Is it a legal license?

[Guest]

I was surfing the web and found Windows XP Pro licenses for sale at about half the price of a boxed copy at a retail store. The listing was for" Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM COA / License". The ad went on to say that a hardware purchase was necessary to make it legal, but that this did not have to be a full-up PC. This product did not include a CD. The advertised product with a CD disk was twice as expensive.

My question is "is this license a legal license?" It would have a sticker an product key and I have an OEM Windows pro CD that came with my computer. I don't want to be running illegal software!

Regards, Fred

 

[Steve C. Ray]

Wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, Fred.

--
Steve C. Ray

I was surfing the web and found Windows XP Pro licenses for sale at about

half the price of a boxed copy at a retail store. The listing was for"
Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM COA / License". The ad went on to say
that a hardware purchase was necessary to make it legal, but that this did
not have to be a full-up PC. This product did not include a CD. The
advertised product with a CD disk was twice as expensive.

My question is "is this license a legal license?" It would have a sticker

an product key and I have an OEM Windows pro CD that came with my computer.
I don't want to be running illegal software!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

To the best of my knowledge, to be legal, the purchase would have
to include the qualifying hardware device (it needn't be an entire
PC), the installation media (CD), the CoA, and the Product Key. If
any _one_ of these elements is missing, the offer is probably bogus.
To find out for sure:

How to Tell
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/htt/


Bruce Chambers

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I was surfing the web and found Windows XP Pro licenses for sale at

about half the price of a boxed copy at a retail store. The listing
was for" Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM COA / License". The ad
went on to say that a hardware purchase was necessary to make it
legal, but that this did not have to be a full-up PC. This product
did not include a CD. The advertised product with a CD disk was twice
as expensive.

My question is "is this license a legal license?" It would have a

sticker an product key and I have an OEM Windows pro CD that came with
my computer. I don't want to be running illegal software!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Fred;
The license may or may not be legal.
My guess is not because it lacks a CD.
Hardware can be almost anything include a simple cable.

Beware if you buy it, there are many different type of CDs and
licenses.
The CD has to be with the correct type of CD otherwise you have an
expensive coaster (with a hole).
It is not just a matter of Home or Pro, Retail or OEM, there are many
other factors that also have to match.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/

I was surfing the web and found Windows XP Pro licenses for sale at

about half the price of a boxed copy at a retail store. The listing
was for" Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM COA / License". The ad
went on to say that a hardware purchase was necessary to make it
legal, but that this did not have to be a full-up PC. This product
did not include a CD. The advertised product with a CD disk was twice
as expensive.

My question is "is this license a legal license?" It would have a

sticker an product key and I have an OEM Windows pro CD that came with
my computer. I don't want to be running illegal software!

 

[*Vanguard*]

"Fred" said in news:[email protected]:

I was surfing the web and found Windows XP Pro licenses for sale at
about half the price of a boxed copy at a retail store. The listing
was for" Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM COA / License". The
ad went on to say that a hardware purchase was necessary to make it
legal, but that this did not have to be a full-up PC. This product
did not include a CD. The advertised product with a CD disk was
twice as expensive.

My question is "is this license a legal license?" It would have a
sticker an product key and I have an OEM Windows pro CD that came
with my computer. I don't want to be running illegal software!

Regards, Fred

The OEM version will include a CD as does the retail version. The
*license-only* version will not. All you get with the license-only product
is paper and the permission to install another copy using your old CD. You
do NOT have to buy 100 CDs of Windows to install it on 100 computers. You
can buy just 1 CD (along with its 1 license) and then buy 99 licenses. You
use the same CD to install on all 100 machines. We do it all the time
(although we don't buy from eBay or other auctions). We buy lots of
products that have only 1 CD but has 10, 50, or 200 licenses. If we run out
of licenses, we can just buy some more (after all, it's just paper you have
to store) and keep using the same CD. Actually, we'll buy 5 or 10 CD
packages since we don't want to rely on just the 1 CD which can get damaged,
scratched, broken, or lost. Even Microsoft will sell you just a license
(i.e., just paper) and it is far cheaper than buying a package, even a
minimal OEM package, that has the CD. In a company, you don't go leaving a
CD for the product with the computer on which it is installed. You secure
your software and manage its access. Obviously you don't want nor need to
have 500 CDs of the same product just because you have 500 users of the
product at your company.

I haven't bought license-only products from eBay. If I wanted to, I'd just
buy one to limit my loss. Then when I used it with my old CD to install
that new license, I would make sure it activated okay. I might even call
Microsoft to verify the license was valid. Then you would know if that
seller was legit.


--

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help
Regards, Fred