I am a very frustrated IT professional. I own four legitimate copies of XP privately. One of my copies magically was "Expired" according to the outsourced activation call center. Given that we have to reactivate seemingly everytime we add new hardware, sooner or later I guess everyone's XP professional expires (I am sure corporate Canada/US will love to hear that).
That aside, I cannot even activate the OS on several legitimate portables that we work with in the professional environment.
In the end, there are various Linux builds now that are approaching or exceeding Microsoft features and ease of use. I don't know about other professionals, but if Microsoft does not smarten up thier act, the only people who will keep using MS products will be the pirates. Legitimate users who pay for the product will not keep putting up with this garbage.
I swore by Microsoft products for years. Now I just swear at them and 90% of my grief is activation/wga.
- Soon to not be a MS professional....
PS: any thoughts on how I can get my XP Pro "unexpired"? The call center in India seemed to be of the opinion that I should return it to the point of purchase (lol)