Windows XP license: how do they get away with it?

Doublespresso

I wanted to have XP installed on a new EEE mini laptop, and since I had an original CD with XP on it form my old P4 Dell pc which I no longer use, I thought I would be fine.. till I got a registration message and teh message sying that my Product Key is invalid.

Now I'm told that Windows is valid on one PC only, and you cant re-install it on a new PC.. it sounds extremely unfair to me. Imagine buying a Wii game and they tell you that you can only play with it on a specific console?

I can accept that a license is valid for one PC at a time, but just as I can do as I wish with the comeponents fo my PC I shoudl be able to use the software, albeit only once at a time, as I wish?

I belive EU consumer law actually protects cunsumers and allows the transfer of a licence to another PC.

any comments?

vaio

if it is a full retail pack then you can move it to a different machine, if it’s the cut down (hence cheap) OEM version then they are often locked to a particular machine or brand of machine

tomstickland

Someone on here had a link to an application that retrieved the key from the registry.

ormus

what you have is an OEM XP disk. thats a different licence from a proper full xp pro disk.
dell oem disk should allow you to install it again in a repaired Dell PC ie another mobo.
it might need reactivating but MS should do it ok. the trouble starts when you try to change all the PC components together.

re the law and MS.
i also believe MS to be wrong. how can you accept the T&C when you break the seal, if the T&Cs are inside?
but theres been no test case afaik?

robt_2

tomstickland wrote: »

Someone on here had a link to an application that retrieved the key from the registry.

Don't see what that has to do with it

If you had an OEM version of XP with your Dell, that was included in the price of your PC.

If you go and buy XP yourself, yes, youcan transfer it to a different machine.

Much the same that if I buy OEM Vista, it is tied to my machine, but if I buy retail Vista I can transfer it.

Conor_3

Doublespresso wrote: »

any comments?

Basically, Dell get a whopping discount on Windows licences and all OEM licences are about 1/2 the price of a retail one and this is means it comes with restrictions. If you want a transferable one, you buy a full retail one but it'll cost far more.

I bet you weren't complaining about the cheap price that you paid for your Dell when you bought it were you? Having an OEM licence was one of the ways the price was kept down.

slicksurf

robt wrote: »

Don't see what that has to do with it

If you had an OEM version of XP with your Dell, that was included in the price of your PC.

If you go and buy XP yourself, yes, youcan transfer it to a different machine.

Much the same that if I buy OEM Vista, it is tied to my machine, but if I buy retail Vista I can transfer it.

I wouldn't be so sure about it being tied to a machine. Dell and all other OEMS use OEM keys. These are located in a plain text file on the CD. A Dell OEM cd should've worked on a Dell PC without the need for a license key. This was the case when Dell told me to keep my old XP cd for use on the Vista replacement laptop. I suppose it makes no sense for a coporation to use loads of keys. No Dell I've ever bought uses the key thats stuck beneath the laptop, all use OEM Keys. The same applied with Vista that came with the machine.

fwor

Conor wrote: »

Having an OEM licence was one of the ways the price was kept down.

IMO... having an OEM licence means that you are the victim of Microsoft's (very successful) practices which have allowed it to dominate the market and suppress competition.

Also, it's likely that the OEM licence terms would be considered unfair if ever tested in a UK court, which is why IMO Microsoft will not in the foreseeable future try to test it in a UK court!

So... my personal position is not to worry about not adhering to the detail of M$ licence agreement terms until there is some evidence that doing so is illegal.

Then again, you could just go with Linux. It can do pretty much anything that Windows can do anyway...

Doublespresso

fwor wrote: »

IMO... having an OEM licence means that you are the victim of Microsoft's (very successful) practices which have allowed it to dominate the market and suppress competition.

Also, it's likely that the OEM licence terms would be considered unfair if ever tested in a UK court, which is why IMO Microsoft will not in the foreseeable future try to test it in a UK court!

I agree 100%.
I also think that we get in dangerous territory if we as consumers, allow a corporation to dictate how a product should be used by the buyer, and IMO it is even more dangerous when people accept this as a "fair" or "legittimate" practice, when in fact the whole business model of MS is designed to monopolise the market, not to reduce prices as some implied above.

robt_2

slicksurf wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure about it being tied to a machine. Dell and all other OEMS use OEM keys. These are located in a plain text file on the CD. A Dell OEM cd should've worked on a Dell PC without the need for a license key. This was the case when Dell told me to keep my old XP cd for use on the Vista replacement laptop. I suppose it makes no sense for a coporation to use loads of keys. No Dell I've ever bought uses the key thats stuck beneath the laptop, all use OEM Keys. The same applied with Vista that came with the machine.

I know, I was generalising. Dell aside, an OEM license *generally* means it is tied to that computer. That is not to say it wont work on another.

Garz

I always look at it from a different angle. If I were to code a program as large as an operating system myself then I would probably want a nice fee for all my time and effort. It would be overpriced, pathetic and fall over itself to no end. Instead of follwing the bandwagon either look into how complex and OS is and try having a go yourself, how your going to make it talk to all the other devices/peripherals etc without many bugs, or go with a free distro like the guy mentioned before said.

I may not like some things about M$, but be realistic it works pretty well and supports nigh on everything you could want. If you must stick to their licencing agreement you will have to have a copy for each machine you install it on (in most cases). Thing is if you forget to uninstall it before moving it to a new build/machine they are hardly going to be banging on your doors demanding you to uninstall it!