Product Activation and Restore and Use of Backups
Dear Acronis team,
I noticed that True Image Home 2012 now requires product activation (although this piece of information is rather unobtrusively placed in the product information pages).
The Activation FAQ on the Acronis web site offers the usual nonsense about product activation actually being for the better of and protecting the user. Although I appreciate the humurous approach, on a more serious note, it fails to address a rather basic and important point that I would like clarified before I actually upgrade my Home 2011 installation to 2012:
By what means does Acronis ensure that my existing backup archives are always accessible at any time without restriction or delay even if the activation fails? How can I access data contained in my backups if without delay I have no activated installation of TIH at hand? How can I access data contained in my backups without delay if the activation fails for reasons attributable to the Acronis activation backend? How does Acronis ensure the licensed users will be able to permanently use TIH if Acronis goes out of business or discontinues its operations for whatever reason?
It seems to me that these are not only rather basic questions but satisfactory answers to them are clear conditions precedent for using any kind of activation mechanism in data backup software, and I'm astonished that the FAQ completely fails to address it.
The Activation FAQ seems predicated upon the assumption that the activation will always be successful if it is performed in accordance with the license agreement, and there will never be any failure of an activation due to issues in the backend infrastructure.
Seeing as even Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage backend structure has already suffered one massive failure which led to genuine Windows copies actively failing the WGA check, this assumption seems unrealistic, especially when it is applied to software that is designed to recover data even after a total system failure. I therefore want these issues clarified before finally deciding on the upgrade.
On a semi-related topic, and since I own a number of other Acronis licenses (Disk Director Home 11, True Image Home 2011 with PlusPack, Backup & Recovery Advanced Workstation 10 with Universal Restore), are there plans for Disk Director Home or Backup & Recovery (which currently has its own License Server on my office network, of course) to move to this type of product activation?
Thanks for answering these questions.
Kind regards,
Markus Stamm
... are there plans for Disk Director Home or Backup & Recovery (which currently has its own License Server on my office network, of course) to move to this type of product activation?
You do not seriously expect any answer from Acronis on this topic, do you?
What would you think in which direction the fight against software piracy will go? Of course: Online activation will be the only way for all companys. It's just a matter of time when nearly every software has to be activated online.
BTW ATIH 2011 will be the last version for me. I won't use any backup software which require an online activation. I hope I will find a good replacement if ATIH 2011 will stop working on a future OS.
Thorsten
While I have mixed fealings with regards to online activation, I do support the fight against software piracy (I am in the software industry - go figure.).
The problem I have is being sold a piece of software that does not work anywhere near as advertised. While I do expect some bugs that need to be worked out with any new release, the lack of communications and updates coming from Acronis is mind blowing when you look at the total number of reported issues people are having.
For me, I went back to 2011 version and it seems to working like a charm.
I would highly recomend that the Acronis management takes a hard look at the processes that involve thier design process (the sync feature with constant notifications is HORRIBLE! - plus it deleted a BUNCH of critial data that I had to restore from DropBox because the backups didnt work) and thier Q/A process in great detail. Either something is wrong in these two area's or they are in the place of mind of profits before quality, and willing to accept customers moving away.
To all forum users who responded, thank you. No, I had not honestly expected anyone from Acronis to reply, much less to offer any real insight or any other piece of information that would have any value whatsoever.
I'm glad I saw this other thread: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/25439 - and I'm convinced it will not remain the only one.
To me, to rely on such a piece of software is lunacy, and I have no intention of encouraging Acronis by further supporting their development. Maybe, in a few years, they will realise they have taken leave of their senses by introducing such "security" measures in the first place, but I won't hold my breath waiting for that.