CharlotteTheHarlot Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Microsoft showing off their OS 'sales' these days is deceptive, to say the least. If XP had been released (maybe as retail MCE) *and* still offered as OEM pre-installed, the numbers would surely be entirely different. Huh... not the total. 1PC sold is still 1 licence sold, how do you go bankrupt from that ?No, I didn't mean Microsoft was hurting (financial trouble) or anything like that! I am only talking about the "Windows 7 sales are very strong" nonsense which always emanates from the tech press, CNBC, FBC and of course Redmond (and yes, we can substitute any previous OS's for 'Windows 7' as well). It is simply a meaningless measure of sales performance of an OS product.I'm not sure how to qualitatively compare 'sales' of a new OS versus a previous (killed) OS. Sales totals these days are certainly more a measure of laptops and smaller hardware sales than anything else. In previous years it more about OEM desktops. And then there is the huge business and corporate footprint which often lag the current release by a version (or two) which mucks things up further. It is such a unique market with seldom more than one real product available.NB: this is definitely not a call for government interference either! They need to stay out because it could only make it worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripredacus Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Microsoft showing off their OS 'sales' these days is deceptiveIts not deceptive really, but Apple's OS sales are in the retail space because I'm fairly certain that is the only channel they are in. Their OS can be bought on a PC they make, or the retail box at the store. A Microsoft OS can come in retail box, distribution (OEM/SB), Open (Education) license, MSDN/Technet subscription, royalty OEM, etc. So yes the numbers comparison is Retail Channel (Apple) vs all channels (Microsoft) but there is nothing to stop Apple from going into those other areas.Anyways, I'm not sold on the "XP calls home" stuff. I don't think that is true at all. The only times I've seen XP validate itself is:- Installation/activation + grace period- installing new WGA version- MSSE or Malicious Software Removal Tool update/installation- MS direct download validationI've had XP PCs off a network for years and it doesn't ever one day just become "You may be a victim of software piracy" just like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointertovoid Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Jump to May 2015. Is it still possible to activate XP online? Mine fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Yes. Try to activate by phone. It's automated and just works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointertovoid Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Yes, phone is the probable solution. I wanted to avoid it because I have no line, only Gsm/Umts. Last time I had to bring the PC to the shop just for the activation... Do you confirm that the online registration doesn't work any more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I cannot. Last time I tried (but that was still last year) it worked OK. It was a XP Pro FPP. This year, I haven't had the need to activate any machine yet, so I cannot say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w2k4eva Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Anyways, I'm not sold on the "XP calls home" stuff. I don't think that is true at all. The only times I've seen XP validate itself is:- Installation/activation + grace period- installing new WGA version- MSSE or Malicious Software Removal Tool update/installation- MS direct download validationI've had XP PCs off a network for years and it doesn't ever one day just become "You may be a victim of software piracy" just like that. Not specifically about being off the network for a long time, this machine I'm on now had that situation without trouble. But yes, if Windows gets confused about your hardware - like if something mangles the startup settings for the PlugNPlay service, then you reboot - it can happen, even with no actual hardware changes, just because Windows is confused. I had that happen here in March. Yes, phone is the probable solution. I wanted to avoid it because I have no line, only Gsm/Umts. Last time I had to bring the PC to the shop just for the activation... Do you confirm that the online registration doesn't work any more? Not sure about "now", but I know the online activation did work for me on 22 Mar 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointertovoid Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Do you confirm that the online registration doesn't work any more?Not sure about "now", but I know the online activation did work for me on 22 Mar 2015. Two days without XP telling me to activate. I don't see the key icon in the taskbar neither.Apparently, the online activation worked in mid-may 2015. It's just that the activation program got stuck instead of telling me "succeeded". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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