It's Microsoft. It's a given you'll hate them.

[kyburg]

Trogdor is no longer giving me the finger. It just finally gave up and fragged itself. Geek Squad is saying trojans and viruses...I'm saying hard drive crash. They want to reinstall the OS and start over, to put a point to it. So, find the original disks and bring them in and get it done.

..

I went back (actually, both Jim and I went in) to find the original installation works...and mind you, I don't recall exactly when Trogdor went into good and beneficial service...but it's been long enough to scramble everything that came with the machine into a froth with the rest of the software packages near the computer desk.

I was able to retrieve a green certificate labeled "Certificate of Authenticity" that has watermarks, holograms and a barcode on it. Great - I can call Microsoft and get a replacement set of disks, right?

NO.

I may have the product ID, but I don't have the document that actually has the license key on it. You got it - the guy we paid to build us the machine, install the software and so on - loaded the software and didn't pay for it.

I must have spent most of the day talking to Microsoft, repeating the words "I HAVE the certificate - right here. Shall I fax it to you?"

Best I could do was beg off on the Windows Genuine Advantage program - which is, buy a copy of the OS, get legal and they'll knock some $$ off the price.

It'll be two to four weeks before the disks arrive and I can actually DO something with them.

These are the people who inflicted brought Vista to the world. It's a given. You'll hate them. And then give them more money. It's Microsoft. It's what they do.