You can buy a car and you can't use it without a license. Doesnt that suck? No. Why? To ensure your qualified to drive/use the vehicle.

Ok, the car comparison is silly...you do not purchase the license when you purchase the car. When you purchase software, you purchase the license to use it also. It would appear that MS is of the opinion that even though you may have paid for it, it is never truly yours. We are leasing the software from MS. Also are you trying to say that by registering the software I am proving that I am capable of using the software?! Hello, where did you come up with that one?

Remember when MS got into the Office game, and there were actually competitors? Anyone remember what happened??? They undercut the competition and drove them out of business, using their huge cash reserves from Windows to sustain losses while they competitors bled cash. As soon as there were no competitors, they drove the prices up.

Who is surprised that there is piracy, when the damn thing costs so much? Anyone think it odd that a new computer costs less???

I have a legal copy of Office 97, but I didn't install it last time I had to reinstall Windows. Instead, I installed StarOffice. How much was it? FREE. www.staroffice.com. Sure, it has problems. Doesn't crash nearly as often as Word, though.

An earlier poster had it right: this is the beginning of the end of MS and Office. You can treat your legal customers this way and keep them. ("this way" doesn't just refer to the new anti-piracy measures, it refers to the whole she-bang.)

If you have MS Word crashing on you then you have some serious other problems...

Office 2000 runs ultra fast and smooth for me.

How did they "undercut" and "drive" business away? By creating something better than the competition? How dare they!

You said:
Who is surprised that there is piracy, when the damn thing costs so much?

I say:
Is that your excuse?? Should I go steal a Ferrari just because it costs to much??? Pitiful. Stick with a geo if you can't afford it. Btw, your that statement is flawed as ALL software can be and is pirated, cheap or expensive.

You said:
Doesn't crash nearly as often as Word, though. Instead, I installed StarOffice.

I say:
Some people rather avoid the problem than trying to solve it. If we went into more details with your problem about Word crashing, it'll probably end up to a 3rd party program installed as an addon or related to Word.

I really can't believe I have to give supporting evidence for Word crashing. I've never met anyone that had a good experience with it.

Some examples, though:

In '97 I was working on a project were our design documents were in Word. The document was large ( 100 pages, printed). At one point, the document became unusable (Word would not open it). After much time on the phone with MS, they told us we were out of luck. Go back to a previous known good version and redo all the work.

Regarding the comments about 3rd-party apps causing Word to crash. Jeez. Wasn't this problem ("dll hell", as MS themselves call it) created by MS?? I don't believe the problem is dll hell, though, because over the years I have found specific sequences of operations that crash word.

Regarding the "how did they drive competitors out of business?" I can't believe how naive those comments were. Here's how:

Step 1: lower your price below your costs. (They were able to do this because they had a mountain of cash generated from a little program called DOS and another one call Windows.)

Step 2: Wait for your competitors to lower their prices to match yours. They will, after all, have to do this, even if they have better products, because that's the way the world works.

Step 3: Wait for your competitors to go out of business.

Step 4: Raise your prices to any damn thing you want.

A single copy, new user price of Office 2000 is more than double that of Office 95, if I remember the prices of 5 years ago correctly.

You said:
Wait for your competitors to go out of business.

I say:
And how do they go outta business? If they have a good product, then it should sell, if it's "crappy", then surely they'll go outta business. So what can it be? Blame the company because it's product is too good? Star Office is free and you don't see it going out of business. Why? Because it's a good product. I could say that Star Office is trying to drive Office 2000/MS out of business by giving their product away from free, which could be true. No denying that. Same thing with IE being given away from free. This is no different from StarOffice. Period. The reason why new versions of Office costs MORE, is because it has MORE. Do you expect new cars to cost the same as old cars? NO! =)

OK, I'll go into more obvious detail.

When MS lowers their price below their cost and bankrolls their MONEY LOSING OPERATION with sales from Windows, this gives them an unfair advantage. Their competitors DO NOT HAVE THIS LUXURY.

Have you been listening to all this monopoly discussion, over the last year? MS has used their monopoly power to gain advantage in markets other than the one they have monopoly power. They do this by virtue of having the ability to outlast their competitors in price wars. In fact, some of the companies that used to compete with MS in the Office arena didn't go out of business. They just withdrew from that market. They withdrew because they could not afford to lower their prices. They had to lower their prices because there aren't enough customers that will pay a higher price for higher quality. What if there were a competitor to Office that cost $1500, and was much better. Would you pay that price? Most people wouldn't.

I'm guessing you're one of those people that thinks only good things happen to good people. Companies with good products go out of business all the time.

Sun bought StarOffice because they want to go head to head with MS in the coming server side Office tools market (a market of $0 right now). We'll see if that strategy pays off. I'm betting it won't. I do hope they keep StarOffice alive, though, after that fails. I want an alternative to Office.

Here, lets look at Microsoft current Office prices. You say that they hiked up the price, but actually it's a good bargain price for what you get. For the business Office suit that comes with 5 applications for $249 on Microsoft's website: http://www.microsoft.com/office/order/default.htm -So, let's do some math here: Approximately each application costs $49.98. Now, does that seem expensive compared to all other software you see on todays shelve?? Nope. I don't see MS driving their price up.

First off, can the anti-MS revisionist history - it's tiresome and bores me.

Secondly, if you have Word crashing on you regularly, you (as someone else has pointed out) definitely have other systems problems that aren't Office related.

Third, I've tried StarOffice - it attempted to take over my machine's interface and was basically the poor man's Office 97 (it can't even begin to compare to Office 2000). 'Nuff said.

Back to the revisionist history:

Word was a dog with 1.0. In fact it was a dog until version 3.0 (renamed before release to 6.0 to match WordPerfect's release level). Excel was a great product that began on the Mac and waxed all the comptition, including pretenders to the throne like Lotus' Improv (yet another in the long sting of Lotus desktop dogs). The point of all this: there is a reason MS owns 95% of the suite market today: excellence. Wordperfect and Lotus got into the Windows game late, preferring to bet on OS/Who instead and when they finally got there, their products were woefully substandard, slow, bloated and buggy (as ports generally are) by comparison. Those companies made bad business decisions and got what anyone who makes such decisions inevitably gets. Having done evaluations of the various suites at that time, I'm uniquely in a position to know that of which I speak.

wow...to pay nearly 250$ for a package with only 2 or 3 applications that most people will ever use...why what a steal!!! You don't see them driving their prices up?!!! Why is it you have to buy the entire office suite? I bet most people only use Excel and Word and that is it. Why should the average user have to buy something that they will never use, just to get something that they will. I say this because most people that I know would never use Access, PowerPoint, or Outlook. But lets let that go, instead lets look at the 250$ for the whole package...when you pay that much for a product you would expect that it is a finished product, ready for delivery. I will bet that all those people that ran out and bought O2k when it first came out, were just thrilled to learn that a patch came out almost the same month..hello. Hey, what a great company to release a product and then have to release a fix for it so soon...hey I would love to go out and buy that Ferrari that you mentioned, and then a month later have to take it back so that they could fix the brakes..then a month later take it back to fix the steering...then a couple months later take it back to fix the windshield wipers...etc. etc.
How many patches are there for win98 now..hmmm. Quality products that make me a loyal MS user.

The academic edition of office 2000 already requires you to register after each install and I thought I'd share my experience with it seeing as others will soon have to deal with this irritation as well. After each install, as stated, you must register. You can only register online 2 times and after that, you have to call them up to get an authorization after that. As a user who ofter changes between OSs and needs to reinstall operating systems on occasion, I recently needed to install office on my machine for the 3rd time. I had the pleasure of calling microsoft for the code, only to be interrogated for almost fifteen minutes after the operator questioned :"Sir, are you aware that this is your third time registering this software." YES I AM, and NOWHERE in the EULA does it limit the number of installs that can take place on the single licensed machine. I understand it is their software, and they can require whatever they wish of their users or simply deny them the right to use their intellectual property, but if paying customers are harassed like this and assumed guilty until proven innocent, I see no choice but the one available to all users. The next time you buy software, don't buy it if it includes this requirement. Microsoft may be the fat cat in town, but they're not the only cat in town in terms of killer apps. If consumers exercise their simple freedom of choice there is no need for the extreme intervention being exercised by the DOJ in an attempt to "remedy the situation."

I know many people who routinely do not register their software. What does software registration get you? Notification of updates? New products? You can find that at most software update sites. That only leaves what, tech support? Most people don't even want to bother when they find out that they get to sit on hold an indefinite amount of time, many times on their own dime, for support that might likely cost them anyway. It is easier to just call up a friend who already knows the program to come and assist you.

As for the registration requirement itself, I would think that I have the right to keep information about my system and myself private. It may be that MS will only release this info if I say so (yeah, right!), but then again, this information could be compromised (nobody knows if any site is as "secure" as AOL...LOL) and it should be my decision to leave it with them, not theirs just for an update (in this case), or to even have a program. It is none of MS business, or any other company, to know how my system is configured so they can identify it during registration, or anytime I return to the site to know it is myself, and not some pirate with a clone.What if I decide to change my system? A new drive, CPU, or motherboard? What happens then? It is no big secret that Windows is not stable. Re-installs are common. What is to say that they would not come after you because they think you have multiple systems? Or just deny you for that belief?
This sounds just like when Intel tried to make all P-III CPUs identifiable by default, not choice. The public did not take kindly to it, even if they were only able to track the use of the PC. Also, lest we forget, MS already tried to get information during initial Win 98 registrations about your system, but the public did not like that either, prompting an update.

Ms likely did not elect to try this idea out on initial release of O2k here because they knew that the American public likes their privacy. So they try to get everywhere else to go along with it first, then it is possible to force it upon the American consumers by default (ie. eveyone else is complying, so now you must as well).

Ok that's my nickel.

I have a legal copy of Windows 98 SE. And this Registration requirement will be probably soon mandatory for all future MS products.

Haven't it been published that a GUID is given to Microsoft even if you decide to not send your configuration to Microsoft?? Also they use the same GUID for Office 97 and Windows Media Player, etc.

Real Networks got sued for pulling a stunt like this. They did the right thing and patched it and apologize. Microsoft on the other hand have pushed it with this Mandatory Registration.

Microsoft can abuse this information when you log on to a website they
run. Ex. Hotmail, MSN, Linkexchange, etc. A Registration has a lot more valuable information then a cookie tell about you.

I can understand their fighting piracy of their products. But for willing and paying consumers this is becoming a pain in the neck. A product key to type in is reasonable. Future plans for bios locking OEM versions of Windows and this Registration required is Microsoft playing the big bad evil software bully.

Just my opinion.

Loyal paying software consumer.

Oh bobby, your talking about two different things. What RealP did is steal information off a computer w/o a users consent or interactions and called it a "bug". Doesn't that classify as a trojan?

What Microsoft is doing is perfectly AOK. For MS stealing information from Hotmail/etc. Then I guess every website you visit "steals" info from you, including eFront via java/cookies. Here's a little comparison...when you buy a car you are forced to register it, right? When you buy software you arent forced to register until now. But you have the choice to enter false registration information if you wish. Try that with your car. =)

If I remember correctly, before the release of Win98, rumors were floating about Win98 and Windows Update that if the software was not registered it made the OS inoperable because of of something MS sent to your pc after checking the updates already installed(it secretly checked your registration key also). But of course as we all know this was not true. I think it is a bluff...but anyway if it is true at least you can register anonymously...but crackz will be found, I guarantee it.....

First of all, all it's asking for is a country of origin, I'm assuming it'll use some sort of cd-key or product key to uniquely identify which ones have been registered. People who bought the product, this shouldn't be any problem for you, maybe a slight inconvenience, and I can understand that you don't want to do it, but oh well, if you get the newer version of the product, you're going to have to. This capability is NOT built into regular existing versions sold in America. This capability WILL be built into the next revision of Office 2000.

secondly, if someone wanted to pirate this, i'm sure they could. it has to store information somewhere, someone will figure out how it does it, and just store it themselves. not that big of a problem.

Thirdly, what is wrong with this? I can't afford to pay for office right now. Therefore microsoft is NOT losing money on me! in fact, they could be gaining money, if I suggest it to someone who CAN afford to pay, well, then they're getting the free advertisement and the purchase!

Doing this will HURT Microsoft. If people can't use their software that costs 10x what it should, then they won't. at most 10% might buy it. that's very high in my estimate. that means that 90% will go to a competitor, possibly enough to make THEM the standard. Then microsoft is screwed.

just my $.02

In a world full of lawsuit happy people. I say if they wanna play then they should pay. Forceing people to register is not a law. matter of fact is could be considered a crime. No where in the EULA does it say you MUST register OR ELSE. and even though it's anonymous, if you do not register they will delete your software?
that is BS. that is like me saying if you dont pay me $50 a week i'll steel your car. IF i dont want to register then by god i shouldnt have to. it's not a law, it's not a crime. it's not in there EULA. so MS Byte ME!@!@!

dude...chill...While the EULA mightnot specifically state you MUST register, it doesn't have to, you agree to not pirating the software by agreeing with the EULA so bring on the lawsuit. Let me know when you plan to, I want front row seats for the farce, I mean trial.

"Your honor, this EULA is BS. I should be able to pirate software if I choose"

"Young man, did you know pirating software is illegal?"

"So, MS is BS. They forced me to register my software."

Courtroom erupts in laughter...

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!! No matter what Microsoft does, the next generation is SMARTER than them anyway. We are going to have cracked versions no matter what they do. At least mine is legit :)

-Tony

Hmm, so if I have a problem with this 'YOU MUST REGISTER' program, that automatically classifies me as a pirate? I thought that software piracy was defined as using/copying software that I did not purchase or did not hold the copyright to. I didn't realize that the law was ammended to read 'Oh yeah, you must do whatever the copyright holder asks of you'.

There are many reasons why I would have a problem with this method of combatting software piracy. As a developer, I too am concerned with the pirating of my products. But one thing that happens quite often as a developer, is the need to 'Clean Install' my system, quite often. Even the poorly designed Operating System requires at least an annual 'Clean Install'. How many of those CD Magazine demos have you installed and removed? How many corrupted DLL files did they leave behind? How about your register files, any extra garbage stored in there that brings up the blue screen of death daily? Why should I be obligated to DEFEND my right to execute an application that I purchased. While it may not be a criminal matter to refuse to register, our legal system was based on the assumption that we are innocent until PROVEN guilty.

BOTTOM LINE: I sympathize with Microsoft's attempt to stop the pirating of their property. But it should not be done at the expense of the legitimate users. The pirate's will still manage to get their copies, with patches that defeat Microsoft's efforts. Microsoft will only thwart the occassional office worker trying to take home a copy from work. Companies will pay the price through their IS departments having to spend hours on the phone explaining to a Customer Service Rep why Betty's system in Accounting crashed last night.

If you have to do a clean install, you can reinstall office just fine. I jut did a clean install when I ugraded my Windows 2000 RC2 system to the final version of Windows 2000. When I went to reinstall Office 2000 everything worked just fine even though I had already installed Office on thissystem previously and another laptop.

From WOW -- WOODY's OFFICE WATCH Newsletter ( http://www.woodyswatch.com/wow/ )

1. MORE ANTI-PIRACY FOR OFFICE 2000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft has announced today an extension of their
anti-piracy measures for Office 2000. These new 'features'
will be in the next update of the CD that is included in
boxed product (i.e. from retail stores, bundled with new
computers or site licenses).

One really obvious change is an 'edge-to-edge' hologram on
the CD label. The hologram will cover the entire surface
of the CD-ROM - when tilted the product name plus fancy
graphics can be seen across the label.

Windows 2000 CD's will also have a similar full surface
hologram, plus the certificate of authenticity (COA)
hologram will be attached to the computer itself when
Windows is included with your new computer. For retail box
(upgrade) versions of Windows 2000 a similar COA will be on
the box.

The idea behind the label / hologram changes is to make it
harder for counterfeiters to create fake copies of Office
2000 or Windows 2000. These look like genuine product to
the normal consumer

The other change is more important for all Office users.
The Office Registration Wizard (ORW) will be extended to
all copies of Office 2000 in the USA. Currently the ORW
has been on trial in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada
and China (plus Academic editions in the USA) since Office
2000 was initially released. All of the US will be
included from the time Office 2000 Service Release 1 is
included in new copies of Office 2000.

We've talked about the ORW in WOW before and we've watched
the trial carefully. The trial seems to have gone
reasonably well from the consumers point of view, however
we still have concerns about the medium term effects of the
new system. Woody and Peter have had extensive discussions
with the people responsible for the Registration Wizard and
it's heartening to see that some of our concerns have been
addressed. Microsoft is obviously interested in anything
that can reduce the piracy problem but they are aware that
glitches in this scheme would be a public relations
nightmare.

We'll talk more about the Office Registration Wizard in
next weeks issue of WOW, and in the meantime we'd very much
like to hear from Office 2000 users in the trial countries
plus academic users in the USA. What was your experience
with the registration wizard? Any problems when changing
computers or pieces of hardware? If you had to phone for a
product key or assistance did you have any problems? Were
there occasions when Microsoft staff insisted on personal
information over and above your country of origin and
registration key? Send your comments / experiences
mailto:RegoWiz@woodyswatch.com

Yes, it is illegal...They're spending a lot of time and money on developing this program, and people are getting it for free off the net...Yes, you have a right to use it. But they have the right to make sure you bought it.

First of all, this is VERY old news. MS Office 2000 did this when they first released it.

Second, you shouldn't be pissed at MS for this. They are reacting to a group of computer users who keep applications artifically high because they pirate them. As long as you own the product you should have nothing to worry about. I just wiped my system to install a clean version of Windows 2000 Pro from RC2 and had to reinstall Office 2000. I had no problems even though I had installed the program to 2 computers already, the allowed number of systems, though one is technically supposed to be a laptop.

I think this is an acceptable practice to combat piracy of their software. MS should not have to just sit idly by while people steal millions of dollars from them each year.

Wake up people, corporations are not the problem; pirates and hackers on the internet are the problem. Enjoy the freedom the internet provides while you can. It's just a matter of time before the hammer starts coming down on these people.

That's right, all the bashers out there attack the people who use pirated software. That's good, as if you never do anything wrong. IF someone was out standing on the street, next to a car. And they handed you the title, and told you it was yours. There was no possible way to trace the car, and you don't need liscence plates to drive it. Who that reads this would not take the car. I damn sure would.

I am in college, supporting myself on a 6.00 an hour job. Until I finish college I have no choice but to take part time hours. And I can hardly afford to go grocery shopping, much less pay for software that costs more than my car insurace bill for 3 months.

If it is there for free, no strings attached, I am going to take it. If I had to pay the amount for it, I wouldn't buy it anywas, so how is the company losing money from me. If I didn't get it for free, I WOULD'T HAVE IT. All I am is another walking advertisement for Microsoft and whoever else I decide to "steal from" as you call it. If my boss asks me to recommend a graphics editor, I will tell him to get Photoshop. Why? Because I have tried it. I wouldn't be able to tell him about it if I hadn't. He can afford it, so he buys it, I can't so I get it free.

Damn.

You said it man, they can't call it the only agme in town then jack up the price so we cant afford it. Every time Microsoft raises prices, internet crime increases. I make small time Applications (look for "Alpine HTML Studio" in 2 months!) and I expect them to be bootlegged and copied. And lastly I'd like to say how %#$&ing ignorant almost all Microsoft Products are. Im only using them because they are the only game in town. If I had a dollar for everytime I cursed one of their products because of its poor design and lack of user-interface I wouldn't have to use copied versions of their programs. Microsoft is the home shopping channel of software. Second rate product, high rate prices. It'll snow on satan before I spend my hard earned money one one of their products.

MS Office is not the only game in town. My girlfriend uses Corel WordPerfect Office 2000, pretty inexpensive, and Sun has released Star Office for free. Both open and work with MS Office files. Wordpad comeswith Windows and works formost people's word processing purposes. Not that great but if you can't afford to buy MS Office then this is your other option. MS Works might be another alternative as well. You could go with BeOS and use Gobe or Linux with KDE and their KOffice suite .

The point is, there are many different options available, and I'm sure I failed to mention quite a few. There is no legitimate argument for pirating software. Pirating is theft plain and simple. MS has every right to protect their software how they see fit. They are losing millions of dollars every year because people like you. Personally I'd like to beat the difference I have to pay out of you but I digress.

As for the car example while you'rein college take a couple philosophy or logic classes. What kind of argument is that?

If your a college student you can get academic discounts. I've seen on the Net for Office 2000 pro for about $160 instead of the full retail price. Now that's more reasonable.

So if your college student, just go get yourself the academic pricing!!

160 US is quite alot, considering the price of post secondary education nowadays...

Some students barely have enough money for school, let along basic word processing software : )

You might tell them to use StarOffice instead, but unfortunately everyone else doesn't. File compatibility comes in pretty handy, especially when a project deadline is approaching ; )

Well that's a sure-fire business plan. First you push Office as the standardized one and only office solution for corporations, homes and small businesses. Then jack up the prices so the latter two categories can't afford it. And then force all of them to pay for it. StarOffice is free, and totally Office 2000 compatible. That's what I'll be using.

Go ahead and use Star Office then if you wish. Personally, I found it to be one of the slowest applications I have ever run. It is so sluggish and non-responsive - and before you tell me to upgrade my computer I am running a pentium III 500 (dual processor) with 256 meg of memory...

Man, I don´t understand people that get pissed off because the companies "oblige" them to pay for their products. Like I said before, i´ll walk up to a VW dealer amd maybe I´ll get a free Beettle. Sheesh!

If Piracy group can crack Office 2000 in the first place, they will jsut release another patch to by pass the "MS Security".

Bottom line, it won't work. And I agree with another user's comment, we pay $800 but we can't even use it without their permission. Way beyond my acceptance range.

-GoW

Godofwa, when you purchase a car for $8,000+ , do you just drive off in it? No, you need a license to drive. Btw, $800? Do you always multiply by 2 or 3 for software?

I think that 50 boots is a fair amount of time to register YOUR product. If it really is YOUR'S, then registering it shouldn't be a problem. But I do understand the problems that people might have when reinstalling Windows/Office and the inability to re-register and have it disappear when you CAN'T register it.

y should u HAVE to register it.......maybe u don't want to give out your phone number and home address to them......it should be your right not to have to give them that info......you payed all that money for the product so why should u have to give them the information to send you junk mail or whatever they will do with your information

Easy solution. Send fake information. The end.

Why now? Why didn't they tell us BEFORE we installed the product? I'm calling this a big bluff from MS, but if in fact Office 2000 does disappear then it's true. We'll see about that. Aaron, please provide
a URL to prove your statement.

I agree that Microsoft should fight against piracy, but how does a program cause itself to "disappear" after 50 tries. I've seen trialware that disabled itself after 30 days, but never seen software capable of erasing itself off a drive. How does this work? Does anyone know? I'm amazed it can do that! Wow!

Sounds fair to me.

In Australia we have had to register in this was since Office 2000 was released. We have to give name, address, e-mail, phone numbers and so on. When I reinstalled Windows98 on my laptop (having already had Office 2000 on it) I had to re-register and the person on the other end of the phone demanded to know why I needed to reinstall Windows, let alone why Office2000 now needed to be reinstalled.
I have heard that this "feature" is not just restricted to Australia, but indeed is a requirement in all countries around the world except for the US and probably Canada.

I've had that problem with Microsoft Publisher where you re-do the OS and need to reinstall all the software. Then you can't register the software electronically because it's been registered already. This is really going to suck for me here because I format my machines often.

While I haven't had this problem with MS, I do own Mathmatica. It won't work if you don't register it (has 14 days operation, then you need to enter a password) and that password depends upon your license number, and your hard drive serial number. The serial number changes with every format, so I have to send away for a password. Part of their requirments is stating a reason why you need a new password, and the simple sentance: Because. Works. It's none of their business why I need to re-install their software, and the same should go with Microsoft.

hey mathematica user...you keep it up and wolfram research will get pissed and snail mail you a form where you have to fill out your reason for reinstalling mathematica and sign it. After they get the form then they will send you a new password. I reinstalled it so much cuz i reformatted a lot when i was on win9x. They've got you....its just a question of when.

Hmm... You are all talking as users.
Let's start from a car - do you pay for it ? Or you can take it to use for a unlimited time ? Can you use car without driver licence ?

The same story with software - developers live on the same planet as you. We also need money for our work. And we are trying to do all that possible to help them.
If you are thinking about as as BiG BRoTHEr - than you buying a car you already have numbers on it's engine, after it you register them with your are code and name. Even if you change color of you car you need to change docums about it.

This whole article certainly got a few posts..
I personally think that making people register their software is crap. I shouldn't have to register any of my microsoft, or any of my software at all. If anything wants me to register, I just click cancel because its a pain in the neck. (and i don't want to send information to M$).

Forcing money-happy people who actually bought MS products to register is lame. [btw, software is software, cars are cars]

Let's start from a car - do you pay for it ? Or you can take it to
use for a unlimited time ? Can you use car without driver
licence ?

Do you find out the lease restrictions AFTER you've paid for the car?
This is the case with MS's EULA, which is NOT printed on the box..
you can't read it until you try to install the damn software!

Ditto with all software.