I got a laptop from work last year with Windows Vista installed. I don't use it much (I have a Vaio with XP which works fine), but it has become our media machine at home. Then yesterday it gave the message that the activation period had expired and this version of Windows was not valid. I tried entering the code on the sticker on the machine but no joy. I contacted tech guys at the ou who reckon I will need to plug it into the campus network for it to update. As I'm in Cardiff and in the US next week, this means it's at least a couple of weeks before it will be usable again. I asked if they knew this would happen, and was told no. I wonder if other organizations know about this 'feature' of Vista? I've always been reasonably pragmatic about Windows as an OS, if everyone else uses it, then I'm happy to. But not being able to access a legitimate copy is rather stretching my agnosticism. So finally it may be a case of Linux, here I come.
One of us! One of us!
Posted by: Adam | 10/05/2008 at 10:37 AM
Thanks for the post - I can now feel smug :-). Hmm I wonder if there is anyone in the US who can help you out?
Posted by: Patrick | 10/05/2008 at 03:02 PM
With Volume Licence versions of Windows XP there was no need to Activate the copy. This meant the VLK versions could be installed on lots of machines without needing to Activate or Register with Microsoft. Pirates loved them!
With VLK versions of Vista, you need to run an Activation Service on your network (so I'm told, we have avoided Vista thus far). I believe that this would be why you have to plug it in to the network at the OU.
Posted by: tech4teach | 10/05/2008 at 10:58 PM
I stopped using Windows a few years ago and haven't looked back. The Linux experience us not without its problems just yet (however I get the impression that Ubuntu is certainly a much smoother computing experience than Vista at the moment!), but what is happening I think is that Linux is evolving at a faster rate than Windows, each new release of Ubuntu definitely supports that view. I think you should give it a go Martin!
Anybody interested can get started in Linux by visiting: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/, this might be useful too: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
Posted by: Liam Green-Hughes | 11/05/2008 at 02:16 PM
Go Ubuntu! I just dropped Vista. It's not been without challenges but it's been worth every keystroke. You feel more in control, more in command, less at the mercy of Vista.
Posted by: Anonymous | 14/05/2008 at 07:56 PM