Does activation stop piracy?

iancjc · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:42 pm Post subject: Does activation stop piracy?

....................... Or does it just p*ss off honest customers?

I'm waiting for a new pocket pc to replace my 2210 and due to various problems I have all ready activated ttn3 twice (and am in the 180 day closed window).

I emailed tomtom and they will possibly let me activate again if I can show them (by fax) the original docs supporting my software purchase and the repair / replacement of the pocket pc's and proof of the new purchase plus reasons etc.

I don't have any issues with this as I have all the proof they need (hopefully) however this involves me:

1 faxing all the documents to tomtom with a begging letter
2 waiting for a reply
3 being possibly being turned down and unable to use it.

The new ppc is mainly for ttn5 use so again I probably won't bother with this.

HOWEVER, 5 seconds on google gave me a 38k exe file which provides activation codes (they are correct based on my current install) SO WHAT IS THE POINT - as an honest customer I have to jump through hoops as a dishonest one I can activate and be away in less than 10 minutes.

Just a friday night rant but it does raise some issues.

Will ttn5 give us the option to deactivate a device? (like some others do)

Cheers

Ian
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TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

ispartacus75 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 06, 2005 Posts: 54

I had exactly the same issues as you as I had TT3 and being activated twice. I have documented this on another forum. PM me if you want the URL..

I do have to say that I was delighted with TOMTOMs customer services.

I emailed the details off to a specific tech with a note saying that I use TT3 daily as a cab driver. She had a code back to me in less than 1 HOUR.

I found this to be incredible and just cant say enough good things about then.

All I can say is dont condemn them before giving them a chance to prove themselves, something that I regretted doing.

lbendlin · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:54 pm Post subject:

Well, for one this 38k file won't activate v5 maps. So that's a new round in the race.

Activation prevents blind copying from one machine to another. If you had license transfer this would not be much of a help - simply do a backup before you transfer the license off your machine and put it onto another.

It would be interesting to see the percentages of users
- who don't have a problem with the activation
- who have changed devices and had problems
- who are using 38K files.

Each company needs to make money somehow and protect their investment. We may not like it but TomTom have chosen this route, and they seem to be reasonably sucessful.

oh, btw - if you had just the 2210 before then you can reactivate as often as you want. the limit is the number of machines, not activations.
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Lutz

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iancjc · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:13 pm Post subject:

No I also installed it on a tungsten e (which only worked unreliably - for this palm, mapsonic v3 is very reliable) a couple of weeks back as my 2210 was starting to misbehave.

on the 2210 - Strangely after 12 months of no Bt dropouts the problem appeared (for the 1st time) regardless of which sd card I used (I have 5 or 6 - 4 made in Japan and working faultlessly previously) and have had to use cf for maps when using checkpoint and poi's together.

I fully agree that tomtom have to safeguard their income it's just annoying when the activation is so easy to break.

Wonder how they will do it in v5?

Ian
_________________
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TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

lbendlin · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:26 pm Post subject:

It's still the same key structure, just a different algorithm.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

MikeB · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:37 pm Post subject:

In answer to your original question: It does both...

You only have to look at eBay to see the number of TomTom mobile copies being sold. Look at our forums to see the number of users who have had their TomTom GPS "stolen" and need to pair with a new device. That will give you an idea of the size of the Open piracy, then work out how much else goes on quietly. TomTom did not have activation in the Mobile product.
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Mike Barrett

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