I am posting this in the secuity area because Iam not sure where else to post this. A seriouse need needs to be adressed. The need is for offline activation Reason: What if an event was to happenin which Microsfot windows 7 can not be activated do to a sever dissrution in communications do to Fire, Flood, War, or an "Act of God" What would happen if the "baby sitter" (as I call it) can no longer function do to said events? Has Microsoft thaught about this it could verry likely happen and those of us that would be using our PCs they would be rendered uses less. What if the simple fact taht the person hasn't got any way for the systesm to call out? I know people in areas where they have phone service, but they have no internet because they can not afford satlight service and there phone lines do not have DSL and on top of that, the computer signals are at there drop off point. I understand the need for anti- piracey but, this issues needs to be adressed. and with todays economy people will be decidng on the luxury of internet or not.. I guess waht I am saying is that the 2 step registration has a seriouse flaw and it needs to be delt with and talked about. I look at 2 things : 1:Will the PC run in time of Emergencey 2: Can the system be registered by other means and will it stay registered?

Well I think offline activation would make windows easier to crack. Also, a user has 30 days in which to activate windows. Complete loss of server for 30 days is unlikely, considering MS use cloud, so it would need to hit numerous servers all at once and manage to retain them at downe status for 30 full days. Possible? Off course! Likely? Not really!

You did not answer the question. instead you worked your away around it. Should a day come when the system can not access the server do do a significant communications dissruption for more then 30 days which hypotheticaly can occure reguardless if it is a "cloud" type system or not because the system can not access the system due to an area outage..How can one activate there software.. I would like a straight forward answer..not a "walk a round". In other words should an event occure where communications are dissrupted and the system for what ever reason andcan not access the net to "activate" Has Microsoft impanted a fail safe for this? ok lets go a step further..one loses there Job, one has to cut there internet services for a temproary reason..lets say for 3 months. Lets say the person finds an appartment, but because jobs are scarce they can't afford the net .. they power up there PC but can't use it because it saying it can not logg on to the net work..and it goes into reduced funcntionality.. Now how about an answer that can be be direct and straight forward. Were beta testers, were here to test this thing and we need to think of all sceneros..both probable and possible the only difference is it could and can happen it jsut hasn't happend yet.. this has nothing to do with reguards to hacking .it has to do with getting ths sytem up in running in a time of need.

Well, in that case, if said user cannot afford the internet, said user should not be spending 150 buying a new OS he or she knows full well requires activation. Even if they do, they can use it with full features for 30 days, surely that is long enough to type and print a CV? In this day and age, people live in the digital age, a PC without the internet is useless. Have you had to live without the internet? You sit in front of your PC going....well, this is boring....

All Windows operating systems that require activation can be activated by telephone. Thishas always been the case.

this is a beta release not a final one, and it's not for public use, i mean not everyone should have it and try it and work with it, it has many bugs not fixed yet, so when it's a final version i think it will support the offline activation you asking for, if you or anyone else don't have Internet and you want to try this beta release then you have 30 days and i think 30 days are fair enough for "Trying" an OS.

eh man software is cheap in you country 150 pounds here its like 230 US dolars for Vista Ultimate..at any rate why I was bringin this up is because people are losing jobs here in the US and some are in such diar straights taht they are terminating there internt serivces..here in the US one can pay on the average 85 dolars a month for internet and phone combined serivces and that is for those of us that are in the outlined areas..each city seems to have a different carrier and price for there services some are ok but are expensive and well my other friend who has Charter who lives in Oregon his services is off half the time and that is because of his Carrier having issues.. But in essence lets for get all aobut that and lets say should a main event happen wher it severly dissrupts communications such as severe weather.and I'll use the mid eastern part of the US who have areas that have been with power for more then 30 days as an example with a customer base of or waht was over a million with out power..as spoken on MSNBC 2 days ago.. How ever you made an intersting point..in which you are right we hamns have become to dependent on such things and should a day come when we are with out...We go nuts..It has even coem to the point where with my mentioning such a thing, it is called crazey or it never would nor ever coukd it happen.. I live in Longivew, Wa a small city. aMy block has no DSL bt rather cable only. My parents who live 15 miles from town have DSL but no cable, Further out no one has niether DSL Nor Cable and dial up does not work, satlight cost for connection is over the 200 US dollar mark for this area. Microsoft is due to elimainate XP support as it has reached its end of life. In other words I am in a "ZONE" that is not freindly for this soft ware..only the city people can get it and use it, there are many who are out side city limits and can't even get a tv signal unless they have a satlight..and many of those can't even recieve digtial tv because they are in area taht isn't even covered by areil. and there are no wirelss towrs out in the ...Woods.. and cellphones are patchy at best. If some one would take a look at how Longivew is Layed out, then its not a matter of cost but rather practicallity. plus if a person was given a computer as a gift ...that would blow the ( for give the ad lib but my board hanst the pund sign) L 150. My argument is this.. Hte prgram should work independently if an emergencey should arise with the need for it to have to constantly check on its self.that is to say, if lets say I turn my PC off for 60 days cause I had to go on vacation, I expect when I get back it should laod up and run with out the system having to check to see if it is legit or not.. My other point is , Should there be a true event taht takes place, the system should run even if it is not teatherd to the internet. Now if MS keeps it where one can call in to activiate it that is fine, providing one has communications to do so. In other words some us don't live in the big city and there for are not equal to waht we can get or not get for services... ComCast has tol me over the phone that they do not nor will they ever Run cable 15 miles out of the city limmits. Quest has had DSL for 3 years in my area and I am with out a choice of DSL. DSL is not availiable 18 miles out side of city limits as it is to far from the server. This is why, there is a paradox...granted events are rare but they can occure....but, i guess something will need to tske place for this to change ones mind...kinda like saying it will never happen...people said that about M.T st Hellens...They said, it would never blow ..but it did... Volcanologist are split on YellowStone some say it is over due yet others are saying it could go at anytime.. One could make an argument saying that war would never come to the home front and one could argue were on that brink right now..My Point is, this systems needs to be able to run in case of extreme emergencey situations so that one can log and record data should there come a time when communications are back online. All Iam saying is every Idea needs to be thaught of. I am only one who has been on this plannet for 38 years, I have seen a great deal and have witnessed such events that have left people with out power for 30 days of more need I mention Huricane Gustaf and Ike? somke of thise people packed up there machines we don't know if they had the use of there machines or not. ther was currently 1 million customers with out power because fo the snows in the eastern part of the US and some..have been without for 30 days.but, I guess we are not used to the thaught of it happening.. any How I won't say any thing more on the matter.. when the time comes ...one will understand it better I guess and perhaps one will look up on this "Nut" and realsise maybe he wasn't such a "nut" after all.

Hi Asustuv4x,I appreciate everything you have said friend, I do. However, Bill Gates has said many times he is moving towards the digital age and the internet is a big part of that. I dont think he will actually care about users without internet access and will continue to insist that people use the internet to activate his product. After all, it's his product and he has a right to do with it as he pleases. You are right tho, we, as a society, have became utterly dependent on technology. In the event of total loss activating windows will be the least of the countries worries. We are so hopelessly dependant on technology nowadays that without it the world would hardly survive. Take the example of the bank's in the financial crisis, the country need's banks to survive so the government has saved it. In the same manner, the internet has the same 'backup' it will not become inaccessible because the country simply could not survive without it. Money makes the world go round, and the internet is a part of that cycle. Besides, why spend money employing people to give out activation codes when people can activate online, that would cost MS a lot more than im sure they are prepared to spend. Take Care, Will

Amrooz said: this is a beta release not a final one, and it's not for public use, i mean not everyone should have it and try it and work with it, it has many bugs not fixed yet, so when it's a final version i think it support the offline activation you asking for, if you or anyone else don't have Internet and you want to try this beta release then you have 30 days and i think 30 days are fair enough for "Trying" an OS. This is a bit of relief, I am not here to cause trouble but, just trying to get us to think..And Yes I have services but if the economy keeps up at the rate it is going Ouch currently there are 4,000 people on Hud waiting lists and that number is growing, our jobless rate here in Longivew alone was at 11.5 percent and that was 4 days ago, Weyhauser is fixing to shut down..that will be an additional 2,000 people with out jobs...In my area...if fiber closes longivew would be come either a ghost town or...a retirement community. so at any time any one an lose there jobs and "not" afford things.Tell hat to the 1,000 Mcrsoft employees that were laid off.some of them had nothing to fall on..though not totally there fault.

Will01 said: Hi Asustuv4x, I appreciate everything you have said friend, I do. However, Bill Gates has said many times he is moving towards the digital age and the internet is a big part of that. I dont think he will actually care about users without internet access and will continue to insist that people use the internet to activate his product. After all, it's his product and he has a right to do with it as he pleases. You are right tho, we, as a society, have became utterly dependent on technology. In the event of total loss activating windows will be the least of the countries worries. We are so hopelessly dependant on technology nowadays that without it the world would hardly survive. Take the example of the bank's in the financial crisis, the country need's banks to survive so the government has saved it. In the same manner, the internet has the same 'backup' it will not become inaccessible because the country simply could not survive without it. Money makes the world go round, and the internet is a part of that cycle. Besides, why spend money employing people to give out activation codes when people can activate online, that would cost MS a lot more than im sure they are prepared to spend. Take Care, Will As all would say form Fonzi Ya, ya ya.. hmm the younger generation wouldn't know all form happy days unless thier parents had it taped or archived or ggogled it lol.hm well I am guessing the human species will need an upgrade them selves here pretty soon..eh wait didn't bill retire?so the question is no longer who controls what? ....... but waht controls who? this is getting scary.. I thaught we humans were to control the machines..Not the machines controling the hmans. *is thinking about the terminator series*So we humans as long as we have food to eat, some change to jingle in our pockets, and have our "toys" , we are happy and content no matter what happens...Oh what a day that would be if we didnt have FDIC. may aswell as have the computers design the soft ware and leave huamsn out of the equasion. I bet todays technology can do just that..granted humans would need to encode the codes and such, but waht would happen if a computer were to "Build" its own OS. meh its a pie dream it never could happen...EOL

You can activate over the telephone now and you do not need the Internet.