MacBidouille

Intrigué par une récente discussion  sur le forum à propos de Quake III Arena (ICI), je me suis permis de contacter le support client d’Activision.
La discussion portait sur l’utilisation de la clé et du package pak0.pak3 issus du CD pour la plateforme Wintel sur la plateforme Mac après téléchargement de l’application Mac sur le site d’ID Software.
Voici des extraits de mails que nous avons échangés. Je tiens bien sûr les originaux à disposition si besoin pour prouver l’authenticité des échanges.

Customer - 09/30/2002 12:26 PM
Dear Sirs
as a user of a PC, I bought way back the Windows version of Quake III. I recently got rid of my PC and switched on the Macintosh platform. I wanted to know if I legally can use the pak0.pk3 (including the cd key) with the Mas OS X version of Quake III 1.30, or if I need to buy the Macintosh version of Quake III Arena.
Best regards
Emmanuel E.....

Response (Kenneth Chia) - 09/30/2002 05:56 PM
Hello. Thank you for taking the time to write our customer support department.
We do not support running our PC games cross-platform on other OSes such as your MAC. So we cannot offer support in regards to this issue. You can certainly try, but we cannot offer assistance if you encounter any problems. You need to have a PC to run the PC version of this game as stated in the minimum requirements:
(s’ensuit  une description de la config nécessaire que je vous passe)
Kenneth Chia
Activision Customer Support Representative
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Customer - 09/30/2002 06:50 PM
My question was exactly about the legal aspect...
I bought a Quake III Arena license way back as I had a PC.
I've recently bought a PowerMac.
The Quake3 applications are available for FREE from the idsoftware ftp site.
I've got a serial number I acquired with my Quake III Arena License on
Windows (I mean the Quake III Arena CD with a CD Key).
Can I use this serial and install the packages pak0.pak3 on a PowerMacintosh
to run the Quake 3 application I downloaded on the idsoftware site.
Emmanuel E.....

Response (Nick Bee) - 09/30/2002 08:10 PM
Hi,
This method should work, they key will work if it is from a retail copy.  However, Activision cannot support this, you are on your own with the files, etc.
Nick Bee
Activision Customer Support Representative
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Customer - 10/01/2002 03:05 AM
Hi
Thanks for the answer.
What about the legality of this ? A friend of mine told me that it wasn't
legal to use my originals Quake III CD key and pak0.pak3 packages from the
Windows platform, and run the Quake III application for Mac I downloaded on
the idsoftware site.
He told me I should buy the Mac version with a new CD Key.
I don't want to break the law.
So is this legal or illegal ? I know that the method will work. I've got an
original retail copy. But legal or not ? That is the question.
Best regards
Emmanuel E.....

Response (Mike Elias) - 10/01/2002 10:42 AM
Hi,
If you are running the software on both platforms at the same time you would need another CD Key.
If you are only running the software on one platform then the one CD Key you have will be fine.
Keys are distributed per user, per license.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.  Thank you for contacting Activision Support.
Mike Elias
Activision Customer Support Representative

Je crois que les choses sont donc claires. Une clé, une licence par utilisateur. Que ce soit sur PC, sous Linux, sur Mac. On peut donc utiliser la clé et le package contenu sur son CD, et ce sur n’importe quelle plateforme que l’on pourrait successivement connaître… tant que l’installation ne se fait que sur une seule plateforme à la fois dans l plus strict respect de la légalité.
Attention, ceci est valable pour Quake III Arena mais pas forcément pour d'autres logiciels.
PS : Merci à Winnie Van Tiberium de sa tenacité.