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Product Activation Debated

I adopted Office XP Professional Special Edition shortly after it was released ["Readers to Microsoft: Copy Controls? No Way!" Top of the News, August]. Office XP soon started refusing to save files. A call to Microsoft (after a very long wait on hold) reset the code. A few days later, with only minimal system changes, Office XP shut down. This time, about 20 minutes of surfing turned up a crack program for Product Activation. It worked.

While I feel no ill conscience--after all, I am only using what I legitimately paid for--I wonder how many others are already using this crack to pirate Office XP.

Tom Tcimpidis, via the Internet

Windows XP's Product Activation procedure is very short and simple. I know this because I tried the preview version of XP. My computer has not frozen once in the month I've had it. I think people take the activation feature too seriously.

Josh Pyles, Gladstone, Oregon

I think you omitted a primary concern: Businesses need to support data formats indefinitely into the future, because of their investment in the data.

I want to be able to open my own files even after my current machine dies--as it will, someday. When that happens, Microsoft's copy protection might stop me from opening my valuable files--for at least two possible reasons:

1. Microsoft may have gone out of business.

2. Microsoft may decide that I really need a software upgrade, so it won't support the older version. That is, it will refuse to unlock my reinstallation unless I upgrade or convert my installation to a subscription. Even if I accept such extortion, the new program might not open my files properly.

I readily concede that these scenarios probably won't happen. But do you want to bet your business's data on it?

J. G. Owen, Huntington Station, New York

Have you ever lent or received a piece of licensed software? If you did, then you just stole. Now it's time to straighten up. Product Activation got off on the wrong foot, but it doesn't hurt to use it. Stop blindly whining and look at the facts.

Greg M. Topf, via the Internet

License Agreements, Too

From your article on the trend to accept the wording of End User License Agreements and Terms of Service as legally binding ["What Have You Signed Away Today?" Top of the News, August], it seems software vendors are not being realistic about how nonbusinesspeople use their products. Books are not purchased on a one-user-only basis--because only one person at a time can read a book. The same situation applies to most home users with more than one PC. I am the only user of my two computers. As a result, I find it hard to respect a EULA or TOS that unreasonably restricts my use of a product I purchased.

Barry N. Gorodetzer, Weston, Florida

'It Might As Well Be You'

Stephen Manes ["A Little Respect for a 20-Year-Old," Full Disclosure, August] has coined the business phrase of the millennium! "If somebody's going to devour your business, it might as well be you" should be the mantra of all companies in all industries. Examples abound of companies trying to kill or ignore a trend or a new idea because it threatened the status quo, and then losing out to others that were willing to take a chance on it.

Too many of us fear change. Instead of updating our skills to learn XML or Java, we think we can get by on our knowledge of the old stuff--until the new replaces it, and we are no longer an asset. Perhaps we should personalize Steve's phrase, and say to ourselves, "If somebody's going to take my job, it might as well be me."

David C. Everett, Urbandale, Iowa

Why Display Quality Varies

In your review of flat-panel LCDs [Top 10 Monitors, August], you comment on the varying picture quality of different brands' displays. Where do those differences come from? Is it the LCD panel? Or the image-processing chip?

Nelson Ko, Mill Valley, California

Editor's response: According to our test center, hardware variables affecting image quality include the panels (manufactured by different companies), the backlighting, the electronics, and the analog-to-digital converter.

--Rebecca Freed

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