as you've probably noted by reading through these forums, the chance of stitcher ever being updated by AD is pretty slim, last update was over 2 years ago, and they have shown no interest at all in communicating with paying customers who are having problems, as per their unique "30 days from purchase only" support plan
i was in a similar situation a couple years ago, i had a BIG mass stitching job coming up and AD decided to remove batch stitching with NO notification or explanation to their customers, and ignored the many pleas for any explanation - eventually giving an answer that "it was buggy, so we removed it" - rather than fix it !?!?!?
fortunately i was able to get up to speed with PTGUI in time to complete things, PTGUI's additional speed and efficiency was quite a pleasant surprise as well, plus no weird activation nonsense, etc
so, sorry, i know its not what you want to hear, but i would strongly suggest that your money would be better spent on an alternative stitching app like ptgui or autopano
sam