Just as a side note why is everyone so pissed off about DRM? I play with a lot of gamers, we are all friends, and none of us has ever had the slightest problem with it.
There are non-damaging forms of DRM programmes, and on the other hand, potentially very damaging forms of DRM programmes.
I have a lot of games & music-files in my computer which are protected by DRM. I don't mind.
The issue, here, is the very intrusive & (potentially) damaging form of SecuRom that EA has inflicted on its customers -- specifically for the SPORE game.
You & your friends might be in the lucky majority who have not suffered from that form of SecuRom's nasty interference with normal operations of a PC (outside of the protected game).
For the past 4 weeks, I've read hundreds of posts on 3 major forums dedicated to SPORE (two of them being officially linked to EA). A "big" minority of EA customers have noticed that since installing SPORE, their computers have sometimes become dysfunctional in their game-related & non-game operations -- some customers even complaining that the erratic & chaotic problems are really nightmarish.
I'm NOT at all refering here to the limited number of SPORE "activations", which SecuRom keeps track of.
I'm precisely targeting the "advanced" type of "deep" SecuRom that EA has imposed with the SPORE installation. That specific type of DRM programme is
potentially very dangerous -- according to dozens of forum posters who have been its victims.
Even if it is only a "potential" threat that might only affect less than 10% of the people who purchased SPORE, I don't intend to put my whole PC at risk to play any game.
I really wanted to buy SPORE. There is
only one reason I've not done it (and possibly won't ever do it) : its SecuRom malware.
StarDock games have
no DRM protection whatsoever, and that developer & publisher has seen its sales strongly rising in 2007 & 2008 ... whereas EA doesn't trust its paying customers and punishes them -- without being able to stop pirates, anyway ! (In September, SPORE has been illegally downloaded well over ½ million times, according to websites which track bit-torrent stats !)
In conclusion, I don't mind legitimate, non-abusive forms of DRM ... as long as they are not of a root-kit type of malware which cannot be uninstalled (requiring one to format the C:\ drive to get rid of it & to re-establish the healthy operation of one's PC).