Lion:
I don't believe this shows a lack of Apple forethought, but, on the contrary, shows great forethought -- unfortunately that forethought does not benefit its user base in emergency situations. It does, however, advantage Apple's agenda for greater control.
One past design job found me in the mountains, working on my Laptop. The primary internal drive failed, and the laptop booted from the backup FireWire drive. Unfortunately, CS3 and Quark required re-authorizations, which failed for lack of an internet connection. To solve this, I first called Quark, appraised them of the situation, and gave them my serial number. Quark tech then directed me to their authorization repair utility in the QuarkXpress app folder, and I was up and running. Adobe, on the other hand, informed me that without an internet connection, re-authorization is impossible. Sorry. Though their software ceased to function on my job, my money, however, was still working just fine in the bank of Adobe.
Apple must believe that they have achieved critical mass in the number of Apple users who both have an internet connection and neither care or do not see the implications of buying into an internet-only corporate agenda.
