Activation/validation is common for most software today and as Yutaka said it will work without a internet connection as well which is a lot more user friendly then for a lot of other software available that won’t work at all unless you activate online. Also online activation is so common today i cannot understand why anyone with a valid license would find it to be a problem. Especially in this case where online activation is not really required and no personal information is sent.
I must also add that i had no problem understanding that version 9 required a new key since this information was easy to find and really hard to miss. The process to get a new key i also found easy and fast.
I can fully understand this change and give emurasoft my full support trying to stop people from stealing their products.