Obtaining multiple licences for Windows XP Pro

chuckles1066

Hootie19 wrote:

Sorry, I had added my repy before I read your post saying it's illegal.

by "illegal" I assume you mean a version whereby you have bypassed the product activation by means of a patch?

Yeah that's illegal.

Buying legitimate COA's and using *any* copy of XP is legal.......as has been revealed in this thread, there's a lot of confusion over what is and what isnt legal any more.

Mr_Skint_2

http://www.bcs.org/BCS/Products/publishing/itnow/OnlineArchive/mar02/softwarelicensing.htm


Software Licensing
Softly, softly...
Two bodies that have long used the law to fight against illegal use of software are looking increasingly at helping organisations to comply - and bringing some surprising extra benefits as a result. John Kavanagh reports

A recent out-of-court settlement saw Clackmannanshire Council in Scotland pay an undisclosed sum for unlicensed use of Microsoft Office after legal action by the Business Software Alliance, which fights software theft on behalf of its members in 65 countries.

Yet at the same time financial services company Scottish Widows was saying that introducing a formal software licence compliance programme had saved it more than £1m on hardware upgrades, PC purchases and software in two years - and almost halved the cost of ownership per PC.
These two organisations represent the contrasting yet complementary approaches now being adopted by both the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the UK Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) - which was set up in 1984 by the BCS Copyright Committee and represents both suppliers and users. After publicising raids by police, trading standards officers and their own officials in their early days the two bodies are now also promoting the positive side of staying legal as a software user. This goes beyond the already considerable fact that illegal copies get no support from the supplier, no bug fixes, updates or enhancements - and bring the risk of being found out.

The two bodies quote independent research which shows that one in four pieces of software in the UK is being used illegally; this means losses to the industry of well over £350m a year - and the UK is one of the lowest offenders: the worldwide average rate of illegal use is 37%, and rising.
'Managing the corporate desktop presents more problems than it did five years ago,'. says FAST manager Richard Willmott. 'Users are smarter and more technically competent, with many owning PCs at home. New technology, including the internet, provides additional channels for introducing unlicensed software into an organisation.'

FAST and the BSA believe the biggest losses are caused by organisations which illegally copy or do not buy enough licences, rather than home users buying stolen games. Both bodies are prepared to get tough with offenders: indeed, the BSA has been criticised for uncompromising mailshots, including a software audit form sent to companies last year with a letter urging them to treat it as seriously as a tax return.
'Copying software in the workplace must stop,' says Mike Newton, UK programme manager at the BSA. 'When the revenues lost to piracy are added up, they represent a huge lost opportunity for job creation and tax contributions.' He adds, 'It's time for businesses to clean up their acts before they get swept up in a BSA enforcement action: the BSA is currently investigating 500 organisations across the UK for suspected underlicensing: six of these are government funded.'

Penalties in some recent cases have included not only damages but also all legal fees, removal of the stolen products and purchase of legitimate copies. Other possibilities range from bad publicity to fines and even prison for company directors.

'Company officers are responsible for ensuring that their organisation complies with the law,' says Richard Willmott at FAST. 'Ignorance is no defence: even if a manager is totally unaware that software theft is occurring, that does not absolve the company from legal proceedings.'
As well as publicising successful prosecutions and settlements, the BSA and FAST are now also making much of their support services and of successes in this field too.

'Companies have become accustomed to thinking that software compliance is a necessary evil: buy some more licences, or someone will punish you,' says Richard Willmott at FAST. 'If you think in this way, you may be responsible for some unlicensed software. 'Perhaps the compliance programme is in the "too hard" basket: it's not only hard to audit your software, but also hard to tell the board that they have to pay more for software they thought they already had. 'But if buying software licences - even to stop you breaking the law - isn't enough to spur action, think about doing it to boost your IT budget by thousands of pounds. Think about curing some support headaches.'

He points to five and six figure savings made by Scottish Widows, Bally Shoes, Braintree Council, investment company M&G Group and others. The savings come in various ways, Richard Willmott says.
'First, you help your helpdesk. Unless you audit your software, you don't know what you own, or who owns it. You probably have many versions of the same packages or several packages that do the same job in different parts of the company. But you don't know what you have until someone has a problem with it - and that may require an upgrade, more training or a search for the solution.

'A software management project can identify your software and highlight the orphaned software that needs to be upgraded. Simply by standardising on a single product you cut the burden on your support service and slash training costs. 'You might save money on hardware upgrades by concentrating hardware where it's needed and cutting panic purchasing.'
He continues, 'It's a small step to reorganising your licence purchasing. If you buy licences just to fill gaps, you're missing the opportunity to save money. A centralised purchasing plan will bring substantial discounts. You could turn licensing over to the purchasing department - people whose job it is to negotiate the best deal for bulk purchases, whether it's software or stationery.'

FAST and the BSA provide guides and other help in setting up and running compliance programmes which can bring these other benefits. Companies and managers believing they can get away with illegal software copying might think again after a recent survey of 365 UK users by the BSA. This found that 69% would report their employer if they thought it was using illegal software - not least because 63% felt their jobs would be at risk if the company was doing so.

The survey also found that less than half the users had been told of their responsibility regarding legal software use when they joined their company, and only 7% knew a colleague who had been disciplined for software misuse. 'It's very encouraging that so many people now realise the risks of illegal software - but the results show a disappointing lack of support from most employers,' Mike Newton says.

John Kavanagh is a freelance journalist.
The Business Software Alliance, an international industry body focusing on illegal use of software, is at https://www.bsa.org (Link opens in a new window). Its hotline is 0800 510510 and the office is on 020 7245 0304. It offers rewards of up to £10,000 for information leading to a successful settlement or prosecution for a member company.
The UK Federation Against Software Theft, formed by The BCS and with both suppliers and users as members, is at https://www.fast.org.uk (Link opens in a new window) and fast@fast.org and on 0845 603 4567. All these contact points can be used in strict confidence to complain about illegal software use or to get advice.

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Gotcha! Illegal users pay the price
Recent illegal software users successfully pursued by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in the UK include Manchester's Trafford Centre retail and leisure complex, which settled for an undisclosed sum; Gloucester City Council (a £12,000 settlement); Online Travel Corporation, an internet travel technology and distribution business (a £40,000 settlement); Price's Candles, a candle manufacturing company, which settled for £9,500; and Bousfield Heatons, a printing chemicals manufacturing company (a £65,000 settlement).

Clackmannanshire Council, which had an agreement with Microsoft ensuring that it was buying its software licences at the best price, bought 470 licence agreements from another supplier at a further discounted price. But this type of agreement is invalid when sold separately from a software package.

marble

Aside from the legality of ebay licences (I believe there are some issues with transferring licences from one person to another), XP Pro can be purchased for around £100 a licence.

As an example, try looking at
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=134166

This is XP Pro OEM. It is meant to be sold to people who make computers, and often you have to buy a piece of hardware with the software (the cheapest modem you can find). You get a licence and a CD, but no box, manuals or anything else (it's as basic as it gets). I believe this is the route most people go down for buying XP for home use though I have never read all the terms and conditions attached with buying OEM software.

Al

BenL

I posted a link a few weeks ago for the same thing.

Ebuyer so a 3 licence version of Win Xp Pro abd home.

Take a look at their site.

Ben

Hootie19

BenL wrote:

I posted a link a few weeks ago for the same thing.

Ebuyer so a 3 licence version of Win Xp Pro abd home.

Take a look at their site.

Ben

Thank you Ben - that looks exactly what we're after :-)