>>>Again, taken in isolation, each individual step may not be particularly onerous. It is the aggregate that begins to appear more threatening...(many of the individual issues have been mentioned in this thread) to me, at least.
>>
>>Like I said, what are those steps? You install it, activate it, and use it legally. If you can't activate it instantly, you get 30 days or somethign like that before the software disables itself.
>
>Obviously you don't mind the new and ever deepening intrusions, Mike.
>
>But as you can see by this thread, there are a wholelot of people that do.
>
>For instance, when have I ever had to register your average basic off-the-shelf software product before??? And I certainly could decide to do it if/when I felt like it, if ever.

Quickbooks forces this. Crystal Reports keeps displaying a nag screen until you do.

>
>And how does MS propose to do this for people who do not have internet access?

There is a phone number to call.

>
>And what about all the years (still on-going) that I did register my purchase with MS, only to have it actually ignored by MS for anything but marketing purposes??? Once I've registered I'd have thought I'd get some benefit, like being recognized as a legitimate owner when I made a call. But no, there is all kind of repetition involved.

That's because it's handled by different companies. The registration cards don't actually go to MS. The support call may or may not be handled by MS employees.