My uncle has a computer with Windows Vista. It worked for about a year now without too many problems. But suddenly the computer decided that it needed an activation, again.

Doesn't seem too complicated so I just clicked on Online Activation and waited. After a short time i got an error message saying that there was a problem. So i decided to use the second option, activate via telephone. I entered the 9 blocks with 6 digits each and got my id back. But that wasn't accepted either.

Now all you could do is start up an minimal system with only a browser running. No start button on the display, and the task manager also doesn't work.

I tried to get a support hotline, but i didn't find any. So i called the telephone activation and simply waited. Adter some time i could speak to the english support. But he could only give me the same numbers that there not working before.

I had an other Windows Vista Version, that i did not use anymore, so i tried to use that key. But the problem remains.

Next day i called support again and this time i got the german support. I told her my problems, but she couldn't help me. She said that they are analyzing the problem and don't knwo why this happened. She also said that a lot of other customers have the same problem. And i should contact the company i bought Windows to get support. What support should i get from them if Microsoft couldn't help me ? She said that they can change my copy. But for that i have to wait......

How could I solve the problem ? I couldn't!!!
I made an upgrade to Windows 7. For that i used the downloads page from firefox in the minimal system. From there i could go to the cd and start setup. I had to close all other programs, cause it seems to be a limited number of processes allowed. Costs ~200€.

With that in mind i'm more convinced that Microsoft Windows is only a gaming plattform. If i want to work with my computer i would use something like (K)Ubuntu Linux, there i never had such problems.