Microsoft really seems to be cracking down on piracy of Windows software, recently. Back in January, they introduced the "Windows Genuine Advantage" program, which basically requires your computer to be authenticated whenever you try to download anything aside from critical updates, from the Microsoft website.
In addition to this, Microsoft has also announced that they will no longer allow Windows Activiation to be done online. (found via OSNews.com). The idea is that if you purchase a computer from a large manufacturer (like Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM, etc) then you will have a pre-activated copy of Windows on the system. If, for some reason, you ever need to do a clean re-install of Windows XP, then you will have to call Microsoft directly to get the OS reactivated.
Starting Feb. 28, Microsoft's product security will require that customers who need to reinstall their operating system call a customer service representative to get a code that will reactivate their Windows XP system. New systems shipped from the top 20 PC makers, also known as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), will be preactivated, stated a memo posted to the blog Aviran's Place. The Microsoft representative said the memo was authentic.
"To reduce the illegal trafficking of these OEM product keys, Microsoft will 'disable' the ability to activate these direct OEM Product Keys over the Internet," the memo stated. "When a customer or reseller tries to activate using a Product Key found on the list of 'disabled' keys, the online product activation wizard will instruct them to call Microsoft, where a customer service representative can assist them further."
There's a lot of comments on the subject, Over Here at OSNews. I'm not real sure how I feel about this, yet. My first reaction was definitely negative. I don't really like the idea of having to punish the honest people and make them go through the 3rd degree question and answer session to make sure that they have a legit copy of Windows. But after having thought about it for a bit, I can definitely understand MS's reasons for doing this. I guess I'll have to wait it out and see how it affects me, directly, before I really form a hard opinion on it.
And on the other hand... it may not affect me that much, at all. When I built my home computer, a little over a year ago, I activated Windows XP through the Internet immediately. The next thing I did, was make a Ghost image of my machine, with the specific idea that if I ever need to reinstall the OS, I would just use my Ghost image and not have to worry about reactivating it. I can see that adding new hardware to your system, and other "breaking" changes, could cause windows to require reactiviation, though. We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out.