Upgrade XP Home (OEM) to Vista Ultimate: Transfer rights

[Lew Barnesson]

My Compaq came with OEM XP Home pre-loaded. I plan to buy a retail Vista
Ultimate Upgrade ($259 per MS site).

BUT THE QUESTION IS: Does the Vista EULA permit me to eventually transfer
my upgrade copy of Vista to a new machine?

I'm sure that I could do this with a full copy of Vista, or probably even
from an upgrade, but in this case the the original OS is an OEM...
I've searched the newsgroup for an answer, but although variations on this
theme have recently been covered, not my particular situation.

Thanks, -Lew

 

[John Barnes]

It doesn't matter what allowable version you upgrade from you have a full
retail version. Whatever the terms happen to be when released will prevail.
Right now it appears that 1 transfer is allowed.

 

[Lew Barnesson]

John, Thanks for answering. You said "... you have a full retail version..."
But I will have an upgrade retail version. Or did I misunderstand your
reply? Thanks. -Lew

 

[John Barnes]

The wording of my Retail XP Home upgrade is the same as the wording on my
Retail XP Pro (not upgrade) as far as transfers. From the upgrade. Still
will depend on what Microsoft puts into their Vista upgrade EULA when
released. No guarantee.

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (upgrade)

4. TRANSFER-Internal. You may move the Product to a different
Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must
completely remove the Product from the former Workstation
Computer. Transfer to Third Party. The initial user of the
Product may make a one-time transfer of the Product to
another end user. The transfer has to include all
component parts, media, printed materials, this EULA, and
if applicable, the Certificate of Authenticity. The
transfer may not be an indirect transfer, such as a
consignment. Prior to the transfer, the end user receiving
the transferred Product must agree to all the EULA terms.
No Rental. You may not rent, lease, lend or provide
commercial hosting services to third parties with the
Product.

 

[Barry Watzman]

The distinction in terms of transfer rights is between "retail" copies
and "OEM" copies, NOT between "upgrade" copies and "full product"
copies. So in that regard, per the Eula, if you did install and
activate an upgrade copy on the Compaq PC, you could transfer it ONCE
per the letter of the Eula.

BUT ... you question raises an interesting point

An upgrade copy requires two things:

-To physically do the installation, you either need a qualifying copy of
the previous OS actually installed on the computer to be upgraded, or
the installation CD for such a copy. Note that the "factory restore
CDs" supplied by computer makers (if there even are any) either may or
may not meet this requirement

***AND***

-Legally, there must be a valid licensed copy of a qulifying previous OS
for that particular computer. But while this is a legal requirement, it
is currently not physically enforceable; it's physically possible to
violate this rule (as long as you have an XP CD floating around),
although if you do so the installation won't be technically legal. It
will, however, pass all activation and WGA tests.

So the question becomes, what is the previously licensed OS on the new
computer that you will transfer the OS to? Because if the new computer
is newly built, then it will have no previous OS, and the use of an
upgrade copy of Vista would not be legal, although if you have a CD, it
might be physically possible.

NOTE: The BEST, CHEAPEST way to get Vista Home Premium right now is to
buy a new OEM copy of Windows XP MCE (full product) from Newegg for
$109, and then you get a free copy of Windows Vista Home Premium upgrade
in January (or whenever it comes out). There's no way to beat that deal
that I'm aware of. $110 and you end up with both XP and Vista (and not
the crappy Vista Home Basic, either).

 

[John Barnes]

Legally you don't end up with XP and Vista as you lose the XP license when
you upgrade to Vista.

 

[Barry Watzman]

That's true, perhaps, but it doesn't change the conclusion that this is
the best way to get Vista ... you are getting Vista Home Premium, when
you had no previous OS at all, for $109 ... do you know another way to
do that?

[As to "you lose the XP license .... technically true, in general, but
might there be one exception: If you wanted XP/Vista dual boot on the
same machine, I'm not sure that you could not, in that case, legally,
continue using XP.]