http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10018
--- Comment #34 from Anastasius Focht focht@gmx.net 2007-11-30 15:50:59 --- Hello,
--- quote --- My goal is to support the activation scheme, not defeat it. I'm trying to stay on the good side of vendors like Adobe. --- quote ---
Well, "defeating" was not meant to be taken literally ;-) "defeating activation" would mean providing a program "keygen" which calculates the correct activation code from product key information (install serial + hardware information). This is of course not the case. The user would have to provide a valid product install serial anyway before the hardware id process which generates hashed id code to be transmitted over internet/telephone/email.
From their FAQ:
--- snip --- The only information required to activate is a 55-digit Product Install ID. The Product Install ID is a combination of the product key and a hardware ID generated from a specific computer's hardware configuration. Product activation uses a hash algorithm to generate the hardware identifier and does not scan the computer’s hard drive or detect any personal information. --- snip ---
Your hash would be another unique id based off user's harddisk serial data. Technically this is some kind of cheat too because it does not match the real harddisk controller config data - although it's related/derived somehow.
From the "high level" standpoint it meets activation criteria because it locks
the product registration to the user's computer (which is the intention of activation).
Regards