Outlook 2002 Reactivation Fails

It complains that I need to reactivate because my machine is too different basically. True, it used to be on my HP ZE4100 but I used Parallels to move that install to my Macbook. My wife owns that piece of kit, as the Brits might say.

You cannot apparently use a different OEM CD to reactivate it. The file (OUTRET.MSI) that it asks for on the CD is named the same but something is different because you cannot repair or reactivate it in any fashion that I could find.

Unlike Vista, you cannot get help over the phone either; there is no option to do so.

This situation arrives if say, you sell a Windows Mobile PDA and your Outlook 2002 CD that came with it, and perhaps, move your install to another machine later.

Thanks as always to Microsoft, for which the end solution is to reinstall product X. Hope it's not your OS.

I just copied my .PST files, uninstalled it, reinstalled it, did updates, and then imported the .PST files.

Voila.

Then I dumpd the POS and moved all my contacts to my iPhone.

Now, I install iTunes in Parallels, sync with that, then sync with iTunes on the Mac. I'll still keep Outlooks sync'd too probably, in case I go back. It's sort of an experiment to see if I can live with the iPhone. Mine is a used 2G (1st generation) so at least my data plan costs the same.

Is it worth $10 a month for 3g and GPS? Dunno. We'll see I guess.

Update: The first generation iPhone I have has really weak WiFi reception compared to my wifes. To the Apple Store, Robin!