Software Activation Support How long does it continue?

[muckmail]

What happens after software gets old and a purchaser who buys it wants to continue using it? Does a software vender continue to give out activation numbers until the very last user discards it or do they drop it after a period of time. Looks like a software vender would not want to be bothered supporting activation numbers for older software. If they drop software activation support after a period of time that would leave a some consumers without a way to use their purchased products.
Also wonder how activation works, does it read computer Bios to get
motherboard serial numbers, etc Just wondering

[Reverend]

Double posting:

http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showpost.php?p=73469&postcount=35

[muckmail]

Yes, there is a duplicate responce at thread http://www.techzonez.com/forums/sho...69&postcount=35 but I thought it is a subject that deserves little more attention so I posted it as a main topic. Sorry for the
duplication.

[Reverend]

No probs

[egghead]

software activation control depends on each company that chooses to use this.

most companies will support software for usually 5 years. That is a long but short time if you think about win98.

finances will ultimatly decide if you continue o recieve support activation. Some programs will no longer activate if the activation tools have been replaced with new schemes to prevent abuse.

Some companies use bios codes to prevent software images from being used on the wrong computer.

an example of this would be dell restore cd's.

these cd's cannot or should not be transferable and you should include these cd's when you sell your computer.

[Stripe]

eggheads right on the money.

Activation is a way to prevent abuse and piracy of an application. I would assume that the vendor that sells the application will only give out activation code while the program is supported (but it may vary depending on the vendor. I would read the license agreement regarding activation). As for how the numbers are read...it varies from reading serial number from drives, bios serial numbers, windows keys, and any combination of these.