Microsoft’s Teeny-Tiny Windows 8 Product Key Is Beyond Unreadable | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft’s Teeny-Tiny Windows 8 Product Key Is Beyond Unreadable

wired.com

9 pointsverve11 comments

Quickly estimating I think it's maybe 5pt font. Definitely bit on the small side, especially with that kind of background.

edit: on a closer look, it think it's the blue background that is the bigger issue than the small font per se. The bits on yellow background are significantly more readable.

edit2: turning all the machines around here, I think the font size has stayed same over time (xp-vista-7 represented here). It doesn't really look like the font on 8 is significantly reduced in size either

And Apple's gray-on-silver labels on the back of my Mac Pro are pretty hard to read, too. Not enough dim-eyed gray beards like me at these companies, I guess.

There's no OS X product key on there, though. It's not uncommon to have to read your Windows product key to enter it during installation or tell it to someone on the phone.

The small font is not a problem, but the fact that you cannot buy Windows 8 System Builder online. It's only available in a good old box with a disc inside, and only in a handful of stores such as Newegg or Amazon, which do not ship it outside the US.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/Pages/distributors.aspx#fbid... ?

I have a Windows 7 license sticker on my Dell PC case, I never touched it with my hands and it's already fading. Can I suspect this is being done on purpose? Or am I just being cynical.

i can see it just fine, move that dime out of the way so i can see the rest.

Same here, but it's a photo.. a crop from a DVD sleeve; and at least on my screen even that crop is bigger than a full DVD sleeve.

Does anyone know the coin in the picture, that is, the exact diameter of it?

Looking around me, I see plenty of super fine print on products, like lists of ingredients etc... there seems to be a real problem here. I never really notice it myself because I am shortsighted, so small writing at short distance is no problem; but I heard there are people who are farsighted or have even crazier problems, and while I would be fine if nobody on the planet could install Windows 8, I don't think it's okay that many people could not find out what is in the food they are eating without help, even if they wanted to.

> Does anyone know the coin in the picture, that is, the exact diameter of it?

17.91 mm (0.705 in)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_%28United_States_coin%29

I'd guesstimate that the the picture is about 10px/mm.

haha that was quite ironic that he placed the coin so no one would read and steal the product key.

To be honest, I can read it just fine without leaning towards the monitor. However, I understand it can be an issue for people with poor vision.

What do consumer protection agencies have to say about this?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com