So let's see.....because hackers stole the OEM keys and deployed a hacked copy of the tool....Microsoft now has to deal with the fallout.
From what I have read, calling MS to reactivate only takes a few minutes. And since the system is fully functional for the 3 days between reload and activation, seems that it's a fair amount of time in which to get this done. I just don't see the average joe building enough of a case to hold Microsoft financially liable for the lost time.
It's not the fault of the average consumer that hackers stole the keycodes, and it could have been avoided entirely by providing a unique key for each computer, linked with the system's uuid. Currently I have been on the phone for 35 minutes trying to get windows reactivated. When I got a laptop with a defective CPU, it took almost an hour to activate windows after I reinstalled and reimaged the SSDs after getting it back from HP. Sometimes they're somewhat less than professional, especially when trying to activate windows on a system that's had major upgrades, but that's only part of the problem. In this case the customer had less than an hour's notice to start the activation process because he wasn't even aware that windows wasn't activated until he downloaded KB971033.
Yeah, I can understand frustrations with Microsoft. To me, they need to re-evaluate the cost they charge anyway for their products in retail chains. To me, considering how much they "give away" with Technet subscriptions, it seems absurd that copies in stores cost as much as what they do.
Ain't that the truth.. best $350 I've spent so far this year
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