B
Bergo
There has been far too much posturing and spleen venting on the issue of
acitvation. Lets try and clarify things:
The MS EULA is a licence to operate Windows XP on one pc (or more only if
specifically defined by the agreement). At no time do you own the software.
The CD is a means to allow you to install the software, nothing more.
The EULA requires the user's specific acceptance of the licensing agreement.
Do not foist your interpretations on the licence as the terms are pretty
explicit. If you do not agree, use something else, say Linux. If you feel
your rights are being infringed use something else, or use XP and sue. The
price is the price - if you don't like it, tough. If you feel the price is
a rip-off, complain, loudly. If you are a student, use an academic version -
much cheaper. But at any rate if you use XP get it legit - anything else is
fraudulent.
You are not allowed to pass your CD of XP to a third party for installation
on that party's pc unless that party is already validly licenced to use the
same version of XP. That is because the software is not yours.
The use of the term "illegal" is misleading. The proper terms should be
'counterfeit' and 'fraudulent' because if you try to install XP on more pc's
than you have licences for, you are in fact making a false declaration when
you accept the EULA for the extra installation/s. The EULA is a contract of
the utmost good faith (a bit like insurance) because the manufacturer is
reliant on your word. If you lie it is not that easy to challenge you -
hence piracy - that is in part what activation is all about, I guess.
In reality the only penalty for passing off an already used copy of XP as
unused so that you can get a second PC of yours up and running is that the
manufacturer may block the attempt (or sue you which is unlikely). However,
if you sell this licence to others, (if it is already in use, that is) you
have committed software piracy. No amount of ranting on about free speech
will condone that? Likewise installing fraudulent copies of XP on your
friends pcs for free, however heroic this may be, is also fraudulent.
What Microsoft has done in the recent activation rumpus is specifically to
frustrate the efforts of those who use COA's issued to a specific OEM (say
Dell) to validate copies of XP installed on different (non Dell) machines.
The onus is now on the user to establish that he has come by that key
honestly. For a user to utilise an activation hack is to acknowledge that
the installation is fraudulent.
Lets face it, most of the jumping up and down is not because some individual
has two computers and wants to use one licence on both. If you have a retail
licence there is very little likelihood that you will ever be challenged on
this as long as you don't try to change pc's more than once or twice a year.
One real hassle is the millions of OEM pcs out there whose COA's (license
keys) have been ripped off (literally) and resold to those who want XP on
the cheap. Now that this loophole is shutting it will be interesting to see
what happens on sites like e-bay over the next few weeks.
To sum up lets ask some straight questions
1) Do you feel that your single-user XP licence should allow you
legitimately to install XP on an unlimited number of pc's for use at the
same time?
2) If not, how many pc's do you you feel you should legitimately be allowed
to operate simultaneously on a single-user licence?
3) If you buy a Dell or other Corporate OEM COA to validate an installation
on your home-brewed pc, do you accept that there's a decent chance that the
machine from which the COA was taken is still in use somewhere - especially
if it's for XP SP2? Do you accept that Microsoft may also feel the same way?
Do you also accept that they may want you to establish your bona fides if
you do this?
4) Under what circumstances (if any) would you consider a validation hack
legitimate?
At the end of the day is what is really being said (behind the huffing and
puffing) that some people are going to do their darnedst (legit or not) to
get XP for free or nearly nothing?
acitvation. Lets try and clarify things:
The MS EULA is a licence to operate Windows XP on one pc (or more only if
specifically defined by the agreement). At no time do you own the software.
The CD is a means to allow you to install the software, nothing more.
The EULA requires the user's specific acceptance of the licensing agreement.
Do not foist your interpretations on the licence as the terms are pretty
explicit. If you do not agree, use something else, say Linux. If you feel
your rights are being infringed use something else, or use XP and sue. The
price is the price - if you don't like it, tough. If you feel the price is
a rip-off, complain, loudly. If you are a student, use an academic version -
much cheaper. But at any rate if you use XP get it legit - anything else is
fraudulent.
You are not allowed to pass your CD of XP to a third party for installation
on that party's pc unless that party is already validly licenced to use the
same version of XP. That is because the software is not yours.
The use of the term "illegal" is misleading. The proper terms should be
'counterfeit' and 'fraudulent' because if you try to install XP on more pc's
than you have licences for, you are in fact making a false declaration when
you accept the EULA for the extra installation/s. The EULA is a contract of
the utmost good faith (a bit like insurance) because the manufacturer is
reliant on your word. If you lie it is not that easy to challenge you -
hence piracy - that is in part what activation is all about, I guess.
In reality the only penalty for passing off an already used copy of XP as
unused so that you can get a second PC of yours up and running is that the
manufacturer may block the attempt (or sue you which is unlikely). However,
if you sell this licence to others, (if it is already in use, that is) you
have committed software piracy. No amount of ranting on about free speech
will condone that? Likewise installing fraudulent copies of XP on your
friends pcs for free, however heroic this may be, is also fraudulent.
What Microsoft has done in the recent activation rumpus is specifically to
frustrate the efforts of those who use COA's issued to a specific OEM (say
Dell) to validate copies of XP installed on different (non Dell) machines.
The onus is now on the user to establish that he has come by that key
honestly. For a user to utilise an activation hack is to acknowledge that
the installation is fraudulent.
Lets face it, most of the jumping up and down is not because some individual
has two computers and wants to use one licence on both. If you have a retail
licence there is very little likelihood that you will ever be challenged on
this as long as you don't try to change pc's more than once or twice a year.
One real hassle is the millions of OEM pcs out there whose COA's (license
keys) have been ripped off (literally) and resold to those who want XP on
the cheap. Now that this loophole is shutting it will be interesting to see
what happens on sites like e-bay over the next few weeks.
To sum up lets ask some straight questions
1) Do you feel that your single-user XP licence should allow you
legitimately to install XP on an unlimited number of pc's for use at the
same time?
2) If not, how many pc's do you you feel you should legitimately be allowed
to operate simultaneously on a single-user licence?
3) If you buy a Dell or other Corporate OEM COA to validate an installation
on your home-brewed pc, do you accept that there's a decent chance that the
machine from which the COA was taken is still in use somewhere - especially
if it's for XP SP2? Do you accept that Microsoft may also feel the same way?
Do you also accept that they may want you to establish your bona fides if
you do this?
4) Under what circumstances (if any) would you consider a validation hack
legitimate?
At the end of the day is what is really being said (behind the huffing and
puffing) that some people are going to do their darnedst (legit or not) to
get XP for free or nearly nothing?