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.
Users can change or upgrade their hardware.
One of the forms of piracy that Product Activation guards against is hard disk imaging. Not all forms of hard disk imaging are illegal. In the case where a pirate copies data from one PC hard drive to another to illegally run the software on two PCs, Product Activation stops that by forcing the copied software to be reactivated. It does so by comparing the hardware on which it was activated to the hardware on which it is now being booted. If the hardware is substantially different, then reactivation is required.