It’s been almost 6 years since I’ve purchased a copy of windows for myself.  I switched to Mac in 2006 because of growing frustration with Microsoft and the way they treat their customers.  I completely skipped windows vista and 7.  I had heard recently that Microsoft was trying to get back in the good graces of consumers, so I thought, why not?  I’ll give them another try.  So I dropped a couple of hundred bucks on 2 copies of Windows 8 System Builder.  No less than a week and a half after installing one of the copies on my iMac, the machine dies (required a new logic board and video card).  Now that timing is interesting to begin with given that I have not had any problems with the machine in the 15 months that I’ve owned it.  But I digress.  In the days before I had to take the machine in to Apple Care, I was unable to get any windows updates to install.  After receiving the machine back, I was still not able to install any updates, so I opted to use the “Refresh your pc” option.  After windows “refreshed” I noticed that it was no longer activated.  At this point, I felt my blood begin to boil, because I just knew this meant that I was going to have to call the activation line.  Sure enough, the activation wizard was unable to reactivate and I had to make the call at 4:53 in the morning.  This is a disgrace.  After abandoning Microsoft for 6 years, they have managed to make me feel like they are accusing me of thievery in less than two weeks after I tried to give them another shot.  I am furious!  This is the last money I throw their way for a long time.

Allow me to give a counter scenario on this matter which will demonstrate how this should have went:  Because the iMac required a new logic board/motherboard, my iTunes on the OS X side was no longer authorized to play my purchased content.  Since I had already authorized 5 of my 6 macs (including the iMac before the logic board was replaced), I could not re-add this machine as an authorized machine.  What was the resolution?  I simply deauthorized all of my machines, and reauthorized them one by one.  Simple.  Elegant.  No phone calls to make.  No stupid IVR system to deal with while furious that I had to spout out a bunch of numbers.  No need to then be transferred to a judge to have to re-spout those same damn numbers again.  No need to type another endless long set of numbers read off by that previous slow IVR system.  No need to feel like I just paid a company $200 for the privilege of being treated like an accused thief.

It’s no wonder Apple is kicking their buts in the consumer space.  Microsoft still does not know how to treat their customer properly!

Why couldn’t they simply use the same model as iTunes only with only 1 authorization allowed?  The old logic board is dead.  It won’t be phoning home again.  Simply deauthorize that board and allow the replacement board to be authorized.

Thanks Microsoft for renewing the ill perceptions I had long held that I eventually had allowed to fade.  I feel reinvigorated to spread the word again amongst my family and friends.  I fully recall now why I became a “Microsoft Hater”.