Software licences and upgrading hardware

Search this forum and you'll see it isn't true.

What surely you dont mean I should use the search function in the forum? What do you take me for? I'm looking for information not a message that says "No topics met your search criteria" every time I search for anything. THERE IS NO PROPERLY WORKING SEARCH FUNCTION!

EDIT: And just looking takes too long

Well I've trawled around a little and I'm not going to link posts but it appears...
[*:e692cc2151]You can reinstall the OEM version but you are going to need a new activation code each time, possibly even for some hardware upgrades. There is some contrary opinion that this breaks the terms of the licence, although MS don't prevent it...
[*:e692cc2151]If you get a retail version then you can update more frequently without being harrassed by M$.
[*:e692cc2151]If you get a 32-bit retail version then it appears you can get a 64-bit upgrade for shipping costs. If you get OEM you'd need to buy a full version.


Still not sure what to do though! Full Ultimate upgrade is about £180, OEM home premium is very much less...

My dad has used an OEM xp home on 2 systems now, with 2 motherboards, no problems.

What about for upgrade editions? How do the licenses work for them (both xp and vista)?

Best just to get ultimate full retail and avoid as much of M$ crap as possible (ebay )

Wow, the search engine at www.microsoft.com didn't blow up with the phrase 'eula'. You do know (dont' you?), the MS' eula is always delivered with all of their products (including OEM and upgrade items). I was suprised that you had questions regarding standard terms and conditions.

At first I felt that it really wasn't necessary for you to continually hound all of these people about that kind of public information. However after reviewing some of the logic in and the comprehension level of your questions, I have reconsidered your plight. You are one of the challenged few; you probably never knew they were so widely available. So here are some official MS links that will truly answer all of your questions, much better than onyone on this site possibly could.

[url=http://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/Windows%20Vista_Home%20Premium_English_d16c019b-fa71-4fc9-a51d-a0621bddb153.pdf]MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS (Vista)
[/url]

[url=http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/eula.mspx]MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS (XP)
[/url]

Best
--DD

I think the problem is that the eulas are i) hard to read, ii) ambiguous, iii) possibly differently enforceable depending on which jurisdiction you live in and iv) apparently contrary to MS public behaviour.

It's hard to see how you might move the oem version about, within the oem t&cs, yet M$ apparently let you reactivate the product... So what use is it studying the eula if it's not what M$ follow?

That's why people are asking about real-life experiences not some theoretical document hidden away on a a website.

I think this is the part you're missing when you use the term "theoretical". The understanding is that OEM is not supposed to be moved off the hardware platform that it's purchased for. If you do move it off, MS is simply taking your word that you're following EULA. If at some point there is a point of contention, say someone decides to sue you, there is no way for you to get around that you ultimately are responsible for not following EULA because that is what you have already agreed to. This is one of those areas where they are offering a good faith effort for user responsibility and the user claims to follow EULA by using the product. Like all legal agreements, there's nothing theoretical about it.

No, I understand this completely. I was just using 'theoretical' in contrast to 'practical', as in theory they could sue you but in practice they haven't.

Although I'd go further and say that as they record certain information when you activate, they know when you've moved it to a new computer. More to the point, given you're only allowed to 'preinstall' once you may be fairly limited in what you can do in terms of reinstalling on the same hardware even.

So if they let people activate the OEM on a second PC then they're fully aware that the user is breaking the terms of the OEM EULA. This is in contrast with the standard EULA that lets you move the SW from one device to another.

So I am tending towards the Ultimate upgrade version as you get all the media and less hassle when rebuilding/respec'ing.

It sounds like you assume that: Vista upgrade + XP OEM == Vista Retail

Is that true? I tend to believe: Vista upgrade + XP OEM == XP OEM upgraded to Vista

--DD