>> I have 4 copies of XP - home and pro that I can't use. I had to reinstall

for various reasons on the 4 >>>>computers. They refused to give me the

keys.

I've never had this happen and I've installed and reinstalled on many of our

systems. First off, I can tell you if you replace a hard drive and

reinstall the o/s a second time, it will still activate over the internet.

In-fact I've done 3 activations (on same machine, after reinstall) over the

internet.

After that I've had to call, takes 5 min, and they've always provided me the

keys. Not a problem!!

They don't have name or address. Registration (providing name, address,

etc...) is optional, during activation. So this is an activation issue not

a privacy issue.

I'm not defending the pricing, XP is a bit steep. But let me tell you from

someone who is in the business, when the guy down the street is selling

systems with pirate copy of Win98, it's hard for us who play by the rules to

compete. They have $100 less in their systems from the start! Combine that

with cheaper parts and you got a system $200 cheaper than what I can sell.

The customer doesn't know the difference until after the sell. They think a

computer is a computer.

Now that the o/s has to be activated, we are getting back to a level playing

field.

I think most, but not all, of the opposition to the activation is from

people who made multiple copies of the previous o/s.

Bill Wells

Wells Microsystems, Inc.