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Installation / Activation FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

All serial number and activation questions are handled by email.

If the tips in the Activation Guide and the Activation Troubleshooting pages do not help, the fastest way to solve any activation problem is to read and apply the instructions in the Activation Keys and Serial Numbers help topic. This page reprints the FAQ section of that help topic together with frequently asked questions about installation.

Please see the Activation Support page for information on contacting tech support for priority assistance with any serial number or activation question. No tech support token is required for activation questions about most licenses if the given procedure is applied. Users who do not wish to use the free procedure may get customized activation support by utilizing technical support tokens.

Keep in mind standalone Manifold licenses are licensed for standard Windows installations on physical machines. Standalone licenses are not licensed for virtual machines (use License Server with appropriate numbers of floating licenses). Likewise, Manifold is not licensed for time sharing nor can a single Manifold license be used on more than one machine at the same time.

When installing or activating Manifold, you must have a standard Windows installation in operation. Some registry "protectors," third party uninstall programs, network supervisors and other "value added" supervisory programs running on top of Windows may interfere with the installation and/or activation process.

Useful Links

Pages especially useful for installation and activation:

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Someone else got my Manifold license for me and manifold.net tech support will not assist me with activation. How do I get assistance with activation? Contact whoever got your license for you for assistance. manifold.net will only support the original licensee using the original email to which serial numbers were sent. There are two main reasons for this. First, serial numbers and activation keys are confidential information and manifold.net will not risk assisting anyone who may be using someone else's license without authorization. Second, manifold.net provided important information about activation to the original licensee but has no control over whether the original licensee passed on that information to you. If you are in an organization the designated licensee is the sole and exclusive contact with manifold.net.

I have Manifold 8.00 Professional installed. I just bought the Upgrade to Enterprise. How do I install that? When your upgrade is processed a new Enterprise serial number will be sent to you by email. Assuming you are installing on the same computer system on which your Professional license is running: 1. Login as Administrator. See Administrator Login. 2. Launch Manifold. 3. In the Help - Activate dialog enter the new serial number for your upgrade that was provided to you in the serial number email. To avoid typographic errors, use Copy to copy the serial number from the serial number email and Paste to paste it into the dialog. Activate it. When Manifold restarts the system will now be running as an Enterprise license.

I have Manifold 8.00 Professional (32-bit) installed on my 64-bit Windows system. I just bought the Upgrade to x64 . How do I install that? When your upgrade is processed a new 64-bit Professional serial number will be sent to you by email. Assuming you are installing on the same computer system on which your Professional license is running: 1. Login as Administrator. See Administrator Login. 2. Uninstall Manifold using the Windows Control Panel applet. 3. Download and install the 64-bit Manifold installation package from the Product Downloads page. 4. Launch Manifold. 5. In the Help - Activate dialog enter the new 64-bit serial number that was provided to you in the serial number email. To avoid typographic errors, use Copy to copy the serial number from the serial number email and Paste to paste it into the dialog. Activate it. When Manifold restarts the system will now be running as a 64-bit Professional license.

How do I transfer my Manifold license from one computer to a different computer? Login as Administrator for all of the following steps: Step 1 - Make sure you have your original serial number email so you can copy and paste your serial number without typographical errors. Step 2 - Check the serial number on the Status Page to verify you have an activation remaining. Step 3 - Uninstall Manifold from the old computer using the Windows Control Panel's applet for uninstalling programs. Step 4 - Download the latest Manifold installation file for your version of Manifold onto the new computer and install it. Step 5 - Launch Manifold and provide your serial number, getting an Activation key.

Is my Manifold license locked to me? Can I transfer my license to another user? Manifold installation files downloaded from the website, licenses, serial numbers or activation keys aren't locked to or bound to or identified with any specific user. That makes it easy for companies and resellers to procure software for distribution within their companies or to their clients. But that also means that anyone who has a serial number for a license can use it, so be careful not to give out a serial number to anyone who you don't trust to use it. But that also makes it easy to transfer a license you have obtained: simply uninstall Manifold from your computer and then give your serial number to the person you want to have it. The transfer is then just like tranferring a Manifold license from one computer to a different computer. Do not continue using Manifold because if the same serial number is run simultaneously on multiple computers that is a violation of your license and could result in the serial number being revoked automatically.

Must I activate Manifold to get a fully operational license or to remove limitations in the license? No. There is no such thing as a limited Manifold license that is a "demo" or "trial" license with any sort of limitation. Every license issued by Manifold is a full-power, fully complete license right from the very first day and requires no activation for fully functional operation. If you have any difficulty operating the software, don't think you need to activate it to turn on some feature that appears not to be running. That's not the problem (to find the problem, consult the user manual or contact tech support for assistance). Activation is purely a mechanism that allows easy experimentation with different computer configurations during the first 30 days of a license's life while discouraging piracy thereafter, and it provides a way of keeping track of which licenses are still under warranty. For the first thirty days of every license's life no activation is required. You may install it on however machines you like during the first 30 days of the life of a license. There is no need to activate to "turn on" any feature or to remove any limitation. Every license is full power, fully functional, all the time. Note that this is a very different approach than some software, which provides a limited "trial" software version that has some restricted or missing capabilities, such as disabled printing or disabled file saving or some limited number of launches or some other limitation, until an activation code or other authorization code is provided. Manifold software is always fully functional all of the time.

Can't I just keep setting my system clock back every 30 days to run forever without activation? Sure, if you don't mind doing that. Manifold will run forever in that case as a fully operational license with no limitations and no need to activate. Some users do just that if they find Activation is inconvenient, or just if they want to try out different combinations of hardware. Manifold uses a relaxed approach to copy protection that is not as harsh as some schemes that won't allow such relaxed, full-power operation without utilizing a specialized licensing procedure or which limit the software to a limited number of launches, a limited number of saves or otherwise limit functionality. However, if you keep resetting your system clock that is something easy to get confused about or it may interfere with the operation of other software that takes a harsher approach to copy protection. It's not a good idea to use this method to share one Manifold license with your friends or to try to run one Manifold license on many machines because if the same serial number is run simultaneously on multiple computers that is a violation of your license and could result in the serial number being revoked automatically.

I have licensed a 64-bit Manifold edition. Can I use my 64-bit license serial number to activate a 32-bit Manifold installation? Yes. The serial number you get for a 64-bit Manifold license can activate either a 64-bit or a 32-bit Manifold installation. For example, suppose you have 32-bit Windows computer today but you know in a few months you'll be upgrading to 64-bit Windows. You could use a 32-bit Manifold installation file to install 32-bit Manifold on your 32-bit Windows system and use the serial number from a 64-bit Manifold license to activate it. In a few months when you upgrade your computer to 64-bit Windows you could use a 64-bit Manifold installation file to install 64-bit Manifold on your 64-bit Windows system and use your 64-bit Manifold license serial number to activate it.

I have licensed a 32-bit Manifold edition. Can I use it to install Manifold on a 64-bit Windows computer? Yes. Just make sure to download the 32-bit installation package and install using that. When Manifold runs on your 64-bit Windows installation it will run as a 32-bit program. You can't use a 32-bit Manifold license to turn on a 64-bit Manifold installation. If you want to run 64-bit Manifold on 64-bit Windows, you'll have to license a 64-bit version of Manifold. Well worth it for the performance possible with 64-bit software through better memory utilization!

I acquired my license and received a serial number more than thirty days ago. Can I still install Manifold System? Yes. You can run Manifold System but you will need to activate your installation since the time period available for preliminary installation has already expired. Launch Manifold and in the Activation dialog provide the serial number and then get an Activation key via the web. Done!

I received my serial number a long time ago and never got around to installing Manifold. Can I still activate my license? Yes. Serial numbers never expire. As long as you haven't used up the activations allotted to your serial number, you can activate the license using your serial number. Note that re-activation of old or obsolete licenses may not continue to be supported once future versions of Manifold are released. Although manifold.net may voluntarily support use of activation keys for outdated versions of Manifold for some reasonable period of time (such as three years) licensees should not expect such support, or expect it to continue forever.

After a previously successful installation and activation I need to activate again, but the System ID box is empty. Something has changed in your system that has made it impossible for Manifold to find a .NET assembly that needs to be used. Uninstall Manifold and then reinstall it. If it doesn't fix the problem, try repairing the Microsoft .NET framework using the Microsoft control panel applet, and then uninstall Manifold and reinstall it.

I tried to get an Activation key on the Manifold activation web site with my serial number and the web site would not give me one. Check the obvious first:

The serial number Status Page says my serial number has been revoked. Why would that be? There are several reasons why a serial number might be revoked. The most common are:

I tried to visit the Activation web site and got a Javascript error. Use a browser that functions correctly with Javascript. Since you must have IE6 installed for Manifold, we suggest using Internet Explorer. If you are using a non-Microsoft browser, try using IE.

If I accidentally press the "Create New Activation Key" button twice on the Activation Keys web page, will I waste an Activation key? No. Once an Activation key is generated for a serial number, if the same serial number is used again the web site will return that same Activation key throughout the first 24 hours of the 72 hour life of that Activation key. If you press the button several times you will get the same key back several times. This is a safety measure to avoid wasting keys. The same Activation key will be returned even if you use a different System ID with the same serial number so if you intend to install the same serial number on a desktop machine and also on a portable computer (the only licensed use of the same serial number on more than one machine), you should wait at least 24 hours between activating the desktop machine and getting an Activation key for the portable computer.

I entered my serial number into the Activation dialog but Manifold will not launch or reports an authentication error or that the serial number is invalid. Check the obvious first, including the Troubleshooting section at the top of this topic:

I entered a serial number and Activation key and Manifold worked OK, but now it does not. It is most likely that you did not use the Administrator login in Windows or that your login did not have Administrator privileges in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 when you used the Activation dialog to permanently install Manifold. The usual scenario is as follows:

I activated Manifold on my laptop running XP and it ran OK for years but now it has suddenly stopped working and has raised the Activation dialog. I have installed no new programs or made any changes to my computer. What is the problem? Something has destroyed the activation status on your computer. The most common reasons:

Unfortunately, given the inherent complexities of the latter three scenarios it is up to you to debug what is going on with your system. If you are sure the hardware is not failing, the best course to recover from chaos caused by unknown programs or viruses is to re-format the hard disk, to reload Windows from original Microsoft media (to avoid infected backups), to install industrial-grade antivirus software with current virus definitions and then finally to restore data and programs from backup media after careful screening for viruses. You can then re-install Manifold and use one of your remaining activations to activate the new Manifold installation.

I have several Manifold System licenses and serial numbers. Can I freely mix Activation keys? No. Each Activation key will work only with the serial number and System ID that was used to obtain it from the Manifold Activation key server.

I entered my serial number and Activation key into the Activation dialog but Manifold will not launch or the serial number and key are not accepted. Check the obvious first:

I lost my serial number. Can you help? Possibly yes. However, a key recovery fee will be charged for this service. See the products listing page in the main manifold.net web site for prices charged for Key Recovery services, if available, as well as terms and conditions for such recovery.

Can I transfer a Manifold System license from one computer to another? During the preliminary installation period you can install Manifold System on any computer system using only the serial number. After the preliminary installation period has expired, a license transfer will require normally require reinstalling Manifold System and using up an activation.

Can I upgrade my computer system without re-installing Manifold? As long as you don't make major changes in hardware or software, probably yes. Simple upgrades such as adding a new graphics card will normally not require a re-installation of Manifold. Some changes in hard disk structure will require re-installation of Manifold and the use of an activation. The only way to know for sure is to try. Accordingly, it is wise to do any major upgrades during the period of preliminary installation.

Can I upgrade Windows without re-installing Manifold? In most cases, no. Installing a new version of Windows will usually require a re-installation of Manifold and use of an activation.

Can I remove and re-install Manifold without a new activation? Yes. Even if you remove Manifold, on the next installation Manifold will know that you have already activated Manifold on this system so it will not require a new activation, provided that you have not made any changes to your system in between the uninstall and the re-install that would wipe out activation.

Can I install a new Manifold serial number without a new activation? No. Installing a new serial number requires a new activation. Activation is locked to only one serial number and system ID. For example, if you have installed Professional Edition and you would like to switch to Enterprise Edition you will need an Enterprise Edition serial number and a fresh activation for that new Enterprise Edition serial number. See the Help - Activate topic for discussion and an example.

Can I install a Manifold Update or Service Pack without a new Activation key? Yes. You can uninstall the previous Manifold installation and then install the update, which also may be known as a Service Pack (SP), without requiring a new activation. The system will "remember" the previous activation even though Manifold was uninstalled. Of course, this assumes you have made no other changes to your system that would require a new activation in between uninstalling the previous Manifold installation and then installing an update. You cannot, for example, uninstall the previous Manifold installation, install a new version of Windows, and then expect to install an update without requiring an activation.

Can I use a serial number from one edition of Manifold with a newer edition of Manifold? No. Each new major release of Manifold requires a new serial number. For example, a Manifold 6.50 serial number will not work with newer editions such as 7x or 8.00. Manifold provides low cost, limited time upgrade offers to licensees of the previous release whenever a major new release is issued.

What is a "substantial" change in Windows that requires a new Activation key? Any re-installation of Windows or upgrade to a different edition of Windows will require a new activation. Other major configuration changes (such as Registry configuration or rollback to a pre-Manifold restore point) may require a new activation.

Why do serial numbers allow only a limited time period of preliminary installation? This is a measure against software piracy that is designed to allow legitimate licensees time to experiment with different machine configurations and to sort out any hardware or software configuration issues before they commit to a permanent installation.

Why do Activation keys have a limited life of 72 hours? Activation keys have a limited life of 72 hours from the time they are issued in order to discourage attempts to clone installations in violation of the license and to otherwise discourage software piracy.

Why are serial numbers limited to five activations? This is an anti-piracy measure. The preliminary installation period allows time to sort out the initial Manifold installation before the first activation is used. After that, four additional activations will allow users to re-install should Manifold ever need to be re-installed in the future. Five activations are plenty to allow users to deal with changing system configurations for a single license, but they are not so many that people can afford to be careless with them or to give them away to enable piracy. After time, additional keys might be available for use over very long periods of time. See the Additional Activation Keys page for details.

Do I get a new serial number and more activations when I upgrade to a new release? Yes. For example, licensees upgrading from 7x to 8.00 received a new 8.00 serial number and five new activations. Manifold issues a major new release every year or two and upgrading to a new release is very inexpensive if one takes advantage of the upgrade offer when a new release first comes out. Most Manifold licensees therefore will upgrade to new releases and so get the benefits not only of many improvements but also a fresh stock of Activation keys in case of need.

I upgrade my computer system frequently and I need more than five activations. What do I do? If taking advantage of upgrade offers is not enough, you must buy additional Manifold licenses to get the activations you need. See the Additional Activation Keys page for details. If you are a member of an organization that is operating a Manifold System License Server you can avoid burning up activations by taking advantage of the License Server.

What is to prevent me from giving my serial number to four friends who each then obtain an activation? If you are willing to break the law, nothing prevents you from doing so except your own self-interest. From a legal perspective, that is a crime and a violation of the License agreement. Engaging in software piracy risks criminal and civil penalties. As a practical matter, it is risky to do because your friends may use up the activations you need yourself. If you ever need an activation to re-install Manifold (if case your hard disk blows up or if you must re-install Windows) you might not have an activation remaining. In addition, whenever you disclose your serial number to anyone else you take the risk that they will not keep it secret. The sort of person who trades serial numbers to commit software piracy is often the sort of person who cannot resist passing on the serial number to yet another friend. Before you know it, your activations could be used up. Your serial number might even be published on a hacker web site and your serial number could be cancelled by manifold.net, permanently denying you the ability to use Manifold System. Last but not least, if you disclose your serial number to someone else they might use it to upgrade to some wonderful new Manifold release before you can do so. They'll have the wonderful new release and you won't be able to get it, because your serial number will have been revoked when it was traded in on an upgrade. It is easy to avoid such problems by keeping your serial number secret.

Can I use the same Activation key to install Manifold to more than one system during the 72-hour period the key is enabled? No, because each Activation key is locked to only the single, unique System ID that is the "fingerprint" of one machine.

What happens if I run the same license on more than one machine at the same time? Do not violate the License by using the same license on more than one machine at the same time. Manifold System can detect when other instances of the same license are running on machines that are accessible to it. If you use the same license on multiple machines at once, sooner or later Manifold will automatically cancel that serial number and will cease functioning. To discourage software pirates who attempt to find and disable such protective measures, this auto-detection function is set to a very long trigger time: it could be many weeks or months of simultaneous usage before Manifold decides that "enough is enough" and permanently stops functioning.

My organization needs to use many Manifold licenses. How should I install them? Use the Manifold System License Server product to centrally manage your licenses.

I acquired my Manifold license from a reseller and have not received a serial number. Can manifold.net help me? No. If you acquired your Manifold license from a third party and have not received your serial number you must contact the third party to resolve the difficulty. manifold.net will not intervene in a dispute between you and a third party. manifold.net does not enter into any special agreements with any dealers or distributors to represent the company so any third party who offers to transfer a Manifold license to you is acting on their own.

What happens if my serial number is revoked? If your serial number is cancelled or revoked you will not be able to obtain activations with that serial number. In addition, sooner or later your Manifold System license will cease operating.

How might my serial number be revoked? The most frequent reason is that it has been traded in to get an upgrade. For example, if you upgrade a Professional license to an Enterprise license the Professional serial number will be revoked and will no longer work. Likewise, upgrading a 32-bit serial number to a 64-bit serial number will revoke the 32-bit serial number. Serial numbers may also be revoked for a variety of business or legal reasons: non-payment, such as failure to pay a purchase order or a charge-back on a credit card transaction; automatic cancellation when Manifold itself detects multiple simultaneous usage of the same serial number on a different machine; cancellation for violation of the EULA, for example, cancellation by manifold.net if your serial number appears in a public forum such as an Internet posting.

I want to acquire a Manifold license and run it forever, or at least for decades. Can that be done? Once installed a Manifold license will run as long as that computer continues to operate in sufficiently unmodified form to not require re-activation. If you are running exactly the same computer hardware without failures you can indeed run Manifold for decades. The five activations provided for a serial number enable re-installation and re-activation within a reasonable period of time; however, re-activation of old or obsolete licenses may not continue to be supported once future versions of Manifold are released. Although manifold.net may voluntarily support use of activation keys for outdated versions of Manifold for some reasonable period of time (such as two or three years) licensees should not expect such support. You should therefore budget for acquiring updates from time to time to enable Manifold installation on newer computer systems or on a repaired computer system if over the years hardware failures require re-installation. There are also programs to provide additional activation keys over time. See the Additional Activation Keys page for details.

Serial Numbers not Received by Email

When an order is processed for Manifold System the serial number for that license will be sent out by email to the email address given in the order. If you have not received your serial number by email from manifold.net check your email system for obvious errors. Typical errors include:

Everyone on the planet is totally annoyed about spam so it is natural that people want to use anti-spam technology to help get rid of it. Unfortunately, no anti-spam technology is perfect so you may have to exercise some manual supervision over your anti-spam strategy to make sure it does not filter out legitimate emails from manifold.net that you want to receive.

If one of the problems above is in play, that can lead to a very frustrating experience with communications. For example, a customer sometimes without realizing it will have massive spam filters in place that prevent any communications from manifold.net getting through. The customer does not receive the serial number email and then when the customer writes to sales@manifold.net to complain, he or she does not get any reply. The customer sends repeated emails, each of which gets angrier and angrier. The problem, of course, is that if the customer has some spam filter that rejects emails from manifold.net then no matter how often manifold.net replies the customer will not get those replies.

The solution to the above problem is to use some temporary, HTML-based, free email address from hotmail.com, yahoo.com or Google's gmail to correspond with manifold.net.

The worst situation is when someone for ego or broken logic reasons is not willing to consider the possibility that something about his or her email system is preventing email from manifold.net from being delivered. There are two classic cases: the first case being the person who thinks that because they receive plenty of emails from other people there cannot be anything wrong with their email setup. This is the "broken logic" problem because obviously you won't know about the many emails you don't get if you never get them.

The second typical case happens when the person having email reception problems is the person who has set up the email system and has ego problems considering that something might not be quite right. Some people, for example, seem to have a knack for setting up their own email servers that are configured with all sorts of tricky arrangements that don't work quite right. It is difficult to solve a problem when such self-administered email gurus are unwilling to consider they may have made an error.

If communications are the problem, keep it technical: get a free email account and use that to work around whatever problem exists.

Tech Tips

If you have acquired multiple Manifold licenses or licenses for both Manifold and Manifold extensions such as Surface Tools, keep track of which serial number goes with which license. For example, you can't use a Surface Tools serial number and Activation key to activate Manifold System.

Activation keys work only with the single serial number and the single System ID that were used to fetch them. You can't mix and match Activation keys with different serial numbers or use on different machines. You can't change a serial number on the same machine, say, from a Professional to an Enterprise license without needing a new activation key for the new serial number.

Professionally produced counterfeit or pirated software is widely available in some countries. However, the use of such software poses risks for the unwary, including the risk that the pirated software package is actually transmitting your location to police authorities. See the Beware of Counterfeit Software essay for a discussion of some of the little-known risks of using such software.

A related topic that may be useful in some cases, such as understanding what happens to a license if former partners squabble over a Manifold serial number when dissolving a partnership, is the Maintaining Your Manifold License topic.

Notes on Copy Protection

Some folks are outraged that a software company might utilize anti-piracy measures such as serial numbers and a limited number of activations. Against the chance that some such people might be interested in the practical reasons why copy protection is employed, or that a sensible person may be called upon to calm down an angry colleague, we provide the following information:

With over 40% of the software in the US in commercial settings being used in violation of licenses and well over 95% of software in some countries being pirated copies, it's just not cost effective to create and offer software like Manifold at very low cost if copy protection methods are not employed. If you are very angry about that and disagree, that's OK: do not license Manifold software. There are always alternatives that may better fit your preferences for licensing, although none of them will have the extensive capabilities and ultimately lowest costs of Manifold.

For those folks who do choose to license Manifold, the license is not an unlimited one nor is it constructed to allow all possible users to run Manifold until the end of time no matter what happens. Providing that capability would be very expensive and would ruin the low cost that makes Manifold affordable to so many users. Instead, the license and copy protection mechanisms try to strike a balance that makes reasonable use possible at as low a cost as possible for as many users as possible. It's a formula that has brought real GIS capabilities to more users than ever before.

Experienced users will not get hung up on the idea of "buying" a license that will run "forever," as attempting to do that will simply raise costs in most cases. It's not even a realistic proposition, as people who attempt it usually discover.

Computer hardware and software technology change so rapidly that installations more than a few years old become antiques. They become difficult to keep running because replacement software and hardware parts are not available and because newer software requires newer technology. You know exactly what we mean if you've ever tried to find RAID drivers for that old box made in 2004 you are trying to press into service today as a web server running the most recent edition of Windows. As a practical matter the great majority of software versions should not be expected to have a lifetime of more than three to five years at the most.

Manifold issues new editions more frequently than that and provides a low cost upgrade path that makes it easy to get newer versions and additional activations for a modest fee. Some folks don't like the idea that to run Manifold "forever" they have to, in effect, "rent" a license by paying modest fees for upgrades every now and then. However, that is a necessary consequence of evolving systems: because Manifold is not freeware newer versions will not be free. The costs of creating new editions are very high and manifold.net is not willing to create such new editions without compensation. Likewise, the price we all pay for endemic software piracy is the limitation on usage and increased costs associated with copy protection mechanisms.

The current system is the least cost way manifold.net has found after years of experience to assure copy protection, to provide a low initial cost and to keep the costs of upgrades as low as possible. At the time of this writing, the manifold.net system has resulted in GIS software costs that are far lower than any other full-featured GIS software, in some cases over forty times less expensive than competitors. That's an amazing accomplishment that could only have been financed by assuring, through copy protection using serial numbers and activations, that everyone has paid their fair share.

It's true that there will always be atypical cases where some users need more activations or some users might really intend to keep antique configurations running for many years. Sometimes that happens when people have unique usage patterns, such as using laptop computers in very harsh environments where the computers need to be replaced with unusual frequency no matter how careful the user may be. Such users will have higher costs and it is only fair that they should bear their own higher expenses for their special needs.

In other cases some people live disorderly, unplanned lives and as a result will end up wasting activation keys. Some people acquire a Manifold license and then go on vacation for 30 days, so that when they return they no longer have a "free" period of 30 days before activation is required in which they can sort out any machine configuration problems. Some people don't bother to use anti-virus software or don't bother to familiarize themselves with Windows administration, so they find themselves unnecessarily burning through activations as they try to deal with the damage inflicted on machines by viruses or by imprudent machine management. Such people will encounter higher costs to license Manifold because they will have to acquire additional licenses to replace the activations they have wasted.

The least cost way manifold.net has found to service the above unusual needs, without forcing other users to bear the costs of those unusual needs, is to simply offer new licenses at the regular price. Of the many systems one can imagine to validate and deal with unusual situations that turns out to be the least costly method.

Note: Users who want to run old machine configurations for many years should be aware that future editions of Manifold might not run on very old configurations, so if that is the intention it would be wise order a few extra Manifold licenses of the vintage of interest while such licenses are still available. We think a better idea is to simply get with the program and upgrade machine hardware, Windows systems and Manifold editions on a regular basis so that you are always working on the latest, super-cool new stuff the computer industry delivers. You don't have to upgrade every month, but trying to run antique hardware for 10 or 20 years is just not productive.