If you want to see the crazy chat I had with MS to activate XP, they refuse.
whiteoxe
Posts: 794
I wanted to put XP onto a laptop. The XP disk was bought and paid for and given to me by the owner. The owner has asked me to keep it safe as its his genuine own disk but has lost the cover with sticker for activation code.
I thought I could call Microsoft and get some help. I used their CHAT system. It was extremely frustrating because they , the customer help person was pretty evasive and even dishonest.
They would not help at all to activate a genuine paid for XP disk but would not say so outright, kept sending me to links that 'would help activate' but I read the links while still chatting and the links did not do anything I needed.
In the very end she admitted that they will not activate XP but I could upgrade to the new OS. Geez, I wish she had just said that at the get-go !!!
What do you think of this policy ?
ok....here is the chat if you really want to read it.
I thought I could call Microsoft and get some help. I used their CHAT system. It was extremely frustrating because they , the customer help person was pretty evasive and even dishonest.
They would not help at all to activate a genuine paid for XP disk but would not say so outright, kept sending me to links that 'would help activate' but I read the links while still chatting and the links did not do anything I needed.
In the very end she admitted that they will not activate XP but I could upgrade to the new OS. Geez, I wish she had just said that at the get-go !!!
What do you think of this policy ?
ok....here is the chat if you really want to read it.
Comments
Microsoft isn't the only vendor who will not help with lost license codes after support has ended. Getting help with lost codes is support. If you had the codes, using the activation server would be an option, but you don't have them. Really, all they can do is refer you to a new OS, and if that OS is a Pro OS, you can downgrade and activate an XP install that way, which is supported for Pro and greater licenses.
Without the sticker, you just have a disk. Could be any disk. And on the documentation that came with that sticker, it will have said something to the effect of, "keep this information secure" as it's what the owner paid for to secure their right to use and authenticate XP.
Now, whether or not you think that's a good policy may depend on a lot of things. How old is XP? When was that license purchased? This stuff isn't permanent. When closed software goes off the support road map, it goes off, and little things like software tools, servers and other bits needed for it go away too, and then it's just done.
Personally, I wouldn't expect lost license code type support after such a long time. It's amazing that activation is still an option after such a long time too. License authentication devices and the information associated with them go away. Fact of life, and when they go away, they really do just go away. Virtualizing these things before one gets outside the window is a very smart move, if the intent is to keep using it. They did sell the owner a right to use, and it's not up to them to insure the owner has a right to use when the owner didn't maintain their record of said right to use. Brutal, but true. I've seen this kind of thing happen with software way more expensive than a copy of Windows Pro would be. 5 figures. Still got told "no", and "sorry"
Now is a great time to consider software that doesn't require those things to operate properly. No Joke. It's a great time, because this will happen again and again. And it's happened a ton of times to date. The support is what it is. Those who paid in, got what they got, and when it's over, it's really over.
I think it's a bummer, but I also think Microsoft went well above and beyond with XP. Now that they've said they are done, they really do get to be done. You know Linux doesn't have that pesky little problem, and it runs virtual machines very nicely. Go and find some XP virtual image somewhere and get setup on that. Then you can preserve it for the longer haul. Or just step up and buy a new license.
Given people can run their Windows license for 10 years or so, the license is a steal. No brainer to get another one. Win 8 Professional is $200, for a grand total of $20 / year for a 10 year run. And you can downgrade that to run XP, or Windows 7, etc...
errr.... I can't find the SOLVED button ?
the support to get activation only ended a couple of months ago
or at least had a major effect on the pricing ?
But, there always seems to be a way to get Office for a very sweet price. Yes, having good alternatives out there has and does impact this.
1: use XP unprotected.
2: use Windows 8.1
I read your chat thread, How do you figure in dishonesty? What circles are you referring to? the choice was made very clear.
"We don't support XP anymore." and "Try this link for your options" are very clear to me.
You called them, they didn't call you.
I don't always like the answers I am given either. but I don't tend to shoot the messenger because of the wrong answer... but that's just me..
I won't and don't need MSO and I've been a keen user of Open/LibreOffice for years. Not only can I produce great datasheets and manuals but I can use Draw for creating precise labels as well, plus not to mention Calc, Impress, Maths, Base, and Charts etc. The fact that it is free is not the reason I use it, the fact that it's not bogged down in MS licenses is part of the reason I'm happy to use it, but the main reason is that LibreOffice is so good I don't need any of the other stuff.
Mind you my wife's a science teacher and the schools get MS "free" and the students can get MS "cheaper" but she tells the kids to download LibreOffice and many have never heard about it, they're happy, but surprised plus it's is MS "compatible" (that'll be the day when MS is compatible with other software!). So like Linux all these OSSs do not and cannot go advertising nor could you expect your retailer to be promoting them either (even if they were using it themselves).
It isn't like your actually asking for support and how to use a feature. You just want to use the product you've already purchased which may work fine for you. You just want to re-install it and can't because of some silly activation process that they decided to implement. I personally dislike the whole activation thing and ran into issues during early DR exercises. We always called in the activations and made sure we wrote down the codes so we could do future DR's without calling.
I think that "Activations" is outside the scope of normal support and they should keep that open indefinitely or at that point give someone an authorization that will just keep working for them so they don't need to call back.
Agree 100%. Been using and recommending Open Office for many years. Only reason I have not switched to all open software is that so much of the proprietary software I need for the equipment I work with only runs on Windows. Waiting for the day when all of it will run in a browser.
whiteoxe - go back to your original post, open in the advanced editor and you'll see a pull-down menu at the top of the display. In that pull-down will be the "Solved" selection.
That is certainly the way I would go if I found I had a dire need to use XP for some feature tor other I cannot get elsewhere.
Ethical qualms, no.
However people should be aware that without the license key one has no proof of the right to use the software on that disk. Thanks to the current ferocity of copyright laws following your suggestion makes one a criminal.
I don't blame them for refusing to chat with you.
Me first, gimme, gimme, mine, mine!, is not okay..
-Tommy
Sorry, whiteoxe, just a bit of playful ribbing.
and Ive had a visit by the monkey god moderator who watches over us
Honestly the moderators around here do a fine job.
if im just writing for myself I'm very happy to use any simple text editor.