Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows Vista > Vista General Discussion > Is this illegal?
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mickeddie   02-21-2007 at 08:12:01 PM

I have an OEM version of Vista Home Premium and when I called MS for a support question they told me I have to contact the system builder, which is me. Then I was told there is a fee for service on an OEM. I ended up finding the answer myself.

Now my question is this: Is it illegal and/or against the EULA for someone with a full retail version to give the product code to someone with an OEM version to get support from MS?

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Alpha_Magnum   02-21-2007 at 10:44:19 PM
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Quote :

I have an OEM version of Vista Home Premium and when I called MS for a support question they told me I have to contact the system builder, which is me. Then I was told there is a fee for service on an OEM. I ended up finding the answer myself.

Now my question is this: Is it illegal and/or against the EULA for someone with a full retail version to give the product code to someone with an OEM version to get support from MS?

Real OEMs are part of the OEM system builder program. You have to give your business info (tax # etc) then you are offered training, seminars, etc.
MS does not help for NO PAY. So yes it is legal as far as I know since by installing the software you agreed to MSes terms!

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mickeddie   02-21-2007 at 10:47:58 PM
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Follow up question:

If it is legal would it be immoral? Would you be willing to give your full retail product ID to someone with an OEM version so said person could call MS when he needs support? <hint, hint>

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Alpha_Magnum   02-21-2007 at 10:56:20 PM
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Quote :

Follow up question:

If it is legal would it be immoral? Would you be willing to give your full retail product ID to someone with an OEM version so said person could call MS when he needs support? <hint, hint>

The bottom line is that MS charges for phone support... Why don't you solve it here since that's what this is for and the price is right!

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Nonymous   02-21-2007 at 11:02:04 PM
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That's one of the reasons why Retail is more expensive than OEM... Retail has the price of product support padded into the price of the OS.

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mickeddie   02-21-2007 at 11:03:26 PM
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Quote :

Follow up question:

If it is legal would it be immoral? Would you be willing to give your full retail product ID to someone with an OEM version so said person could call MS when he needs support? <hint, hint>

The bottom line is that MS charges for phone support... Why don't you solve it here since that's what this is for and the price is right!

I thought MS had a period of free support. I've had issues with XP and was never charged for support (except once and that was to help me restore all of my emails after a reinstall).

Anyway the issue I had was that my backup drive (with my backup data from XP) was not recognized by Vista, even though it was in my disk manager. I later found out that the reason this was is that my backup drive is Dynamic and Vista only recognizes Basic disks. I was able to fix it and now all my data is sitting happily on my new Vista drive.

It's just that sometimes the answer to your quesion is not answered here, or not in the timeframe you need. Search for messages from me regarding my issue with restoring the backup and you'll see that there was not enough helpful responces for me to wait as I was anxious to get my system restored.

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