The activation of a product you have purchased never was and, hopefully, never will be illegal.  ;) There is nothing from stopping you using other methods. Bought a FSX license? Activate it!

Activating a product you haven't purchased is illegal.



Quote:

End of support refers to the date when Microsoft no longer provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance.

Read the details here. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/lifecycle

You can still activate Win98, WinXP 'SP0', Vista SP1 and so on. The activation isn't bound to the end of support step and a vendor of software has to make sure that you can use your purchased software.

Right on the MS FSX case, the quote is as follows.

Quote:

Jennifer Paige, Community Manager for Microsoft Studios said; "Customer Support for FSX has expired here at Microsoft. What does this mean? We will no longer be answering support emails or hosting various updates and download files for the FSX product. Why has it ended? It simply ran its course, all products will hit a support expiration at some point, FSX has hit that date."

As for P3D. It offers the same bugs as FSX, it offers a new interface (which even has a downside over the old one), some stuff doesn't run P3D but does so in FSX. Some other things are not allowed to run in P3D (but are in FSX) and so on.

Sorry, but 'the future' is not selling a six year old engine at a new price.

Wanna see some new engines? Head for X-Plane10, even Flight (showing revised flight models and things), AeroflyFS or even the free FlightGear. Yes, this needs new planes and scenery but this often comes with a technological step forwards, right?

I applaud to folks trying and testing P3D, but, even with the legal problems left aside, the future is not what I would call it. More a tweak&fiddle field, allowing to spend some time on.

Unfortunately, they've altered the legal setup, hence the problems with some stuff not even being allowed to run.  :-/

Strange fact, that doesn't seem to cause any trouble for folks while thinking about activating a purchased FSX license does.  :-? Another strange fact is that, if you use CS planes in P3D, you are not even entitled to ask for support which also doesn't seem to upset anyone, but the end of MS' FSX support then does.