Here's a real newbie question.
What does Microsoft consider to be an "Activation"?
If you install it on one computer and it crashes and you then reinstall using the same key is that 2 activations?
If you install it on two different computers using the same key is that legal and 2 activations?
As I understand, as long as it is on the same machine, this does not count as new activation... If you install it on a different machine, then it does count as a new activation...
if you make a MAJOR hardware-change then it might be counted as a NEW activation even on the SAME PC.
i think a major change would be fx. changing BOTH harddisk & RAM at the SAME time.
You may not be aware, but to make it even a bit more easy...when you install the software you DON'T have to even put a key in. You get 30 days without having to activate it. You can then do the rearm trick 3 times...for a grand total of 120 days without having to activate. This way, you don't have to activate and thus the number of activations you get becomes irrelevant.
if you reinstall fx. W7 or Office 2010 regularly within 30 days, then do NOT activate it....
the normal grace-period of 30 days can also be extended using "Rearm", so if you are smart you can save activations for when you REALLY need them....
heres a good question- if i request more keys by email now, will i be targeted by ms as a pirate?
Not unless you're doing it lots of times. Since Technet is for testing/training/etc use, it isn't entirely uncommon to run out of keys and need more. I wouldn't do it too often, though - it's probably time to start re-arming if you need machines for more than 30 days via slmgr -rearm for Windows and OSPPREARM.EXE for Office. Only activate a machine if you plan on having it in use for more than 90 days (and you cannot rebuild it at that time, for whatever reason).
Keep in-mind that Microsoft's message said that they would not approve additional requests for keys. Of course, this could just be a deterrent.
The Technet rep I spoke to (very politely) said that one could request new keys but there's no guarantee that the request would be granted. This could be parsed to here to eternity to mean everything from "No more keys, period" to "I can't TELL you that you can still request more keys, but...you can request more keys."
As it stands, I confirmed (whatever that means, these days, with these companies) that the change had taken place and I expressed my displeasure with this middle-of-the-night change for existing, paid customers.
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