Vista upgrade over OEM XP

[Colin Barnhorst]

What do call this?
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=368&name=Operating-Systems

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Absolutely. Casual copying with Win98 and W2k are excellent examples of
out-of-compliance behavior that was physically possible but abuse of which
led to activation and now WGA.

 

[Lucvdv]

Do try not to be so USA-centric.

I live in Europe, so please don't accuse me of being USA-centric

There are literally hundreds of Microsoft-registered OEM Software
companies here in the UK who are happy to sell OEM software... here's
just one for you:

You seem to have a point - UK laws allow it, I didn't know that until
I googled around a bit just now.

I can't link to an article because I can't find it anymore (and if I
could still find it, it would be in Dutch), but I remember reading
that a reseller here in Belgium got into trouble for selling OEM
licenses.

 

[Alias]

Let me put it the way MS lawyers would say it: you're using an illegal
copy of XP (bad), and trying to convince other people to do the same
(worse).

LOL! False.

You, as an end user, shouldn't even be able to buy an OEM license
without any hardware, and any OEM licenses sold and used that way are
NOT valid.

MS is actively hunting down companies that sell OEM licenses
separately and dragging them to court. Why else do you think you only
find them in spammed offers, and not at serious resellers (at least
not without a hardware purchase)?

NewEgg is completely legit.

You're the one that's misinformed.

Sorry, but you are.

Alias

 

[Alias]

Absolutely. Casual copying with Win98 and W2k are excellent examples of
out-of-compliance behavior that was physically possible but abuse of
which led to activation and now WGA.

No, it lead to MS cornering the market and making billions and billions
and billions in the process. Now that they have a de facto monopoly,
they don't need to corner the market through casual copying so greed
sets in and they hope to make trillions and trillions and trillions in
the process.

Meanwhile, the real pirates keep selling cracked versions of whatever MS
puts out.

Alias

I refuse to debate what can or cannot PHYSICALLY be done, or what has
been done in the past.

Then as now, as soon as you installed that OEM copy onto any given
hardware, it LEGALLY became part of that hardware and should have
stayed with that hardware no matter what you could or could not do.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Richard G. Harper]

No, Microsoft "cornered the market" because they make the best software
available in a given software category. Period. There are a number of
markets that Microsoft hasn't penetrated far into (CRM, accounting,
creativity, etc) that they haven't made any significant penetration into
because users don't feel they offer the right product or mix of products for
their needs.

That's called "competition", by the way. ;-)

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Alias]

No, Microsoft "cornered the market" because they make the best software
available in a given software category. Period.

Actually, Mac software is better but no casual copying was possible. You
have no idea if Windows would have been so popular if WPA, WGA, etc. had
been present in all the former versions of Windows and Office. In short,
MS can thank piracy for its popularity and success.

Alias

There are a number of