Stardock Now Using Activation... Just one more headache!
Monday, November 28, 2005 by SuiteLife | Discussion: Community
Well, Stardock has done it to us. Another company that is making us use the Internet to activate our legal software. First it was Microsoft, then Adobe, then Konfabulator (until at least Yahoo! brought them, now it's gone!) and now Stardock! I know there are others out there that agree with me. Activation is a headache! I legally buy all of my software and always worry about being able to still use it if the company goes under or if I can't get my ISP to keep my connection. (This has happen more than I like to admit.) Now Stardock is starting this and what's worst, they only allow Internet based activation.
The one thing I liked about Stardock software is that I could always depend on it installing without issues. Now I have to worry if my Internet connection is up, which on one of my machines it isn't, since it isn't connected to the Internet for security reasons, (no Windowblinds 5 for it....
.Brad, please rethink this path Stardock is heading down. Please don't join the Activation bandwagon and punish the legal users that have made Stardock what it is.
This forum post on Konfabulator's forum even praised Stardock for not using Activation. Many agreed with the posting.
Also, I have found and article, I think I got it here that makes very good sense. I just can't find it now.
Will post later.
Reply #2 Monday, November 28, 2005 5:45 PM
Reply #3 Monday, November 28, 2005 5:54 PM
Activation is a pain sometimes if things go awry, yet the real culprits that created the need for activation are the pirates.
One alternative to insuring that your software is always available, is to invest in a second drive and create a clone image of the OS with all activated software, and then use this image and save the "Master" drive as your image source - only updating the softwares as needed to keep the "source" as recent as possible.
A bit of a procedure, but a good way to insure you have the important activated software at your disposal. 
Reply #4 Monday, November 28, 2005 8:38 PM
Stardock has a right to do what they feel is necessary to product their programs from misuse. It would seem they feel there are many who use the enhanced versions without paying or they wouldn't have to go to this procedure.
Reply #5 Monday, November 28, 2005 9:30 PM
Reply #6 Monday, November 28, 2005 9:52 PM
Did Sony's DRM on the Van Zant cd stop pirates? No. Did it screw over a lot of innocent purchasers' computers? Hell yeah.
I too would also like to be able to download my WB5 exe installer and store it in my backups folder so that the next time I reformat my computer I can install WB (which I legitmately purchased!) without having to connect to the internet.
I hope CerebroJD is correct in saying that the activation thing is only temporary until the final version of WB5 is released.
Reply #7 Monday, November 28, 2005 10:01 PM
Comparing what Stardock is doing with Activation to Sony's hidden issues is a bit off base.
The only person who would lose would be the one who does not own the product key (serial number), as it should be.
Stardock has the records of who owns which keys, and can verify this information if anyone runs into an issue.
If I am not mistaken, Stardock can send you a file to place in your sub-directory to activate the product if you contact them via e-mail.
Reply #8 Monday, November 28, 2005 11:04 PM
As I understand it, Stardock Central archives the activation information, so if you make an archive with that you should be able to restore it later to another computer.
As Corky_O mentioned, equating product activation with putting a badly-written rootkit on your computer is perhaps a little unfair. We like to think we're better coders than that.
Reply #9 Tuesday, November 29, 2005 3:28 AM
Reply #10 Tuesday, November 29, 2005 7:55 AM
You can activate by sending information to Stardock via e-mail who will reply with a file you need to copy to your computer. So you can copy that file to that PC and it will be activated.
Reply #11 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:45 AM
Reply #12 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:57 AM
You should be able to install on all 3 computers. If you have a problem & hit an activation limit at any time, you can e-mail support@stardock.com who should be able to reset it for you.
Each sig.bin is per machine though, so you cannot take the sig.bin from one PC and use it on another.
Reply #13 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 8:01 AM
| hit an activation limit at any time, you can e-mail support@stardock.com who should be able to reset it for you. |
Neil, can you tell us how long it will usually take for that process to happen?
Reply #14 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 8:32 AM
Reply #16 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 12:30 PM
I also feel comparing this to the Sony DRM debacle is way off base and totally unfair....unlike Sony, Stardock does NOT covertly install rootkits or irremovable software.
Reply #17 Thursday, December 1, 2005 9:37 AM
I own 2 copies of Multiplicity Pro. In the past, after a windows reinstall and/or pc replacement I have been unable to reactivate multiplicity without calling stardock support.
I have 2 systems that I will be replacing hard drives in and will need to do this once again. 2 days ago, I sent an email to stardock support asking that the activations be reset and the corresponding serials be emailed to me. (the serial number is different every time I have it emailed throught the lookup).
That email I sent to stardock support was 2 days ago and all I have received is a confirmation that they received it.
If I have to wait this long for activation, the product just isn't worth it to me.
It's a great product, but this process has made it too great of a frustration.
As I suggested before. You should have an online method of doing this which will achieve better results.
Reply #18 Thursday, December 1, 2005 11:19 AM
Sorry guys but activation ain't going away.
In the past 5 minutes, 317 *different* people tried to warez WindowBlinds but were thwarted by Activation (the system logs activations and 317 people in the past 5 minutes from very different parts of the world were using the same email address and serial #).
The activation system is quite lenient. Most people don't even know about it.
Phoon: I am not sure the issue there. Email amarshall@stardock.com as she will want to know your experience. But why are you trying to get your activations reset anyway? The system is very tolerant (There's a lot of AI behind it) such that yuy should just be able to intall it on your new hard drives.
Reply #19 Thursday, December 1, 2005 12:01 PM
I will send you both an email outlining the details of it all.
Thanks!
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
Reply #1 Monday, November 28, 2005 5:28 PM