Yeah buddy, four bucks for the lava lamp!

You see, Microsoft’s new product activation policies are just as intrusive as many have predicted they would be and this has proved most evident when you think you’ve found someone to take your old Microsoft products off your hands.

Yes sir? How about two hundred for that Office 2000? And I’ll need to see some ID!

Now that I’ve found a buyer more my old Office 2000 it’s going to take me a seemingly endless string of phone calls to get a number for someone that will talk product activation speak to me at Microsoft empire central. Only then will I be told exactly what I need to know to have a new owner activate my old product in their name.

What’s that? Yeah, a buck for those Texaco glasses! Of course they’re collector’s items!

OK, here’s the scoop! To make it possible for my old software to be “activated” in the buyer’s name I have to provide Microsoft a statement, in writing, that I have sold the software and include the following:

·        My name, address, telephone number and the product’s ID number.

·        Copies of any receipts or bills of sale from the transaction.

·        The buyer’s name, address and phone number.

Then I need to fax this statement to 1-302-678-9583. Then the high and mighty activation god’s at Microsoft will take into consideration my request to have the product transferred to a new owner. And without the above information in their possession, Microsoft won’t even think about it.

Even with all of this, there’s no guarantee that Microsoft will actually allow the transfer of the rights of the software and there is currently no governing body around to oversee how they handle this situation anyway. So who’s to argue if they decide the sale is a no go?

Excuse me son, are your parents here with you? Please don’t put those snowman swizzle sticks in your mouth!

Who’s going to shell out even mediocre bucks for a product that they can’t be sure they’ll ever be able to use? According to local consumer rights groups there isn’t much protection for you or me in this case because in this scenario we are the seller.

A quarter each for the potholders, mam!

It appears that Bill Gates and his boardroom full of lawyers burned the midnight oil on this one.  The end result of their efforts appears to be that the private, resale market for activated Microsoft products is about as dead as yesterday’s news.

Thanks for looking ya’ll! Come back later, I’m holding back some good stuff for tomorrow!

If poor schmucks like you and me can’t go out and get a cheap deal on used software out on the streets or at our favorite Internet shopping site, then we’re stuck buying from Microsoft at full price! Oh my gosh! Who could have foreseen that?

Now it appears that Microsoft really doesn’t want us talking about this. You can’t go anywhere on the Microsoft Internet site and find one word about product activation. They won’t fax you instructions on how to go about the “re-activation” process. They don’t want anything to get out there in writing. About the only thing they will do is talk to you about it over the phone. Funny, huh?

So now we have a myriad of choices on how to handle this problem next time you have a garage sale.

We can go through the rigmarole of begging Microsoft to consider allowing the next-door neighbor to activate our old copy of Office 2000 he just bought at a very reasonable price.

We can advise our neighbor that what he really has there is a very shiny set of drink coasters for his party room. That’ll be $1.

Copyright © 2002 by Steve Schindler. All rights reserved.