XP retail is not allowed to be transferred to anothr PC either

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Gatticus

[H]ard|Gawd
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MS says XP is tied to the hardware you originally install it to also. Why would we buy more expensive retail version of XP over OEM if this bit of backtracking double speak is true? Anyone here buy XP retail knowing the below to be fact?

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_licensing.asp

Windows transfer rights

There's a funny myth going around that says you have a right to transfer a single copy of Windows XP (or any previous Windows version) to as many computers as you like, as often as you like, and for any reason you like. This myth exists because the Windows XP EULA is vaguely worded. It states, "You may move [Windows XP] to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove [Windows XP] from the former Workstation Computer." Pundits argue, incorrectly, that this EULA implicitly allows any user to continually move a single copy of Windows XP from machine to machine as often as they'd like. One online pundit decided this meant that "there are no restrictions on the number of times you can transfer the software from one computer to another in your household or office." That person is, however, incorrect. As it turns out, the Windows license is pretty simple: Windows is tied to a single device (typically a PC), and not to a person.
 
I think most people know, if you transfer it over to another computer, then you have to remove it from the other. Vista however doesnt allow you to transfer more then once.
 
Go read the complete article. That isn't what it is saying. It is saying XP retail has the same license restrictions as Vista. In fact, it says all Windows versions have the same restrictions.
 
Gatticus said:
Go read the complete article. That isn't what it is saying. It is saying XP retail has the same license restrictions as Vista. In fact, it says all Windows versions have the same restrictions.
Click to expand...

ahh sorry, yeah just read the article......interesting..........so I guess some of us are blowing the vista thing out of hand mayhaps.
 
well its still crappy that xp and vista can only be used on one machine and an upgrade means that you need a new license.
 
I don't know. I was always under the impression that the retail version of XP is allowed to be tranferred to a new PC. That's why I bought retail over OEM. Why else would I buy the retail version? The article is saying that is not the case and it is tied to the first PC you install it to but was not worded clearly in the XP EULA. Seems to me Microsoft is speaking with a forked tongue.
 
From my Windows XP Pro retail EULA:

4. TRANSFER-Internal. You may move the Product to a different
Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must
completely remove the Product from the former Workstation
Computer. Transfer to Third Party. The initial user of the
Product may make a one-time transfer of the Product to
another end user. The transfer has to include all
component parts, media, printed materials, this EULA, and
if applicable, the Certificate of Authenticity. The
transfer may not be an indirect transfer, such as a
consignment. Prior to the transfer, the end user receiving
the transferred Product must agree to all the EULA terms.
No Rental. You may not rent, lease, lend or provide
commercial hosting services to third parties with the
Product.
Click to expand...

The EULA says you can transfer the licence to another computer and then remove the product from the previous computer. There appears to be no limit on the number of times you can do this.
 
Gatticus said:
MS says XP is tied to the hardware you originally install it to also. Why would we buy more expensive retail version of XP over OEM if this bit of backtracking double speak is true? Anyone here buy XP retail knowing the below to be fact?

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_licensing.asp

Windows transfer rights

There's a funny myth going around that says you have a right to transfer a single copy of Windows XP (or any previous Windows version) to as many computers as you like, as often as you like, and for any reason you like. This myth exists because the Windows XP EULA is vaguely worded. It states, "You may move [Windows XP] to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove [Windows XP] from the former Workstation Computer." Pundits argue, incorrectly, that this EULA implicitly allows any user to continually move a single copy of Windows XP from machine to machine as often as they'd like. One online pundit decided this meant that "there are no restrictions on the number of times you can transfer the software from one computer to another in your household or office." That person is, however, incorrect. As it turns out, the Windows license is pretty simple: Windows is tied to a single device (typically a PC), and not to a person.
Click to expand...

I read it. I hear what MS is saying, but it's not the same. With XP they did not say you could only do one xfer. As a result, they could not legitimately tell you that you reactivate more than once (or more than 2x depending how you read the new EULA). Now they can.

It's different. That it only affect 5% of the computer buyers means very little if you're a part of the population it's likely to affect. Maybe they won't enforce right away, but that day is coming. You don't put that in the Eula if you don't intend to enforce it.
 
Christopher said:
From my Windows XP Pro retail EULA:



The EULA says you can transfer the licence to another computer and then remove the product from the previous computer. There appears to be no limit on the number of times you can do this.
Click to expand...

Yep, I think this woman from Microsoft quoted in the article is trying to BS us.
 
XP says there is only a one-time transfer concerning a third-party, which kinda makes sense given that you wouldn't have it anymore to transfer again! And since this isn't the case for transferring among your own PCs, maybe the terms will still hold true for Vista? I don't see how it makes better legal sense to say you can only transfer to one of your PCs versus keep moving Windows from one PC to another and deleting the old versions as you go, it's basically the same end result as if you'd only transferred once. In the old days, many programs would even let you install on multiple machines, as long as only one was running at any given time.

What I wonder about is OCD people like me who constantly feel the need to reinstall Windows all the time.....I certainly hope there's no limit on activations for reinstalls!
 
There is already a limit in XP. Don't know what tha tlimit is but every time I reinstall XP it says this copy of XP has been installed too many times and I need a new product ID. I just ignore it and get MS to activate it over the phone. I'll reinstall XP as often as I want/need.
 
nilepez said:
I read it. I hear what MS is saying, but it's not the same. With XP they did not say you could only do one xfer.
Click to expand...

Yes, they did.


The initial user of the
Product may make a one-time transfer of the Product to
another end user. The transfer has to include all
component parts, media, printed materials, this EULA, and
if applicable, the Certificate of Authenticity.
 
He's talking about transferring to another PC and not selling it to someone, which is what that clause you quoted is talking about.
 
Gatticus said:
There is already a limit in XP. Don't know what tha tlimit is but every time I reinstall XP it says this copy of XP has been installed too many times and I need a new product ID. I just ignore it and get MS to activate it over the phone. I'll reinstall XP as often as I want/need.
Click to expand...

How often do you reinstall your OS?
 
I have to activate windows of the phone too. It lets you activate it every 3 months online however, or so I hear. Last few times I borked my install from a bad PSU and once from a bad sector on my hard drive (linked to that PSU :( ). I hope none of these terms are true because shit happens and I don't want to buy a new license for my hard drive dying or from upgrading a part here and there. That's bullshit.
 
Flyboat said:
How often do you reinstall your OS?
Click to expand...

Depends how often I change hardware or get a hardware issue. Or I might do it just because I want to resize and move partitions around. Just had to do a reinstall about two weeks ago due to a bad sector on my system HDD. Sometimes I will go six months without doing a reinstall and sometimes I'll do three reinstalls in a month, sometimes twice in a week. Microsoft has changed how often it will flag you if you do a reinstall though. Used to get reset every three months but I believe that has changed. I asked the MS employee when I was phoning to activate one time recently and was told it is now every two years but I think they were talking out of their arse and didn't actually know. I don't care what their policy is, I will continue to reinstall as often as I like.
 
bboynitrous said:
I have to activate windows of the phone too. It lets you activate it every 3 months online however, or so I hear. Last few times I borked my install from a bad PSU and once from a bad sector on my hard drive (linked to that PSU :( ). I hope none of these terms are true because shit happens and I don't want to buy a new license for my hard drive dying or from upgrading a part here and there. That's bullshit.
Click to expand...

Nah, just give them some BS story like you got a virus or something and you should be ok. I read on here one time that the Microsoft employee wouldn't activate his OEM copy of XP so he just called back and got someone else.
 
Gatticus said:
He's talking about transferring to another PC and not selling it to someone, which is what that clause you quoted is talking about.
Click to expand...

No it isn't.

Nowhere in the clause I quoted does it say anything about selling a lisence that has already been bought.
 
digital_exhaust said:
No it isn't.

Nowhere in the clause I quoted does it say anything about selling a lisence that has already been bought.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't mention selling with that term. It does however mention one end user transferring to another end user one time. It does not say that the original end user can't sell to the new end user, just that they can sell it to a middle man, or rent the software out.
 
ryan_975 said:
No, it doesn't mention selling with that term. It does however mention one end user transferring to another end user one time. It does not say that the original end user can't sell to the new end user, just that they can sell it to a middle man, or rent the software out.
Click to expand...

Your missing my point.
This is no different than the leagalese drool known as the XP EULA, it's just worded differently.
Vista is still beta, we have not seen the finished product yet, and until we do we will not see the finished EULA.
 
here I'll explain what it means: I will load ubuntu and MS can keep its crap.

I read them to be:
XP: You can transfer all you like, as long as you remove it from the previous computer.
Vista: 1 Transfer in total.

These things seem pretty clear cut, and in being so, Vista's EULA sucks. A 1 time transfer would not be in there if they did not intend to start enforcing it at some point. You cannot count on a corporate entity to treat you "right" when they lay out an EULA as such and you agree to it.
 
digital_exhaust said:
Your missing my point.
This is no different than the leagalese drool known as the XP EULA, it's just worded differently.
Vista is still beta, we have not seen the finished product yet, and until we do we will not see the finished EULA.
Click to expand...

No I don't believe I am. XP EULA does not define a limit on how many time an end user can move the OS from one PC to another. Vista's proposed EULA does. That's the difference. MS obviously has an intention of doing this in the finished product, ro they wouldn't have put it in the proposed EULA.
 
digital_exhaust said:
No it isn't.

Nowhere in the clause I quoted does it say anything about selling a lisence that has already been bought.
Click to expand...

Damn semantics, transfer to another person or sell to another person means basically the same thing. Or you going to give it away? The person you were replying to was talking about transfering to another PC and not a person. The clause you quoted is about transferring to another person (3rdparty).
 
Tutelary said:
here I'll explain what it means: I will load ubuntu and MS can keep its crap.

I read them to be:
XP: You can transfer all you like, as long as you remove it from the previous computer.
Vista: 1 Transfer in total.
Click to expand...

But in the article I posted Microsoft is now backtracking and says the XP retail license has been misinterpreted by us and it realy means the same thing as the new Vista license. Vista license is supposedly a clarification of the XP license, according to that article.
 
Gatticus said:
But in the article I posted Microsoft is now backtracking and says the XP retail license has been misinterpreted by us and it realy means the same thing as the new Vista license. Vista license is supposedly a clarification of the XP license, according to that article.
Click to expand...

"according to that article" and "Microsoft is backtracking" are right. Any fool can tell what the differences are by simply reading it. I don't give a damn what MS says, the EULA seems specific enough to me. This is a company with a complete army full of lawyers, and they expect us to believe the EULA was just worded badly initially? What bullshit.
 
Gatticus said:
Read the complete article. They are now saying otherwise about XP retail.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcas...a_licensing.asp
Click to expand...
MS can "say differently" all they want, the damn EULA reads prefectly well, and it reads that you can transfer as many times as you want as long as you remove previous installations.

This is just going to be me switching to linux, and as much as I *really* wanted to avoid that, I cant.
 
Tutelary said:
"according to that article" and "Microsoft is backtracking" are right. Any fool can tell what the differences are by simply reading it. I don't give a damn what MS says, the EULA seems specific enough to me. This is a company with a complete army full of lawyers, and they expect us to believe the EULA was just worded badly initially? What bullshit.
Click to expand...

Exactly. :)
 
Tutelary said:
MS can "say differently" all they want, the damn EULA reads prefectly well, and it reads that you can transfer as many times as you want as long as you remove previous installations.

This is just going to be me switching to linux, and as much as I *really* wanted to avoid that, I cant.
Click to expand...

I saw the rude thing you posted before you edited it. :) You are misunderstanding me, I don't support what Microsoft is saying at all and I know it is BS. I was just clarifying what Microsoft is saying for someone else.
 
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