Friendly fire - Product Activation zaps new XP Plus! pack

Microsoft latest add-on for Windows XP, Plus! Digital Media Edition, has fallen foul of Windows Product Activation. Numerous purchasers are finding it impossible to install, and are being confronted by the comforting message "Plus! Digital Media Edition uses Microsoft Product Activation to help prevent software piracy. Please have an administrator run Plus! Digital Media Edition on this machine and go through the Microsoft Plus! Product Activation Wizard. Once that is complete, you will be able to run Plus! Digital Media Edition normally."

Except, er, no you won't. Other users report an installation failure with "Error 2700." Numerous problems with DME are reported here, but the activation failure is pretty common, and Microsoft's techies concede it's a problem they don't yet have a fix for.

As one writes: "Unfortunately, we have users seeing this problem on both Windows XP
Professional and Windows XP Home Edition computers. As I said in another post, we're actively trying to find out what's causing this issue. One potential problem is that the registry permissions on the machine are not valid and we cannot write to the registry keys we expect." So he proposes a registry hack as a possible workaround.

Plus! DME is currently only available as an online purchase, although it will be out on CD shortly, and it can also currently only be purchased with a US credit card. But Microsoft goofed with the rollout promotion, and forgot to mention to signers up that it was only valid in the USA. It will be available from online retailers outside of the US soon, say the ever apologetic support people.

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I have a nephew that got a $50.00 internet kit for his X-Box. This toughted that it came with a one year subscription to the mircrosoft network that allows you play the games online. He also had to buy a game that was capable of being played online. When he hooked it up to the internet then there was this license agreement that would take you five hours to read. It basicaly said that if you agreed to it then microsoft had no liability, but that they owned you and they could come and get you anytime they liked...LOL. No seriously...You had to be 18 to sign up. No one under 13 could play games on it. They sell things online that will automatically be aplied to your credit card. When you subscription runs out then it will be automaticaly renewed at the current rate unless you informed them otherwise by canceling your subsciption(Backwards).

Well after you say yes to this and enter a user name and date of birth. Then you have to scratch off a covering that is over your subscripton number and enter that in. Then you are asked for a credit card number. Oops...they don't have a credit card. They have roadrunner with no credit card, but they can't use there fifty dollar microsoft kit that came with a one year Free subscription because they don't have a credit card. And what store would take it back now that the covering has been scratched off the authenication number. I don't know what they are going to do, but I would make quite a sence at the store that sold this product. Then if microsoft would not take back there phoney product which they falsely advertise then I would try to get a class action lawsuit going against them. The subscripion is not provide by your 50 bucks alone. It is conditional that you provide a method by which they can further charge you for whatever they want in the future. What parent is going to blindly give microsoft such power to charge on there credit card and then turn the X-box system over there kids who are going to being seeing things like "Buy this Now". You can't trust those people...They are the lowest of the low.

"As I understand it, the requirement for a credit card is commonly used by many other companies (ie. Amazon, etc) to establish that a user is over 18."

That is not the only purpose in this case. It is also to allow them to automatically re-subscribe you at an unstated price and it is to allow purchases from there online store of some sort.

I really don't care what they do as long as it is clearly stated at the time of sale of there "X=box Live" kit. It should cleary state that you must be 18 and that a credit card is required. It is not stated. Even where it on sale on line it is not stated. It is not stated on the box. This is a case of fraud if I ever saw one since this the obviously biggest market for this product will be kids.

From the following forum: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/23930

"Gaming You will probably see an increase in premium online gaming services (pay per use). The Xbox is an example; I bought the XBox Live starter kit for 80 bucks; which includes a demo game, the headset and a year 'free' membership (obviously it isnt free or what the hell was that $80 for?). What I wasnt very pleased about was the fact that they force you to enter your personal information, including credit card information BEFORE you can even get onto the service. So even though you are on a free 1 year pre-paid service, you have to commit to paying 'The renewal service fee, whatever that fee is at the time of renewal' which will be automatically be billed to you the day your 1 year free membership is up. You have no idea what that charge is going to be. There is also no option, nor any indication on the XBox live starter kit that you HAVE to enter credit card information to play on the service. If you are a 15 year old kid buying this and taking it home, unless you have your parents consent you arent going to get online. "

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