Will Windows 7 have the same activation protection as Vista? Only 10 activations per key? If the answer is yes, how many petition signatures would be needed to change this limit to a higher number like 20 or once a month? Some of us format our hard drives and switch back and fourth between OSs a lot.

YES. 0 petition signatures..did you think of asking MS for an extension?IMO , using more than 10 activations per keyimplies that you are going beyond 'Evaluation' and are distributing it or using it commercally.If you are doing that to test installations, MS pays to have that done and has a list of compatible hardware.Do you have a realneed to 'format our hard dries and switch back and forth between OS's a lot'?You probably have to ask to have them extended if you have a special need to go beyond the 10 act. per key.Can't you just hit the button to request another key? I haven't tested this as I don't have 10 pc's or the need for more than 10 installations.

I've had XP installed for6 years. I would guess I have activated it around 10 times,probably more. I have moved it to a newer motherboard 2 or 3 times. I have replaced hard drives 2 or 3 times. In addition, I install XP on each of my 2 hard drives. Doing anything less seems foolish to me. I want to be able to boot up if a hard drive gets sick and need replacing, or the XP install somehow gets clobbered, or I want to replace a hard drive with a bigger one. Because I have 2 activated, each time I move to a different motherboard requires 2 activations. Buying the full retail version of XP meant I didn't have to worry about all this. If Win7 limits me to 10 activations, I will need to be concerned from the start. For instance I would not want to install and activate it on an older smaller hard drive, because that would increase the chances of another activation when I replace the hard drive. When I upgrade the CPU or whatever, I would have to worry about whether 4 months have passed since the last hardware change, so as not to trigger re-activation. I would prefer to pay Microsoft more money for a "worry free" license.If I can't move to a newer better motherboard at will, what's the point of buying the full retail? If I need to stick to the same old hardware, I might as well get the OEM license.

You can transfer a full retail but can't use it on two seperate computers at once.