I faced a Window similar to this today after swapping out my motherboard, processor, and RAM from my old computer.
I dreaded the notion of having to call Microsoft and go through the registration process, but I have to say it wasn’t nearly as painful as I had thought. I was routed to a call center after speaking in 9 groups of 6 digits into the phone. This was tedious, but I turned it into a personal challenge of diction and accuracy and passed with flying colors. After MS again told me my number was not valid (I had just been told by MS on the Internets) I was routed to a human.
The woman who helped me was very pleasant, and a very fast 10-key typist. I rattled off the 54 digit code to her and she rattled one back to me in pretty short order. I typed in the key code (again, flawless on the first try) and I was genuine again. Oh what a feeling!
As mundain as this all sounds, it’s worth noting when a company’s DRM strategy isn’t as horrible as it may seem. Sure, letting me installing Windows XP left and right without a verification would have removed this 10 minute hurdle from my day, but I have to respect that MS needs to get paid. I have to respect someone making the coin. It was only 10 minutes and its worth it to know that MS gets what’s due to them.
BTW, I’ll be posting pictures here when my new media center PC is done. It’s going to look much more rad when I pair it up with a Samsung 46″ HDTV.
Share
Comments on this entry are closed.