Microsoft Sues Comet Over Windows 'Piracy'

The_Safordian

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Of course you should download a copy of the OEM disks , but when did Microsoft supply

I download them but use legal/genuine serials which come with the machine, bad man aren't I

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

oh and when did "netbooks" come with cd drives / dvd drives?

LOL If you read the thread you will see I created a Bootable USB Stick and installed it that way, easy.

TakeThis

No one but a child would describe themselves as an 'IT Professional' here.

But you reveal the paucity of your knowledge with your admittance that you use the product key on the COA in order to activate the OS.

That is not the way an 'IT Professional' would do it.

RobTang

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Of course you should download a copy of the OEM disks , but when did Microsoft supply

1) OEM Disks for any PC

...

Well technically the standard OEM SKUs (for windows) comes with a disc, the system builder is required to install the software, stick the COA to the case and provide all the contents of the SKU to the end user.
They used to sell media kits for windows (disc with no licence) but they dissapeared ages ago, you can probably still get them but I dont know anyone who actually uses them.

However most OEM licences are the volume licences and the rules for them are different.

I dont know why people think recovery discs are created by Microsoft, they are not and Microsoft as never created any tool to make one either. They are made by the manufacturer (HP / Dell whoever) and are specific to that machine so all drivers are installed etc.

esuhl

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

but when did Microsoft supply

1) OEM Disks for any PC

My Windows 95 & 98 PCs were supplied with standard OEM installation CDs. They didn't have any branding relating to the vendor, or any vendor- or hardware-specific files. I presume Microsoft supplied them to the retailer...

TakeThis wrote: »

No one but a child would describe themselves as an 'IT Professional' here.

But you reveal the paucity of your knowledge with your admittance that you use the product key on the COA in order to activate the OS.

That is not the way an 'IT Professional' would do it.

I would if it was just for one PC. An "IT Professional" wouldn't necessarily have installed Windows before (unlikely, perhaps) or be doing it regularly as part of their job. So as a "one off", surely it's easier to just boot the DVD in the usual way rather than messing around with unintended installations, slipstreaming service packs, etc.?

Bogtrotter

I guess that you have to concede that Comet providing recovery media could be seen as a breach of copyright. It depends on how the media was sold... did Comet attempt to sell disk to each and every purchase of a computer or were the disks provided at the request from customers who failed to make the media themselves and then suffered disk failure or corruption?

If it was the later case, I seriously doubt that £14.99 for recovery disks was a serious attempt at a revenue stream for Comet. If someone asked me to make a set of recovery disks for their new laptop I'm sure gonna charge them more than £1.49.

To put it another way... You take your computer to be fixed due to serious disk corruption or malware infection. Does the computer technician keep you hanging around for weeks until he obtains recovery media from the OEM? Does he spend many hours fixing the system without reinstalling the operating system and then present you with a large bill that would make a new computer look cheap?

My guess that he will delve into the library of Dell/Acer/HP/Compaq recovery disks he has collected over the years so solve the problem with least cost and inconvenience to the computer owner as possible. Not probably legal but maybe not morally wrong in the view of most either.

banger9365

when has a operating system asked you to make a recovery disk for the system oem or retail ,let me think never in all the years ive had pc/laptop (thats going on for 30years now before pc's where pc's that we know and love today)
its always a third party software that do's that and i did get recovery disk with my netbook and instructions how to copy it to a usb flash drive

most manufactures off pc/laptops/netbook ect you can buy recovery disks off them for a small fee and you can do the same from Microsoft ,office 2010 comes to mind back up disk for £10 instead of downloading it

and dont pc world do the same thing when you buy a computer off them offer the make the recovery disks for you

GunJack

MS/OEMs charging a "small fee" for recovery media ?? Think £15 from Comet is comparatively cheap in that department... MS usually want you to buy a full OS at £££, PCW group normally want at least £20, even if the machine is >5-y-o and running XP

ChiefGrasscutter

banger9365 wrote: »

when has a operating system asked you to make a recovery disk for the system oem or retail ,let me think never in all the years ive had pc/laptop (thats going on for 30years now before pc's where pc's that we know and love today)
its always a third party software that do's that and i did get recovery disk with my netbook and instructions how to copy it to a usb flash drive

most manufactures off pc/laptops/netbook ect you can buy recovery disks off them for a small fee and you can do the same from Microsoft ,office 2010 comes to mind back up disk for £10 instead of downloading it

Samsung N140 Netbook.
First thing upon start up and windows initialisation/setup it then automatically goes into the recovery program and makes an image on the hidden recovery partition.
It also somewhere (possibly the manual and also on the screen) highly recommends you make a DVD(s) of the recovery image from the partition from an option in the image making program - it is your problem to source a DVD writer.
However Samsung did NOT provide any receovery media and did NOT provide any means for obtaining one.
So in the event you have hard disk total failure the recovery program will not be available, the image on the disk will not be available and your DVD will be useless as it is not a rescue DVD - it is a compressed image DVD requiring the recovery program.
Those who bothered to think this one through made a full disk image with a 3rd party software. There were plenty on the forums who didn't of course............
Invariably the wuckfits had installed linux over the top, thereby wrecking Samsung's custom MBR thereby removing all access via the special startup code and function key press to the recovery area/program and were left with no way of returning it to factory restore.
Classic case of RTFM.

banger9365

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Samsung N140 Netbook.
First thing upon start up and windows initialisation/setup it then automatically goes into the recovery program and makes an image on the hidden recovery partition.
.

which windows do's this ,i would like a copy
or do you mean the third party software kicks in and do's it and it looks like windows is do it
the third party software could be in the bios or on the hdd ,thats why you see post after post about pressing F10 or Atl-F10 ect to get laptops to read the recovery partition on the hdd ,
windows its self cannot do that ,different versions can make back ups but make not a recovery partition ,
you can make a windows disk with the software in it so it runs on start up ,
that's beyond most people on a forum like this

The_Safordian

TakeThis wrote: »

No one but a child would describe themselves as an 'IT Professional' here.

But you reveal the paucity of your knowledge with your admittance that you use the product key on the COA in order to activate the OS.

That is not the way an 'IT Professional' would do it.

You have a nice arrogant way of telling people they are wrong and you are right all the time. It's not my fault you know very little about I.T and yet try telling me how I should act :rotfl: