I think NI is handling this pretty well after all. Thank you Matt for keeping us updated. Yes one could argue the whole thing shouldn't have happened at all in the first place, but then again things happen. I really don't want to believe they did this out of pure evilness or not caring about their customers. It would probably just have been more convenient for them to let all these old products go, maybe thinking people don't even use or care about them that much anymore. But people actually do, as we've now seen. And NI seems to be listening and trying to come up with a better solution. I think to us customers these things sometimes appear more simple than they actually are. We simply ask, "can't they just make it so we can keep reactivating our stuff". For NI I believe it's lot more complicated: how to do it, what's the cost, are there any risks involved, contracts to be taken into account, etc.
That being said I really hope they come up with a solution. I don't own or use any of the products on the list, but as a beginner composer I'd feel somewhat uncomfortable to keep building my system around Kontakt knowing my libraries are only good for certain-yet-unknown time period. IMO it also makes buying a perpetual licence seem more like a subscription model, which is kinda funny (but not really). On the other hand I'm not sure why it bothers me that much. Do I really believe I'm able (or willing) to use the libraries I buy today in 2040?