Info/Law

I’ve been doing battle with Microsoft’s Windows XP Activation. The experience has nearly pushed me to follow Tim’s lead and move to Gentoo Linux, and has certainly made me nostalgic for MacOS. In a larger sense, it’s made me think about how DRM can be counterproductive.

As a hobby, I like tinkering with computers. My old Windows PC died just before moving to Michigan, so I ordered a host of new parts and built a great new machine this weekend. Naturally, I wanted to transfer my existing copy of Windows XP from the now-defunct PC to the new one. Windows activation, though, prevents one from installing XP on multiple computers at the same time.

So, like the good computer user I try to be, I first read the end user license agreement, confirming that I can in fact transfer this copy of XP to a new machine (if I uninstall from the old one), and then I phone up Microsoft to confirm the details for re-activation. In short, I need to de-activate Windows on my old PC, and then to install it on the new one.

This turns out to be a critical error – calling Microsoft, I mean. I apparently start with the wrong phone number, which is reserved for volume licensing. After they take down all of my contact information, the representative transfers me to technical support. They take down my contact details again. When I explain what I’m trying to do, they tell me there’s a special support team dedicated to Product Activation. I’m placed on hold, then transferred to the Product Activation team. They, too, carefully take down my contact information, and then inform me they can’t help me – de-activation is the purview of Technical Support. I explain that I’ve just been sent there by Technical Support. Well, there’s nothing they can do, so I go back to Support. Feeling increasingly like Kafka’s Joseph K., I give Tech Support my contact information for the fourth time. They tell me that they can, in fact, help me with de-activation and re-activation, but that it will cost me $35 for a technical support incident.

At this point, I politely end the call, after spending 45 minutes on the phone and using up most of my patience. I reach out to one of my computing mentors, who notes that Microsoft has failed to explain the obvious solution: the activation system re-sets every 90 days – it’s intended only to prevent large-scale, short-term copying. Upgraders such as myself are in the clear (presuming we follow the legal mandates of the end user license). Hence, I can just install, activate, and go on my merry way, after of course putting in place the firewall, anti-virus software, and anti-spyware programs needed to use Windows safely.

What’s the lesson? Microsoft, via its technical support staff, made it incredibly hard for me to follow the rules – all I wanted to do was to perform a task that’s lawful under the license agreement that comes with XP. I even phoned up their support folks to ensure I was doing the right thing. In return, I was bounced among four different representatives, repeatedly placed on hold, and then told (incorrectly) that I needed to pay $35 for help in activating Windows. (Note that I don’t need any help on the technical front; remember, I’ve just built the computer, and I’m rather comfortable placing the CD into the drive and letting it run.) Digital Rights Management schemes such as Windows Activation are intended to prevent piracy – large-scale, unlawful copying and distribution. The common side effect, however, is that they make the lives of ordinary, law-abiding users difficult – they install root kits on one’s PC, or prevent you from making fair use of copyrighted materials. Frankly, this encourages users to vote with their feet: either for less-annoying options (I think this largely explains the success of Apple’s iTunes Music Store, especially compared with the sheer idiocy of things like PressPlay) or for less legal ones (last night, I would gladly have installed a cracked version of XP on my system, if only to feel some sense of revenge).

My point is twofold. First, vendors need to make it very easy for consumers to follow the rules. It should be crystal-clear, for example, how to move a copy of Windows XP from an old computer to a new one. I spent an hour yesterday trying to find how to do this on Microsoft’s site and came up empty. Moreover, remember that when consumers call your tech support, they are already unhappy and frustrated – focus on solving their problems, not navigating your internal corporate divisions or collecting personal information from them.

Second, think hard about the tradeoffs DRM imposes. Microsoft has adjusted its scheme to make it less inconvenient for upgraders and lawful users, but they clearly need to do more. If your DRM causes people who’ve bought your products to look for holes in your fences, rather than staying inside them, you need to evaluate just how much benefit you’re getting from your digital leash.

Filed under: Digital Media, Encryption, Internet & Society, Microsoft, Security, Software, badware