I'm considering dropping my subscription to SW Premium this year, BUT I'm also looking at a computer and OS upgrade in the next couple of years as I'm still running Windows 7 SP1 on a now-four-years-old laptop. I have dutifully downloaded the final SPs of all of the SW editions that have appeared over my subscription tenure, but I'm still wondering about the machine transfer process in the absence of a VAR. In particular, if I'm to be allowed to install on a new machine after dropping my subscription, how does SW prevent me from still running it on the old machine (effectively a second seat)? Does this transfer process work indefinitely, or must I keep up my subscription until I've installed SW on my new machine? -- John Willett
Installing SW on a machine is different from using it on different ones. SW maintains controls in recent years by limiting usage thru "activations". it is allowed to be activated on only 1 machine at a time. The license itself is a "perpetual" type of license. You are able to continue using it after a subscription lapse but you may not update it without re-subscribing and paying a substantial fee to do so. Transferring to another computer should be allowed.