oem?

[Beck]

At the risk of stating the obvious, the English-as-a-second-language folks
are not concerned with the details of the user's predicament - They are
merely trained to ask *the* three questions, to which the caller replies
with *the* three "correct" answers.

And what are those 3 questions?

 

[Sly Dog]

1) Is this the first time you are activating the software?

2) On how many computers is this software installed?

3) Why are you re-activating the software? (Or, something to that effect.
This question is not always asked by the Indi-6 call-center representative.)

 

[Beck]

1) Is this the first time you are activating the software?

2) On how many computers is this software installed?

3) Why are you re-activating the software? (Or, something to that effect.
This question is not always asked by the Indi-6 call-center
representative.)

And if I say my hard drive died...?

 

[Alias]

UNLESS the hard drive becomes faulty or fails - In which case the
ORIGINAL installation becomes corrupt and unusable.

So, that means that the EULA would be violated if the user decided to
upgrade the OS drive on a whim - And would, conceivably, wind up with
two working installations of VISTA between the old and new drives.

OK, that's much better.

Alias

 

[Alias]

1) Is this the first time you are activating the software?

2) On how many computers is this software installed?

3) Why are you re-activating the software? (Or, something to that
effect. This question is not always asked by the Indi-6 call-center
representative.)

I thought the only thing they could ask is for the long number and
everything else is none of their business, being as MS always say "no
personal information ..."

Alias

 

[Sly Dog]

Based on my experience, that would be a satisfactory answer - For which you
will be lavishly rewarded with the re-activation number.

 

[Alias]

Based on my experience, that would be a satisfactory answer - For which
you will be lavishly rewarded with the re-activation number.

And if I say it's none of their business?

Alias

 

[Sly Dog]

And if I say it's none of their business?

Alias

That's a very good question, Alias.

Tell you what - You make the Indi-6 call and give the representative a
non-standard response.

Afterward, please report the details of your experience to the group.

 

[Alias]

That's a very good question, Alias.

Tell you what - You make the Indi-6 call and give the representative a
non-standard response.

Afterward, please report the details of your experience to the group.

According to the XP activation FAQ, the ONLY information one has to give
the operator is the 50 digit code and NOTHING else. I searched
microsoft.com and the only FAQ on Vista activation made no mention of
it. If I were to do it, I would be prepared with an MS web site, ask the
operator for his name and ID number and who his supervisor is in case he
decides to get uppity.

That said, being as I live in Spain, more than likely I will get an
operator in Bolivia or Ecuador. As I have never had to do a phone
activation I don't know and wonder, being as I am using an English XP,
where I would have to call.

Alias

 

[Sly Dog]

According to the XP activation FAQ, the ONLY information one has to give
the operator is the 50 digit code and NOTHING else. I searched
microsoft.com and the only FAQ on Vista activation made no mention of it.
If I were to do it, I would be prepared with an MS web site, ask the
operator for his name and ID number and who his supervisor is in case he
decides to get uppity.

That said, being as I live in Spain, more than likely I will get an
operator in Bolivia or Ecuador. As I have never had to do a phone
activation I don't know and wonder, being as I am using an English XP,
where I would have to call.

Alias

Hmmm... It's a nice fantasy to believe that the end-user is in any
position to bargain with trained (notice that I didn't say, "educated")
call-center representatives.
If they're trained to ask the three magic questions and not deviate from the
"official" script, then I assume it would be a waste of time and emotional
energy to attempt to coerce the representative to do otherwise - even if the
caller is absolutely correct.

 

[Brian W]

So if you buy it with no device, what's the deal? In Spain generic OEMs
are not required to be sold with hardware and never have been. I checked
the computer store web sites here and none of them have a hardware
purchase requirement to buy Vista.

Same in the UK, I bought my OEM copy without any hardware. Presumably the
device is the first HDD I installed on, but this is not mentioned in the
EULA.

 

[Nina DiBoy]

I thought the only thing they could ask is for the long number and
everything else is none of their business, being as MS always say "no
personal information ..."

Alias

This Alias is correct. They have never changed this (yet) since XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_facts.mspx

"Mandatory Product Activation Data

* The Installation ID is unique to each product and comprises two
components:

1. Product ID. Unique to the product key used during installation
2. Hardware hash. Non-unique representation of the PC

* The country in which the product is being installed (for Office
XP and Office XP family products only)"



--
Priceless quotes in m.p.w.vista.general group:
http://protectfreedom.tripod.com/kick.html

Most recent idiotic quote added to KICK (Klassic Idiotic Caption Kooks):
"Nope. Just CLUELESS CUNTS LIKE YOU too stupid to work it out. Thank
the bittorent brigade."

"Good poets borrow; great poets steal."
- T. S. Eliot

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Answering these three questions does NOT require "personal information".

1) all one needs for the first question is "yes" or "no". How is this
"personal information"?
2) all this requires is a number. Ideally, one should answer "1". How is
this "personal information"?
3) all this requires is an honest answer. How is this "personal
information"?

PLEASE, go back to school, and take a few elementary English classes,
especially "English Comprehension".

 

[Dave Balcom]

}INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS. The software license is permanently assigned to
}the device with which you acquired the software. That device is the
}"licensed device." A hardware partition is considered to be a separate
}device.

That sounds more like a restriction on how may times the OS can be
installed on a hard drive at one time...

If I have one large drive and decide to create a new partition for the
OS (moving it from C: to D:, are they saying that I am violating the
EULA? No hardware was changed. Now installing it to D: while still on C:
would be a problem.

Why can't MS make it clear what they consider a new computer? Instead we
have people guessing motherboard, CPU, hard drive or case...

 

[Alias]

Answering these three questions does NOT require "personal information".

1) all one needs for the first question is "yes" or "no". How is this
"personal information"?
2) all this requires is a number. Ideally, one should answer "1". How
is this "personal information"?
3) all this requires is an honest answer. How is this "personal
information"?

PLEASE, go back to school, and take a few elementary English classes,
especially "English Comprehension".

MS claims that all one needs to communicate is the number, nothing else,
personal or otherwise. And if you're asking what I am doing or not doing
with my *personal* computer, it *is* personal, not matter what you're
asking.

Alias

 

[Nina DiBoy]

Answering these three questions does NOT require "personal information".

1) all one needs for the first question is "yes" or "no". How is this
"personal information"?
2) all this requires is a number. Ideally, one should answer "1". How
is this "personal information"?
3) all this requires is an honest answer. How is this "personal
information"?

PLEASE, go back to school, and take a few elementary English classes,
especially "English Comprehension".

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_facts.mspx

"Mandatory Product Activation Data

* The Installation ID is unique to each product and comprises two
components:

1. Product ID. Unique to the product key used during installation
2. Hardware hash. Non-unique representation of the PC

* The country in which the product is being installed (for Office
XP and Office XP family products only)"


--
Priceless quotes in m.p.w.vista.general group:
http://protectfreedom.tripod.com/kick.html

Most recent idiotic quote added to KICK (Klassic Idiotic Caption Kooks):
"Nope. Just CLUELESS CUNTS LIKE YOU too stupid to work it out. Thank
the bittorent brigade."

"Good poets borrow; great poets steal."
- T. S. Eliot

 

[Donald McDaniel]

MS claims that all one needs to communicate is the number, nothing else,
personal or otherwise. And if you're asking what I am doing or not doing
with my *personal* computer, it *is* personal, not matter what you're
asking.

Alias

Ok, stud. It's your choice, after all. Microsoft isn't exactly forcing you
to activate their software. But you bought a license (didn't you?).

Actually, Microsoft does NOT "claim all one needs to communicate is the
number (sic)". I see this nowhere on any of their websites.

Anyway, you are free to do what you want on "your personal computer". But
the Microsoft software is NOT "yours". It belongs to Microsoft, and you have
a LICENSE to use it at THEIR convenience, not yours. As long as you abide
by the EULA (all of it, not just the parts you like), they will ALLOW you to
continue using it. Don't like it? Has it been 30 days since you "bought"
it? If it has been less than 30 days, you have the right under Federal law
to return it for a refund. So bring it back to them.

If you are an honest man, you will have no problems answering these
impersonal questions. If you aren't, then perhaps you should not mess with
your betters.

 

[Donald McDaniel]

}INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS. The software license is permanently assigned
to
}the device with which you acquired the software. That device is the
}"licensed device." A hardware partition is considered to be a separate
}device.

That sounds more like a restriction on how may times the OS can be
installed on a hard drive at one time...

If I have one large drive and decide to create a new partition for the
OS (moving it from C: to D:, are they saying that I am violating the
EULA? No hardware was changed. Now installing it to D: while still on C:
would be a problem.

Why can't MS make it clear what they consider a new computer? Instead we
have people guessing motherboard, CPU, hard drive or case...

Actually, there is no need to "guess"
Microsoft clarified this when XP SP2 was released:
They consider an "optional motherboard replacement" (note the word
"Optional") to be a "new computer".
Pretty simple to me.
I may or may not like it, but it's pretty easy to understand.

Now, if they were to say that I cannot replace a FAULTY motherboard unless
purchasing a new license, then I might get a little miffed.

This is why the activation representatives NEED to ask the above questions:
So they can discriminate between "optional motherboard replacements" and
"necessary" motherboard replacements.

 

[Nina DiBoy]

Ok, stud. It's your choice, after all. Microsoft isn't exactly forcing
you to activate their software. But you bought a license (didn't you?).

Actually, Microsoft does NOT "claim all one needs to communicate is the
number (sic)". I see this nowhere on any of their websites.

Anyway, you are free to do what you want on "your personal computer".
But the Microsoft software is NOT "yours". It belongs to Microsoft, and
you have a LICENSE to use it at THEIR convenience, not yours. As long
as you abide by the EULA (all of it, not just the parts you like), they
will ALLOW you to continue using it. Don't like it? Has it been 30
days since you "bought" it? If it has been less than 30 days, you have
the right under Federal law to return it for a refund. So bring it back
to them.

If you are an honest man, you will have no problems answering these
impersonal questions. If you aren't, then perhaps you should not mess
with your betters.

And the only information they require for using their software is:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_facts.mspx

"Mandatory Product Activation Data

* The Installation ID is unique to each product and comprises two
components:

1. Product ID. Unique to the product key used during installation
2. Hardware hash. Non-unique representation of the PC

* The country in which the product is being installed (for Office
XP and Office XP family products only)"

Have you gotten the message yet?

--
Priceless quotes in m.p.w.vista.general group:
http://protectfreedom.tripod.com/kick.html

Most recent idiotic quote added to KICK (Klassic Idiotic Caption Kooks):
"Nope. Just CLUELESS CUNTS LIKE YOU too stupid to work it out. Thank
the bittorent brigade."

"Good poets borrow; great poets steal."
- T. S. Eliot

 

[Alias]

Ok, stud. It's your choice, after all. Microsoft isn't exactly forcing
you to activate their software. But you bought a license (didn't you?).

If I want to use Windows XP or Vista, they are forcing me to activate
and become "genuine". IOW, they are saying I am a thief until I prove
otherwise. For some reason, I don't like that. Plopping down my hard
earned cash should be more than enough proof.

Actually, Microsoft does NOT "claim all one needs to communicate is the
number (sic)". I see this nowhere on any of their websites.

Try this one:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_faq.mspx#details

Where it says:

"The only information required to activate is an installation ID (and,
for Office XP and Office XP family products such as Visio 2002, the name
of the country in which the product is being installed). The only
purpose of the installation ID is to facilitate activation."

Oops.

Anyway, you are free to do what you want on "your personal computer".
But the Microsoft software is NOT "yours". It belongs to Microsoft, and
you have a LICENSE to use it at THEIR convenience, not yours.

Then how come every store in the world says you are buying software and
never mention any licensing. Are they in on the scam?

As long

as you abide by the EULA (all of it, not just the parts you like), they
will ALLOW you to continue using it. Don't like it? Has it been 30
days since you "bought" it? If it has been less than 30 days, you have
the right under Federal law to return it for a refund. So bring it back
to them.

If you are an honest man, you will have no problems answering these
impersonal questions. If you aren't, then perhaps you should not mess
with your betters.

Honesty has nothing to do with it. I have no pirated software licenses.
Please read the official Microsoft web site and STFU.

Alias