@MBJODET
I respect your post and where it is coming from, even if I don't agree with you.
Some points though:
What if you came home and put a dvd in your dvd player, but it wouldn't play. Not until you called or emailed the company you bought it from, and they gave you a code to 'turn on' the disc in your player. Then, six months later, you buy another dvd player and the disc won't work. You have to call or email the company again.
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Blu-Ray and possibly HD-DVD have this idea in their specifications; effectively validating the copy of the Disc against the original machine it was played in and checking whether you are authorised to play it. This is not to say this is what will happen in the first or any Blu-Ray machines but the specifications support it.
Sony have a patent for technology that effectively (though whether it will be implemented with the PS3 is unknown) says once you play it for the first time in a machine then it can only be played on that machine and no other. No taking it around to your mates to play, bought a new machine, need to get it transferred.
These ideas require connectivity to the net to make them happen. Want further proof that companies are actively thinking along these lines try this
Link about the Trusted Computing Platform, it makes the stuff Stardock do look like an absolute drop in the ocean.
Whether you like it or not the world is moving to an idea of internet enabled devices having basic internet connectivity (or relatively easy access to it) and these patents and ideas are assuming that! You don't like that, you have your choices but I believe in time that those choices will become harder and harder to make.
The problem as I see it is there is a tug of war between fair use rights (convenience) and protecting intellectual capital. What I would like to see is a happy middle ground where both sides concede some ground to achieve a common goal. In Stardocks model they don't require you to:
1) Use a serial to play version 1 of the game (and reviewers generally note if a retail version game is not finished, and they generally didn't state that with GalCiv II).
2) Don't install an intrusive copy protection system.
3) Don't make you carry around a cd.
4) When you have lost the CD you can redownload the entire game (free backup facility, first thing to note many game companies don't offer this, secondly I have seen software companies charge for such a service).
The problem is a lot of other companies think that isn't enough they want to lock down your computer so you are effectively running what they want, when they want and how they want. You think Windows Activation is bad, if TCPA had their way they would dictate exactly that, note that can cover hardware as well as software.
I don't want to see computing move in the direction of the TCPA model, so I vote for a model (with my hard earned cash) for someone who is giving back some respect to the consumer, its not perfect but there are never any easy ways to keep everyone happy without opening yourself to massive exploitation.
Not trying to swing you around MBJODET just explaining a point of view I have.
Another 2 pennies.
Have a good day.
AR
