Sit with me, picture this scenario if you will.

You go into a store, pick up a copy of software, and take it home, putting it on your PC, hoping it will work.
Note that I do say hoping, because, God only knows WHAT kind of crap can cause problems and conflicts with software any more. I had this case with NWN2 and Microsoft Windows Vista a few months back. Went in, picked up the thing, found “Oh, it doesn’t work”. WTF?

Reading the receipt for the product, I discovered something very very cruel. Even IF the software doesn’t work on my PC, I don’t get a refund. So, essentially, I just wasted $40 on software I’ll NEVER be able to use, never be able to install on a PC, because Windows XP is last year’s OS. Target has specifically stated “no refunds on opened software”. Umm, what?

Well, Microsoft, the big blue giant that it is, has taken this one step further. They’ve said “Sure, you can use our software, but NOT if you change your hardware”.

Anyone that knows me knows I’m a hardware buff. I wear the shit out of my hardware, I admit it. Hard drives? Typically gone within a year. Processor? 2 max. Motherboard? Yeah, maybe 1-2.

For 5 years, I played with XP, moved it between systems (all on ONE system mind you, never concurrent, never running on two pc’s consecutively). After a year of this, I had to call Microsoft’s support every time I had to reinstall the OS (average 2-3 months).

With Vista, I’d hoped they’d learned their lesson and had some way to track hardware usage. Unfortunately, such is not the case. Sit back, and I’ll tell you the tale of my beast and Vista.

When I got back from vacation (June’ish), I picked up a digital copy of vista (legally) off of e-bay. I paid for it, have the records to prove it. Great stuff. It activated well enough, had no problems whatsoever and ran just dandy .

Upon seeing this, a month or so later, I upgraded said version to Ultimate (to the tune of about $150). This was (again) a digital upgrade. Software DVD’s and CD’s are sooooo yesterday.

Here’s the catch, and (almost) amusing part of this whole scenario.
In order to install the software, I have to follow three steps:

Firstly, I have to install Vista on my pc (basic version).
Once that’s installed, I have to use the download (or dvd I burned) to upgrade from basic to the middle of the line package.
Once that’s upgraded, and validated, I have to then use the software Microsoft sent me (a registry key methinx) to upgrade to ultimate.

That’s all well and good, until you run into the “windows genuine advantage” bullshit. Who is this an “advantage” for? Customers? Not so, says I, ESPECIALLY when you’re dealing with having to activate, validate twice now (instead of once, which it should be).

But, I digress.

Up until last week, the software ran just fine, no hitches, no glitches, it said “Hi, Tom, I recognize you as the “owner” of me”. That is, until my first almost major HD failure.

The drive was RMA’d back to Western Dig (I still need to run up to UPS to ship it back), but Microsoft keyed in on the new drive and said “Wait, you have new hardware, I no longer recognize you as my owner”. WHAT THE FUCK?

I could see if Microsoft had said “You changed your motherboard”, or “You changed your CPU”, but seriously folks, I’ve changed TWO things on this PC since the time I had bought Vista

A> Upgraded video card (shouldn’t affect licensing at all)
B> Replaced faulty hard drive (again, shouldn’t affect licensing one iota).

These two separate items mean I have to (now) call Microsoft, not ONCE, but TWICE in order to get my shit activated . That’s “customer service” for you. The best part?

The second time I called (last time), I got stuck arguing with this (surprisingly Indian) guy who said “You need a key to activate Windows Vista, what is your key”. When he couldn’t understand that I had bought a DIGITAL download (I told him 3 times) and no key was given, he hung up on my ass. Yes, folks, this is quality service from big blue, right there!

The problem is that there’s no other alternative, seriously!
Linux won’t run Windows crap
Macs are Macs, they’re not built for “hardware enthusiasts”, and they’re certainly not going to handle every Windows software that comes out.
Businesses build for what’s popular. That’s not Mac or Linux, that’s Windows, for the home user.

Whoever declared Microsoft was NOT a monopoly seriously (and I mean seriously) screwed up here. One giant manipulates every company selling PC’s to sell THEIR software as an “OS”, yet this isn’t a “monopoly”? If Microsoft doesn’t have full fucking control of the environment, who the hell does?

“Genuine advantage”? Yeah, advantage Microsoft!