XP multiple units

[Gordon]

Can I load XP on some of my machines? The same copy, as
with 98? Or, does the register thing do away with it? I am
a home use, not a business

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

One copy or license, for each machine.

 

[Chris Lanier]

Home or Business, doesnt matter. One licence = One PC.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Gordon.

Yes and no. You can load them, but not legally - just as with Win98. But
you won't be able to use them for very long unless you activate them - which
is Microsoft's way of stopping what so many of us did with Win98. One
Windows license, one computer. The EULA (End User License Agreement) has
always said that, but now MS has a way to enforce what we all agreed to.

There's a VERY BIG difference between Registering (which just puts you on
the MS mailing list) and Activation (which allows us to use WinXP on ONE
computer). Registering is voluntary; Activation is mandatory.

For details, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

RC

 

[Tim Slattery]

Can I load XP on some of my machines? The same copy, as
with 98? Or, does the register thing do away with it? I am
a home use, not a business

No. You couldn't legally do it with Win98 and you can't do it with
WinXP.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Does your local department of motor vehicles allow you to drive
three cars on a single registration and set of license plates? So why
would you get the idea that software manufacturers would sell their
product licenses any differently? In real life, it doesn't matter
whether the product being purchased is a physical item, a service, or
a software license - if all you buy is one, one is all you get.

As it has *always* been with *all* Microsoft operating systems,
it's necessary (to be in compliance with both the EULA and copyright
laws, if not technically) to purchase one WinXP license for each
computer on which it is installed. The only way in which WinXP
licensing differs from that of earlier versions of Windows is that
Microsoft has finally added a copy protection and anti-theft
mechanism, Product Activation, to prevent (or at least make more
difficult) the sort of multiple installations you're asking about.


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

 

[Alex Nichol]

One copy or license, for each machine.

And to add - it was thus for Win98 too. It is precisely because so
many people were ignoring the point, out of real or pretended ignorance,
that the Product Activation system was brought in.. See
www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm