Counterfeiting is a common form of piracy. Others include hard disk loading, Internet pirating and casual copying, or softlifting. An example of casual copying is if someone were to get a copy of Office XP and load it on his or her PC, then share it with a second person who loaded it on his or her PC, then share it with a third person who loaded it on his or her PC, and so on. This form of piracy is very prevalent and has been estimated by some industry trade groups to account for a staggering 50 percent of the economic losses due to piracy. It is this form of piracy, casual copying, that Microsoft is primarily looking to reduce with Product Activation.
Activation is difficult to complete.
Product Activation is actually very simple to complete. It requires just a few mouse clicks for those with Internet connectivity. For those who must activate over the telephone, the process with a customer service representative can be completed in just a couple of minutes. Product Activation keeps users from changing or upgrading their hardware. Not true at all.