806 brake horsepower..and that on that limp wrist faerie liquid the Americans call petrol, if you run it on the more explosive jungle juice we have in Europe you'd be getting 850 brake horsepower..."

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                • #23
                  I'd disagree just on the level that I personally have never had any issues with it. To me the damn clippy and his pals were far more annoying
                  “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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                  • #24
                    Clippy could be uninstalled, or better yet not installed at all

                    Activation on a freshly repaired computer who needs drivers to conect to the internet and not letting you logon untill activated forcing you to phone MS IS annoying

                    Worse when you have to convince them that the computer HAS a freaking licence sticker on it and NO to my knowledge that Brand new OEM sticker has NOT been used earlier, then its #¤%& annoying
                    If there's artificial intelligence, there's bound to be some artificial stupidity.

                    Jeremy Clarkson "806 brake horsepower..and that on that limp wrist faerie liquid the Americans call petrol, if you run it on the more explosive jungle juice we have in Europe you'd be getting 850 brake horsepower..."

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                    • #25
                      Well I didn't mean that Activation isn't annoying, just that I haven't had any problems with it. As far as Internet access goes, you can always hold off on activating until you've managed to download the drivers you need... at least I've always been able to.

                      Of course, doesn't make it any better when you shouldn't have to do it in the first place
                      “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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                      • #26
                        I with I hadn't had problems with XP's activation, especially when you have to call some person who barely speaks, or worse yet understands, English.

                        By the end of the call I was almost homicidal.

                        Dr. Mordrid
                        Dr. Mordrid
                        ----------------------------
                        An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

                        I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

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                        • #27
                          What a load of crap. That guy really needs to get in touch with reality.
                          _____________________________
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                          • #28
                            John Dvorak's take:

                            "If there are going to be this many, Microsoft may as well go all the way and add a slew more."

                            PCMag is your complete guide to computers, peripherals and upgrades. We test and review tech products and services, report technology news and trends, and provide shopping advice with price comparisons.
                            Chuck
                            秋音的爸爸

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by cjolley
                              John Dvorak's take:

                              "If there are going to be this many, Microsoft may as well go all the way and add a slew more."

                              http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1858101,00.asp
                              They need to change the Ultimate Edition to:

                              \/\/1|\||)0\/\/5 \/157@ |337 3|)1710|\|



                              Jammrock
                              “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                              –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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