A Lake said:
I've got lots of OEM XP Pro machines, and some with XP Pro installed from
a Select agreement. When I next buy a batch of PCs they will, alas, be
pre-installed with Vista - does the convoluted license agreement allow me
to downgrade these new PCs to XP Pro (using my Select agreement media and
license key) until such time as I want put revert them back to Vista?
The license agreement is simple and no different to the previous downgrade
rights you have.
The OEM End User License Agreement for Windows Vista Business
(EULAID:VISTA_RM.0_BUS_OEM_en-US) contains the following section:
14. DOWNGRADE. Instead of using the software, you may use one of the
following earlier versions:
. Microsoft Windows XP Professional,
. Microsoft Windows Professional x64 Edition, or
. Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
This agreement applies to your use of the earlier versions. If the earlier
version includes different components, any terms for those components in the
agreement that comes with the earlier version apply to your use of them.
Neither the manufacturer or installer, nor Microsoft is obligated to supply
earlier versions to you. You must obtain the earlier version separately.
At any time, you may replace an earlier version with this version of the
software.
So the short answer is yes you have downgrade rights on the OEM supplied
Vista machines.
You may reimage them if you have a Volume License Agreement as that contain
re-image rights.
So you could use your Select media to re-image (as long as you qualify for
re-image rights).
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