Nobody "owns" their copy of Vista, we are all leasing it

[atodzia]

Contrary to what a Microsoft Support person told me today, no one
"owns" their copy of vista. According to Microsoft, we are all
leasing it and after three hardware upgrades your lease runs out.

 

[Adam Albright]

Contrary to what a Microsoft Support person told me today, no one
"owns" their copy of vista. According to Microsoft, we are all
leasing it and after three hardware upgrades your lease runs out.

Microsoft has droits intellectuels (intellectual property rights)

Accordingly you are licensed to use software they authored. Rarely can
you buy software outright. A lease implies a contract which conveys
things like real estate and equipment for a spelled out period of time
while a license can be open ended, revoked or renewed.

 

[Dustin Harper]

It's not so much as a lease, and it doesn't run out. You are licensing
the software for your use, you don't own it. As long as you follow their
rules, you can run it indefinitely.

Read the EULA (End User License Agreement) for the legal rules.

But, basically, you are right: you don't own the software. But, owning
it just gives you more rights to do with it what you please. You don't
have access to the source code, can't decompile it, can't install it on
as many PC's as you want.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

What you own is a license to use the software, not a lease. A lease has a
finite termination point and is paid for during use at regular intervals.
Same goes for pretty much any software you purchase, anything "closed
source". Open source software is owned by both no one and everyone (at least
in theory).

As to the license, there are many different types of these. The standard
retail license allows for one installation on a device, you can change the
hardware on this device as many times as you please and continue to use the
license in perpetuity. The standard OEM license does not allow for some
hardware changes, mostly only additions to the hardware (eg: you can add a
sound card, but you can't change the motherboard). If the user stays within
the terms of the purchased license, it never runs out.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

You can only "own" Vista if you buy out Microsoft. You never outright "own"
any software unless you 100% author it yourself.

 

[atodzia]

You are correct. I should have said that we are leasing a license. I
can take other software and reinstall it on my PC when I rebuild it
without spending a long time on the phone explaining what I am doing.

I spent too much time on the phone with some poorly equipped customer
service employees last week because I did a memory upgrade last week.
Then I was told I was only allowed three hardware upgrades and there
was no guarantee after a hardware change I could get a new key. Then,
after 90 days when the support runs out I believe you have to pay them
$59 an incident even when the problem is caused by their buggy code,
plus your time.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

You either misunderstood the tech or the tech misunderstood you.
Typically phone activation takes about 5 minutes.

Next time, be sure you stick to the facts.
Some prolong the call with irrelevant information some of which can
make it seem to a tech you are pirating when you are not.
In your case it was the same computer with a memory upgrade and
nothing more.
Also, activation will always be free and there is no limit on the same
computer.
Retail Windows can be reinstalled and moved to a different computer an
unlimited number of times as long as it is only installed on one
computer at a time.

Did you call the support number or the activation number?
It seem like you may have called support instead of the activation
number.

 

[vernon]

Contrary to what a Microsoft Support person told me today, no one
"owns" their copy of vista. According to Microsoft, we are all
leasing it and after three hardware upgrades your lease runs out.

Try to find ANY software from ANY company that you own outright.
VERY VERY few and then in the freebee class.

 

[Klaus Tenter]

Contrary to what a Microsoft Support person told me today, no one
"owns" their copy of vista. According to Microsoft, we are all
leasing it and after three hardware upgrades your lease runs out.

Actually, that depends on where you are.
Here in germany usually you own your copy. The EULA doesn't really
matter since you can't read it without opening the box. There's no
contract between you and Microsoft. Only between you and the shop.
Of course Microsoft still has the copyrights but they can't limit the
software to three hardware upgrades or something like that.

 

[vernon]

Actually, that depends on where you are.
Here in germany usually you own your copy. The EULA doesn't really
matter since you can't read it without opening the box. There's no
contract between you and Microsoft. Only between you and the shop.
Of course Microsoft still has the copyrights but they can't limit the
software to three hardware upgrades or something like that.

On the outside of the box it says that it is a license.
Microsoft has a history of many free updates (not upgrades which infers a
new product like 98 to Xp or Xp to Vista)