Question re: W2K OEM/DSP licensing

P

Paavo

I have searched the M/S site for EULA info on OEM licensing
and have gotten a headache for my trouble - after well over
an hour of searching, I still could not find an answer.

I currently have 3 computers running W98SE. Two are
desktops and one is a notebook. I will be building a third
desktop in the near future. I want to put W2K Pro on all
my systems (I've used XP elsewhere and really don't like
the feel of it) and have seen W2K Pro OEM/DSP volume
licenses available from an internet vendor that I am sure
is reputable. They have been in business for several years
and have high customer ratings.

This vendor sells single W2K Pro OEM licenses ONLY if you
purchase hardware at the same time. However, they also
sell M/S boxed/sealed 3-up OEM/DSP licenses, at a volume
discount, which do NOT require the purchase of hardware. I
would be using these licenses for my personal,
non-business, use and none of these systems will be resold,
nor will the licenses. I will do my own support on these
computers, obviously.

Question 1 - Is what I plan to do in accordance with the
EULA covering OEM licenses?

Question 2 - I believe that other M/S EULA's allow the
installation of a second copy of a single license on a
notebook computer when it is being used by the original
license holder, would this be the case here as applies to
my three desktops & one notebook? (3 licenses)

I want to remain "legal" on my systems, but the $1000+ cost
of 3-4 single "retail" W2K Pro licenses is well beyond my
budget for software. Does anyone here have definitive
knowledge of how these OEM/DSP licenses are granted? If I
ever dispose of any of these machines, the W2K operating
systems would NOT go with them.

Thanks, Paavo
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Greetings --

1) OEM/DSP license packs are intended to be sold to, and used by,
small systems builders (Mom & Pop computer shops) who wish to build
and sell custom-made systems with OEM licenses. You'd actually have
to read the purchase agreement and the accompanying EULA to determine
if you're permitted to retain such licenses for personal use. The
vendor, if they're an authorized license reseller, will be able to
tell you the specific conditions required to purchase such license
packs; if they cannot or will not, take your business elsewhere.

2) Your belief is incorrect. No Microsoft OEM license of any sort
(OS or application) may be used on any computer other than the one
with which it was purchased or initially installed upon. As it has
*always* been with *all* Microsoft operating systems, it's necessary
(to be in compliance with the EULA, if not technically) to purchase
one Win2K license for each computer on which it is installed. Some
Microsoft *retail* _application_ EULAs permit the licensed owner to
install the product upon one desktop and one portable computer
simultaneously, under certain conditions, but this has never been true
of the operating system licenses.

By the way, your statement "If I ever dispose of any of these
machines, the W2K operating systems would NOT go with them." is a
direct contradiction of your "I want to remain 'legal' on my systems"
claim. See paragraph A) below.

There are some very important reasons that an OEM license costs so
much less than a retail license. OEM licenses are very limited:

A) OEM versions must be sold with a piece of hardware (normally
a motherboard or hard drive, if not an entire PC, although Microsoft
has greatly relaxed the hardware criteria for WinXP) and are
_permanently_ bound to the first PC on which they are installed. An
OEM license, once installed, is not legally transferable to another
computer under any circumstances. This is the main reason some people
avoid OEM versions; if the PC dies or is otherwise disposed of (even
stolen), you cannot re-use your OEM license on a new PC. The only
legitimate way to transfer the ownership of an installed OEM license
is to transfer ownership of the entire PC.

B) Microsoft provides no free support for OEM versions. If you
have any problems that require outside assistance, your only recourse
is to contact the manufacturer/builder of the PC or the vendor of the
OEM license. This would include such issues as lost a Product Key or
replacing damaged installation media. (Microsoft does make allowances
for those instances when you can prove that the OEM has gone out of
business.) This doesn't mean that you can't download patches and
service packs from Microsoft -- just no free telephone or email
support for problems with the OS.

C) An OEM CD cannot be used to perform an upgrade of an earlier
OS, as it was designed to be installed _only_ upon an empty hard
drive. It can still be used to perform a repair installation (a.k.a.
an in-place upgrade) of an existing Win2K installation.

D) If the OEM CD was designed by a specific manufacturer, such as
eMachines, Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc., it will most likely only install
on the same brand/model of PC, as an additional anti-piracy feature.
Further, such CDs are often severely customized to contain only the
minimum of device drivers, and a lot of extra nonsense, that the
manufacturer feels necessary for the specific model of PC for which
the CD was designed. (To be honest, such CDs should _not_ be
available on the open market; but, if you're shopping someplace like
eBay, eastern European web sites, swap meets, or computer fairs,
there's often no telling what you're buying until it's too late.) The
"generic" OEM CDs, such as are manufactured by Microsoft and sold to
small systems builders, don't have this particular problem, though,
and are pretty much the same as their retail counterparts, apart from
the licensing, support, and upgrading restrictions.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
P

Paavo

Thanks for your prompt response, Bill (previous txt
snipped for brevity).

At your suggestion, I contacted the vendor this AM
regarding the terms of the OEM/DSP 3 pack licensing. When
I asked if I could use them for my own personal use the
rep's answer was immediately, "absolutely". I even
re-asked the question, explaining EXACTLY what I intended
to do and his answer remained the same.

The truth of the matter is that I purchased all the
hardware for the 2 desktops that I've already built from
them and had my own legitimate copies of W98SE Retail that
I installed on those machines. My notebook came with its
own OEM version of 98SE and it is indeed bound to that
particular model - it can't be installed on any other type
of PC. I will be buying the components for my 3rd desktop
from this vendor as well.

The per unit price difference between the individual OEM
licenses they sell WITH hardware and the 3 pack OEM/DSP
bundles is only about $7. I frankly wouldn't feel as
though I would be (morally) violating the "intent" of an
OEM type license since I actually did buy the hardware from
them and assembled the PCs myself within the past 9 months.
Obviously, the final interpretation of my "guilt" would
rest with the legal community - IF I were to purchase these
licenses. So far as support for OEM licenses, I was aware
that any would have to come from the license reseller, not
M/S (except for security/bugfix/SP updates) - I wouldn't
expect differently.

These W2K Pro installations would be on freshly formatted
HDDs. My experience with upgrading operating systems has
always been fraught with problems that creep in later,
particularly when you go to update device drivers.

Regarding the installation of second copies of RETAIL
versions of an operating system on a notebook PC, a friend
of mine purchased Win XP Pro Retail Upgrade and I have a
vivid recollection of reading in his EULA that it was
permissible for him to install a second copy on HIS
notebook. As a matter of fact, my comment was that it
looked like M/S was cutting individual users a little slack
when it came to allowing a single operating system license
to be duplicated on an "associated" notebook PC. I will
also check this out when I see him again. I was just
wondering whether this policy extended to OEM licenses on
other operating systems - I really didn't think it did, but
had to ask.

Again Bill, thanks for your prompt reply - Paavo
 
G

Guest

Bruce, please pardon my error in calling you Bill. I just
got off the phone with a friend of mine named Bill and it
stuck in what's left of my grey matter - sorry. ;o/

Paavo
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Greetings --

Had me pretty confused for a moment, there. ;-} No problem.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Greetings --

You're welcome.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 

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