A license "fit for what most customers do"

[qukza]

From InfoWeek:
When Windows Vista is available, consumers will be able to transfer the OS license they purchase to only one machine other than the one for which they originally buy Vista, said Shanen Boettcher, a Windows general manager at Microsoft. He said Microsoft thought the change made sense because "lifetimes for PCs are getting longer." Most likely, a user will not need to transfer an OS license to more than one computer during the time that OS is the latest one available, Boettcher said. "It's a fit for what most customers do," he said. Boettcher added that XP did not have a specific limit for the number of times the license was transferable, but that Microsoft wanted to be "specific" about transfer rights with Vista.

 

[dean7]

Dean added that Microsoft wanted to be "specific" about screwing gamers.

 

[qukza]

And here's some extra clarification that this restriction didn't appear in the XP retail version or even the OEM version. Seems like a great reason to stick with XP, not to mention the lack of restriction on virtualization (how else will one run all those legacy Windows apps on OSX and Linux?).

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.general&tid=65c01d3d-b693-4c2d-a427-2d82bc674571&p=1

 

[dean7]

Well, their pricing structure has been pissing me off with Vista. I mean, it's getting as bad as signing a cell phone contract when it doesn't need to be! Instead of "home and pro" (and the idea of home VS pro is stupid in the 1st place...) it's Business, Enterprise, Home Premium, Home Basic, and Ultimate. That's just great if you ask me! :roll:

Why is it that every corporation in the world has to take simple things that work, and turn them into 1,000-page EULAs and 20 different licenses? Why aren't there more Bethesda's of the world???

 

[aster]

Make me really think hard about switching to linux :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[dean7]

Make me really think hard about switching to linux :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Damn right. As soon as there is better gaming support on Linux I'm there 100% :lol:

 

[qukza]

More discussion of this here:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-6126379.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/index.php?p=118
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/index.php?p=116
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/

The license change seems to have upset a lot of people. Even Paul Thurrott who Ed Bott takes to task for being both obnoxious and wrong (what's new?) seems to have backtracked somewhat on his original position that there was no real change, just a clarification of XP license.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/93896/93896.html

 

[bacis]

hi.
there are always 2 roads that leads to the same think
one is the normal door
and the other is the window.
as long are windows no worry.

 

[starwhite]

I was trying to convince my self I should upgrade to VISTA anyway....then I discovered a rather disturbing fact: Get this:

* you can upgrade your hardware twice without having to buy the whole OS again ( you can only change the HW once before your vista licence wont ever authenticate again....so, I decide to put in a new Board, harddrive. I guarantee it will authenticate once. What if I fry my MB, build a new PC? (which I've done no less that 7-8 times since Xp came out). Gee, I guess I'll have to shell out $$$ to M$. Not me. XP Forever.
Read this artice from Paul Thurrott's web. We are all basically screwed.
If you like to upgrade, say the latest Video card, memory, ETC...forget it!
Go on...check it out. Sites like THG loves to hawk new hardware...with Vista this is not possible for PC enthusiasts to survive. Basically all the people who faithfully Alpha and beta tested VISTA FREE for microsoft are out in the cold. WE do not count.

 

[stefan238391]

Hm... what does a "machine" really mean? Does it really mean that you can not upgrade any of your hardware? What if something just breaks? Everybody knows that PC hardware is not very reliable in general. I used my last computer for about 3 years and it went through 3 different motherboards, 2 memory modules. Two identrical Epox broke, and then the store replaced that with a newer Gigabyte because they did not have the Epox anymore. In this case, I think the store should also pay for a new Windows license! I was going to buy a Vista Home Premium with the first SP but now I'm reconsidering the whole thing...

 

[306maxi]

I was trying to convince my self I should upgrade to VISTA anyway....then I discovered a rather disturbing fact: Get this:

* you can upgrade your hardware twice without having to buy the whole OS again ( you can only change the HW once before your vista licence wont ever authenticate again....so, I decide to put in a new Board, harddrive. I guarantee it will authenticate once. What if I fry my MB, build a new PC? (which I've done no less that 7-8 times since Xp came out). Gee, I guess I'll have to shell out $$$ to M$. Not me. XP Forever.
Read this artice from Paul Thurrott's web. We are all basically screwed.
If you like to upgrade, say the latest Video card, memory, ETC...forget it!
Go on...check it out. Sites like THG loves to hawk new hardware...with Vista this is not possible for PC enthusiasts to survive. Basically all the people who faithfully Alpha and beta tested VISTA FREE for microsoft are out in the cold. WE do not count.

:lol:

Blatant disinformation.

Just like with XP if you have done more than the number of activations allowed all you do is call Microsoft up and give them your details and they allow you to activate it again. What this guards against is someone buying one copy of the OS and installing it on 10 computers and selling these on to people and saving money from pirating the OS. This is not meant to disadvantage honest people who want to upgrade their PC's.

 

[qukza]

Blatant disinformation. Just like with XP if you have done more than the number of activations allowed all you do is call Microsoft up and give them your details and they allow you to activate it again.

It's not blatant disinformation. The license clearly states that you can make one transfer to a new device (if you own the retail version ), although it isn't clear how much hardware has to be changed before your PC is considered a new device and you have to reactivate. If you read the various statements made by Microsoft employees that are quoted online or read Microsoft's own Vista FAQ they clearly interpret the EULA this way.

On the other hand it isn't clear that the license would stand up in court or that it would be either wise or practical for them to try and enforce it. So in practice the XP EULA may work just like the XP EULA although the Vista EULA is clearly more restrictive than the XP EULA. Bottom line is none of us know whether they'll try to enforce it. We'll have to see what they do after it ships. My guess is that this time next year we'll probably have a fairly good idea.

 

[The_Prophecy]

This topic has been closed by The_Prophecy