Install vista on Multiple PCs

[Dave]

I went to the licenseing page and and the price was 139 dollars for each
additional lic. I can buy the DVD for 20 dallars more how is that a special.
and to get the 64 bit version I have to pay for that. I have 3 desktops mine
my wifes and my daughters plus my laptop. that would cost me over 400 for the
three additional license.and microsoft claims to be family company

 

[f/fgeorge]

I went to the licenseing page and and the price was 139 dollars for each
additional lic. I can buy the DVD for 20 dallars more how is that a special.
and to get the 64 bit version I have to pay for that. I have 3 desktops mine
my wifes and my daughters plus my laptop. that would cost me over 400 for the
three additional license.and microsoft claims to be family company

DO NOT upgrade pc's with XP to Vista. If you something prior to XP,
but a new pc with Vista already on it. Some newer pc's can be upgraded
but lots and lots have driver issues.

 

[Dustin Harper]

Yes, it's been like that since the beginning. Even MS-DOS has the same
limitations. So does Hasbro and other kid game companies. That's the way of
the business. It may be a hard decision to make, and you don't HAVE to
upgrade to Vista.

 

[Dave]

I dont WANT IT FOR FREE SMART ASS I uderstand but the price when they say
they have family upgrade specials is not a special. I dont have a problem
paying for the lic. but dont claim to have family specials when you dont.

 

[Dave]

These are new computers that I built to take advantage of Vista and Direct V 10

:

 

[Mike Brannigan]

I went to the licenseing page and and the price was 139 dollars for each
additional lic. I can buy the DVD for 20 dallars more how is that a
special.
and to get the 64 bit version I have to pay for that. I have 3 desktops
mine
my wifes and my daughters plus my laptop. that would cost me over 400 for
the
three additional license.and microsoft claims to be family company

Dave you buy additional licenses from many online and retail stores just
search for Windows Vista Additional License Pack
This is discounted below the cost of the full or upgrade product in full
packaging with media.
So it is not advertised as a "special" just a reduced cost additional
license.
see
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/addlicense/default.mspx

I have a family all of whom have cars - I did not expect Ford to provide mw
with additional models for a reduced price, so I fail to see why you expect
software to be provided as significantly reduced price - at least you get
some discount unlike my ford dealer.
Software is just product which if you want it you pay for it, it is not a
right or a requirement, so surely any discount should be gratefully
received?

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Dave the "family special" is long discontinued as a promotion (ended June
2007).
The only options now are the Windows Vista Additional License Pack in
whatever version you qualify for, or volume licensing for 5 or more
licenses.

 

[Dave]

"> Dave you buy additional licenses from many online and retail stores just

search for Windows Vista Additional License Pack
This is discounted below the cost of the full or upgrade product in full
packaging with media.
So it is not advertised as a "special" just a reduced cost additional
license.
see
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/addlicense/default.mspx

I have a family all of whom have cars - I did not expect Ford to provide mw
with additional models for a reduced price, so I fail to see why you expect
software to be provided as significantly reduced price - at least you get
some discount unlike my ford dealer.
Software is just product which if you want it you pay for it, it is not a
right or a requirement, so surely any discount should be gratefully
received?

And everyone wonders why microsoft keeps getting sued. Why is it other
software makers are giving up to 3 lic. for there software. And Mike there is
a big difference here between cars and software.

 

[Mike Brannigan]

"> Dave you buy additional licenses from many online and retail stores
just

And everyone wonders why microsoft keeps getting sued. Why is it other
software makers are giving up to 3 lic. for there software. And Mike there
is
a big difference here between cars and software.

Dave you can't sue someone for selling a product under clear licensing terms
(one license per machine).
As I posted on my other response the additional family special licensing
offer ended June 2007
Which required that you buy Vista Ultimate and then were entitled to a
couple of Home Premium at a reduced cost.

Now you can buy the additional license packs for les then full retail so
there are still savings to be made for households with multiple machines
that wish to use Windows Vista.

OK so maybe you think there is a difference between cars and software, why?
They are both products that you buy and use. You have a car driven by one
person at a time and you have an OS that is licensed to be installed on one
PC at a time. forget about it looking like a DVD or CD that is just the
media the software is installed to a device and remains there and is
licensed to be used on that device (so not like a DVD or CD you may move
around your home or play in multiple players - that would be analogous to
uninstalling Vista and reinstalling to each machine as you want to use it.
Of course some would say that if you have a couple of DVD players in your
home and you both want to watch the same movie then you can copy the DVD -
well actually that is not true you would actually have to buy a second DVD
to allow legal play simultaneously.)
So personally if you just view an operating system like any other product
you buy what you need to use, you have multiple PCs then you buy multiple
licenses.
That is the way Microsoft choose to sell this particular product. Apple
offer a family pack of up to 5 licenses for their Mac OS X but that does
cost more then a single license. You cannot compare the Linux community as
for home users their OS is effectively free at pint of acquisition so cannot
really be included in this discussion - the corporate model is very
different and has licensing and support costs etc.

So it really just comes back to pay for what you use.

 

[Dave]

Mike
I am not going to get into a ^$#%$@ contest with you as I have said before I
am not looking for it for free but as far as I am concerned what they are
charging is not really a savings. People on here think that every one that
comes here to post must be idiots that is why you reply the way you do. There
is one thing to make money and there is another thing called price gouging.
It is not like I am saying that is what microsoft is doing. All I know is
they will stop support for XP probably when The new operating system is
released and force people to have to upgrade just like they have done with
previous systems I guess I can get a busness pack for less than what it would
cost me for the 3 license and have 10 license and you tell me this is fair
for the home user ok you win.

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Additional license packs cost les then the full product -- that is a saving.
You can get volume licensing at 5 not 10 licenses
No one and certainly not me has ever accused you or anyone of being an
idiot - I am simply trying to point out that the family offer is closed and
that you can save by buying additional license packs (however small).
Ultimately this is just a simple consumer product issue,. If you want more
of the same thing then you normally pay in multiples of the unit price
unless the vendor offers some form of multiple buy discount which Microsoft
do under both the additional license packs and volume licensing agreements.

 

[f/fgeorge]

MS WILL stop support for XP, but they have JUST in the last year or
so, stopped support for Win2k and just a few years ago stopped support
for Windows98. They will NOT stop support for XP this year or next
year, or probably not even for the next several years. MS is driven by
businesses, not us regular users. Businesses have not gone whole hog
to Vista yet, they ARE switching, but the process is slow and they
normally wait for SP1 before they start the whole hog switchover. SP1
is mostly out and businesses ARE starting to switch now. My company,
about 30,000 pc's, is switching as we replace the older pc's. It will
take about 2 years to complete the switch over. Some older pc's will
have their memory upgraded before they get upgraded to Vista. XP is
NOT going away today or tomorrow, but yes it will go away eventually.