I took a brief look into the .pdf manual from the tages website and the main question is: do the monthly reactivations accumulate or not?
That's what's i'm itching to know the most so far. If they accumulate, i will be able to install the game and drop from 5 activations to 4, but after a month i'll have 5 again.
If they don't accumulate, then depending on how mods are handled and what kind of hardware signatures it tracks there could be problems. There are some diverging possibilities and sub-categories of potential problems in this one.
Mods: If they are handled in a seamless fashion where there's a global OFF trigger unless a mod is specifically named in the server options as set to ON, it will be just like enforcing the difficulty settings and we'll be able to fly on every server with a single installation.
In this case, think of mods as modules on top of the base engine, just like FSX add-ons,and possibly stored in a dedicated sub-folder within the installation. So, i might have add-ons/mods A,B,C and D, but i join a server than only allows add-ons B and C. If it's handled this way, i won't need a separate installation because the server's logic will be something like:
IF modname=B OR modname=C THEN mod=ON ELSE mod=OFF
It would effectively shut everything down unless specifically allowed within the server's configuration file, and since mods would be stored in a different folder and not by modifying the base installation files it would be easy to monitor and manage. A server admin would have to compile a list of acceptable mods to run, just like they edit planesets, missions and realism settings.
If we need multiple installations however, then it could prove problematic unless the activations accumulate monthly up to the initial limit of 5.
Hardware: After reading their .pdf document, it seems that they are not trying to limit the amount of total installs but the amount of different PC's it's installed on, hence the hardware look-up function. The matter is, what kind of hardware? Ok, i'm sure that the majority of people won't do major upgrades on a frequency of more than once per 6 months or more. In my case, 5 activations would probably last me more than a year, barring the possibility of hardware failure and replacement. So, if it looks up the OS (it says it looks up software too, so i guess that's what it makes sense to look up), CPU and GPU it's not stuff that most of us change often.
However, if it tracks the other components too things could get ugly.
For example, one of the cheapest upgrades right now and something a lot of flight sims benefit from is RAM (not so much for fluid gameplay, but for loading times and keeping extra textures loaded there for when the GPU needs them instead of having to read them from the hard drive). That's exactly my one and only semi-planned upgrade for CoD. I've got a stock i7 920@2.6 Ghz with 3GB of RAM and an Ati 4890 1GB. I won't upgrade anything until i see how it runs, i'll tweak the detail settings and if i'm not happy i'll get another 3GB of RAM and that's it, i'm not going DX11 until today's top of the line GPUs drop below 150 Euros (which could be within 6 months to a year, there are already some mid-range DX11 cards priced at 180).
As you can see, i'll first install it and then decide on upgrading. If it tracks RAM then i'm wasting an extra activation. If an extra one doesn't stack up next month i'll already be down to three remaining.
Also, things like $20 DVD-R drives are pretty common and since they are so cheap, a lot of people prefer going through 2 or even 3 of them within a year than buying an expensive and more reliable $100 drive. Hard disks also do fail from time to time, particularly in cases where a faulty batch leaves the factory.
Finally, we have a load of USB activated devices like webcams, head trackers, portable USB drives or even external hard drives. I wouldn't like to see my game not start just because i have something plugged into a USB port that i didn't have during activation and having to go all trial and error just to play a game i paid for.
Actual activation process: The way it seems to work is something like this:
Pop disc in drive -> Enter CD-key to start installation -> when installation completes, Tages assigns an ID to each hardware component in your PC->Tages uploads the data and receives an activation code->Tages automatically installs activation code
The good points: There's a manual mode that allows you to save the file detailing your PC specs before it's uploaded. So, if for whatever reason you lack internet access you don't need to drag your entire case to someone who is connected, as all the information about your gaming PC's hardware specs that Tages needs will be in that file. Save the file on some removable media and manually upload it from somewhere else to receive your activation code in another text file. Save the text file, take it back home, copy-paste the contents into the activation window and you're done. Also, if you need to format and reinstall everything from scratch but you haven't made any hardware changes, you won't waste an extra activation as long as you've kept that file backed up. Just copy-paste the contents once more into the CoD activation tool and it will work again.
The bad points: I don't know what kind of format the uploaded PC specs are in. If the hardware component IDs are ran through an algorithm to produce a hash value before being uploaded then it's ok. If not, then everyone can see your exact PC specs. Personally that doesn't bother me too much from a purely practical standpoint, but i know it bothers a lot of people on a moral/ethical/matter of principle basis and to tell you the truth i quite sympathize with that opinion. Hardware surveys from the user base can be valuable tools for developers (and marketing execs as well) but they should be on an "opt-in", voluntary basis and not mandatory.
I hope i clear up some things more than i confused you guys
In any case, i hope that we can get some answers on these questions. To be honest, i'm very much anti-DRM but this seems mild compared to the junk that's seen the light of day during the past couple of years, yet i fully trust Ubi to muck it up somehow if they can be bothered to
Along this train of thought, there's a very important point made on the Tages website: the ONLY one who can replenish the amount of available activations is the publisher (aka Ubi), not Tages. Also, the amount of initial activations, the monthly re-activation option and replenishment of activations to the initial limit of 5, all seem to be controlled not by Tages, but by the publisher in question (once again, Ubi). Tages just gives them the tools and they decide on the options.
I hope it'd be a case of "PM your cd-key to an admin and receive 5 more activations" but you never know.
Worst case scenario? The DRM tracks even the secondary hardware components that change often due to minor upgrades or failures, modding needs multiple install, the 5 initial activations can't be replenished by proof of purchase (ie, sending them your CD-key) and the monthly activations don't stack but they are just a one-off virtual voucher that expires at the end of the month. In this (admittedly, worst of the worst cases) scenario, one could very well be left with the capability of reinstalling only once per month, even before the first expansion hits the shelves.
I think we should ask Ubi about the kind of options they asked Tages to include