Soldato
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Vista OEM
- Thread starter Spitfir3
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Soldato
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I have Vista on my kids machine, its an S939 system. If the CPU fails I am damned if I will replace it with another S939 CPU, which will mean new RAM and a new motherboard. Now, while the repair would require a new motherboad which would no doubt increase performance when coupled with the replacement for the failed CPU it would not be a performance upgrade, despite this being the end result. Similarly, if the RAM fails I will not be buying DDR1..... Now, if I tell M$ that my system had been repaired I would not be lying, yet the repair resulted in a performance upgrade. Grey area?
Agreed.
I am off to sink back into the depths of depravity and immorality!
ooh that sounds good can I come
Man of Honour
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Trots back into thread.
It is a bit of a grey area, but the general concensus from the people at MS I have spoken to suggest that you'd be ok as the primary reason is repair and the upgrade is a byproduct.
Gallops out of thead.
Burnsy
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Everyone throws round the idea that you should buy the correct licence. Technically the correct licence for me is the upgrade one, as I own a perfectly good copy of XP, however because of Vista's security, I have to reinstall XP everytime I want to install Vista. Unless you can do a clean install from the upgrade CD, which I don't think you can (correct me if I'm mistaken) then I would want to get retail, because of the stability problems with upgrading however the price sky-rockets and there is no sign of them dropping.
This is my main, and pretty much sole-reason for not upgrading at the moment.
This is my main, and pretty much sole-reason for not upgrading at the moment.
Well put.
Not tried this with Vista but you used to be able to boot from an upgrade disk and then when it didn't find a valid copy on the hard drive put the previous install CD in, allow it to check then it would carry on.
OEM is tied to the motherboard as this componant is essentially the core of the PC, a graphic card or hard drive are very portable in comparison. OEM licenses are aimed at mainstream system builders rather than bob and his mates home machine. This is why an OEM version of the software should only be sold with a core componant of a PC, you cant purchase it on its own like you can with Retail. As stated the retail boxed versions are designed for putting on your PC, and they dont care if its one you built yourself or an off the shelf job from a big manufacturer. OEM licenses are much more restrictive in the installation (1 machine) and sale of (with a MB etc) therefore are cheaper
I think read on the net a way to install the upgrade with out installing XP first but in any case MS should have just required you to enter your XP Key at Vista installed if you so wished.
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Mandelbug, I am pretty sure Microsoft removed that upgrading functionality (inserting CD on install) for Vista and I don't understand why. In fact, it is probably harder to get a genuine Windows CD than to install a illegit copy of XP.
And yes Final8y, there is a work around involving installing a trial version of Vista, but using this pretty much puts it on par with using the OEM licence more than once, in which case I may as well just buy OEM in the first place.
Microsoft were toting quick installs as an improvement for Vista, so how can installing the old OS, plus a new one possibly be quicker than leaving the old one as it is.
Just to make it clear, I'm not at all anti-Vista, I'm just anti the incredibly tight copyright laws that make it hard for even legit customers to get what they want.
And yes Final8y, there is a work around involving installing a trial version of Vista, but using this pretty much puts it on par with using the OEM licence more than once, in which case I may as well just buy OEM in the first place.
Microsoft were toting quick installs as an improvement for Vista, so how can installing the old OS, plus a new one possibly be quicker than leaving the old one as it is.
Just to make it clear, I'm not at all anti-Vista, I'm just anti the incredibly tight copyright laws that make it hard for even legit customers to get what they want.
Man of Honour
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*Trots back in dismounts and accepts he may have to stay a while*
Doesn't this thread demonstrate that not only is this anti piracy protection needed, but also shows that it needs to be improved?
Burnsy
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Yes, maybe, but it also shows to a certain level that the tight levels of current anti-piracy protection do almost nothing to stop the illegit user, while preventing the legitimate user from getting a worthwhile deal. So yes, it certainly needs improving, but for a different reason.
Soldato
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The trouble with tighter, more restrictive "anti piracy" measures is all it does in punish and inconvieience the legitimate user.
Those who download off the Internet will simply apply the latest crackz. The new ones are good enough to actually allow you to use Windows Update so the pirate suffers nothing whereas the legitimate user has to jump through all the hoops that MS put in place.
Like I say trusting your customers is the way to go. People who pirate will still pirate but the people who buy will be very, very grateful and come back again and again, thus increasing sales and hopefully encouraging the pirates to hang up their eye patch and cutlass.
Welcome back to the thread!
Not really! My copy of vista retail had been easier going than my retail XPPro.
must have re installed at least 8 times testing custom builds for other people & have not had to pick up the phone once to activate.
The XP to Vista Upgrade is based on the assumption that XP is already installed as thats what the avg consumer will already have & are not in the habit of frequently re installing an OS so the need for XP install first is of little issue.
Man of Honour
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Like I say trusting your customers is the way to go. People who pirate will still pirate but the people who buy will be very, very grateful and come back again and again, thus increasing sales and hopefully encouraging the pirates to hang up their eye patch and cutlass.
Welcome back to the thread!
If only customers could be trusted. It's hard to get exact figures, but since activation was introduced with XP, puracy rates have fallen from about 35% to about 12% in 2006. And according to MS validation reports, Vista's product validation has decreased non genuine installs to half that of XP.
So, it's quite obvious that dispite the inconvenience of activation and validation, it does work at reducing piracy.
Burnsy
On top of that i know a few people who had cracked versions of XP & programs that i would use with out a hitch would some times throw up errors or crash on their Windows & in general the cracked version had loads of bugs & i would tell them buy a god damn copy, there is no excuse seeing as how much money they spend on other things like games consoles that fetch £400 at launch.
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I don't think there are any major reasons to go over what has already been said in this thread.
At the end of the day it is totally up to each individual if they want to use pirated/illegal software on their machines or not.
"I'm not the boss of you" - however from a legal point of view then only legal options can be discussed on the forums.
If you like it or not, if you own an OEM license and you replace the motherboard (for any reason other than a hardware failure/warranty reasons) and then use the same OEM license to install XP or Vista you do so illegally.
You are no more license legal than the person who downloads a copy from P2P.
I know people don't like to hear this and I've seen many a messenger shot for pointing this out, but it is the way it is.
Remember you agreed to the license before you installed the product.
Ignorance is no defence, so saying that you were not aware before the purchase is not a valid defence.
Nobody buys anything without first making sure their purchase meets their requirements.
I wouldn't buy a PS3 game and then complain because I hadn't got a PS3 to play it on - I'd check what I needed before making my purchase.
What can be done legally and physically are two entirely different things.
If I wanted to, I bet I could take a single OEM copy of Vista, install it on 5 machines and get each of those 5 machines activated.
This is physically what I could do, legally it is only a valid license on the very first machine I installed it on and then only to the point where I replace the motherboard in the future, when I then need a new license.
If you want to move the license from machine to machine then purchase retail.
You can read the basic guide to the licenses here:
http://www.cifi.com/computing/vistaoemretail1.html
This should cover most of the issues on what you can and cannot do within the restrictions of the various licenses available to you.
Just be aware that by replacing your motherboard and then getting MS to reactivate the OEM license you are using the product outside of the license agreement and what you are doing is no more legal than any other thief downloading a copy from the net - despite how you feel about the rule or how you feel because you did buy a copy at some point.
At the end of the day it is totally up to each individual if they want to use pirated/illegal software on their machines or not.
"I'm not the boss of you" - however from a legal point of view then only legal options can be discussed on the forums.
If you like it or not, if you own an OEM license and you replace the motherboard (for any reason other than a hardware failure/warranty reasons) and then use the same OEM license to install XP or Vista you do so illegally.
You are no more license legal than the person who downloads a copy from P2P.
I know people don't like to hear this and I've seen many a messenger shot for pointing this out, but it is the way it is.
Remember you agreed to the license before you installed the product.
Ignorance is no defence, so saying that you were not aware before the purchase is not a valid defence.
Nobody buys anything without first making sure their purchase meets their requirements.
I wouldn't buy a PS3 game and then complain because I hadn't got a PS3 to play it on - I'd check what I needed before making my purchase.
What can be done legally and physically are two entirely different things.
If I wanted to, I bet I could take a single OEM copy of Vista, install it on 5 machines and get each of those 5 machines activated.
This is physically what I could do, legally it is only a valid license on the very first machine I installed it on and then only to the point where I replace the motherboard in the future, when I then need a new license.
If you want to move the license from machine to machine then purchase retail.
You can read the basic guide to the licenses here:
http://www.cifi.com/computing/vistaoemretail1.html
This should cover most of the issues on what you can and cannot do within the restrictions of the various licenses available to you.
Just be aware that by replacing your motherboard and then getting MS to reactivate the OEM license you are using the product outside of the license agreement and what you are doing is no more legal than any other thief downloading a copy from the net - despite how you feel about the rule or how you feel because you did buy a copy at some point.
Does this mean I'm a Thief because I've stuck my COA to my Vista DVD case and not to the PC case as in the licence agreement ?
After all it's the same licence , you can't just break it slightly
Well you do now. Your copy of Windows is legit as any pirated version
Burnsy
As it's a Eula. It is up to Microsoft how they reactivate it.
As long as you don't lie and they reactivate it over the phone. there deciding not to enforce there own contract. So I can't see how it's not legit.
Just thought id add this to this post..
If I order vista again, will games work that I installed on a seperate H/D IN XP? i.e, XP's running on 1 hard drive.. all my games that have been installed on XP are running on another but if I were to run Vista.. would they run through clicking the .exe's?
If I order vista again, will games work that I installed on a seperate H/D IN XP? i.e, XP's running on 1 hard drive.. all my games that have been installed on XP are running on another but if I were to run Vista.. would they run through clicking the .exe's?
Some will some wont. But all wont work properly. Due to saved game locations etc.