Diskeeper Foolishly Adds Product Activation

With the latest release of Diskeeper 2007 Build 11.0.701 the company formerly known as Executive Software now simply just Diskeeper Corp. has added some "enhancements" to the latest build of their disk defragmenter software:

1. This product always requires Product Activation upon install.

2. Silent Activation is enabled which will automatically activate when an internet connection is found.

This build is available via Check for Updates if you are running Vista. Due to the fact that this build requires activation (and you may not have had to do this in the past) it is not yet available via Check for Updates for XP/2000 users, though will be in the near future.

Since when is intrusive, privacy invading, product activation an "enhancement"? It's not, product activation is simply a way to annoy legitimate clients. The lawful consumer should not be punished for someone else's unlawful actions. The only reason Microsoft has been able to get away with using activation is due to the lack of a true competitor who can actually take market share away from them on the OS front. With disk defragmenter software Diskeeper apparently thinks they are the only company in the game. Unfortunately for them their competitors will be laughing all the way to the bank:

PerfectDisk

O&O Defrag

When Intuit made this blunder a few years ago by adding product activation to TurboTax they lost massive market share to competitors like H&R Block's TaxCut. I personally stopped using TurboTax and will never go back. I also easily convinced everyone I knew to stop using their software. Considering Windows Vista now includes an automatic defragmenter for free this is a foolish move on Diskeeper's part. Once people know about it they will vote with their wallets.