MS - "OEM Vista on home built PCs is UNLICENSED"

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:26

Burnsy2023 said:
Ahh, but the question is who supplies the warranty?

Burnsy

but that would be the motherboard manufacturer

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:27

gareth170 said:
but that would be the motherboard manufacturer

Warranty for the mobo maybe, but not for the machine as a whole. Well, at least from a licensing standpoint.

Burnsy

[TW]Fox · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:30

Athanor said:
You do however get the opportunity to view the EULA before you carry out the install and are told clearly that if you do not agree to the EULA you should not continue to install the software, and should return it for a full refund.

I don't think this really counts - legally speaking there is no obligation for a retailer to accept a return of an opened copy of Windows becuase you've decided you dont like the EULA.

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:32

Burnsy2023 said:
Warranty for the mobo maybe, but not for the machine as a whole.

Burnsy

the motherboard is the heart of the system. so if the system builder sells the system he/she must give warranty for the whole system within the motherboard warranty

Sp!ke · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:34

[TW]Fox;11354034 said:
I don't think this really counts - legally speaking there is no obligation for a retailer to accept a return of an opened copy of Windows becuase you've decided you dont like the EULA.

But if the EULA states it, then it HAS to be binding surely? The software manufacture wants and expects the user to obey their EULA why shouldn't the user be able to do just that?

(Getting a retailer to actually accept the return would be difficult, I agree, but by rights they should)

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:35

gareth170 said:
the motherboard is the heart of the system. so if the system builder sells the system he/she must give warranty for the whole system within the motherboard warranty

What do you mean by "within the motherboard warranty"?

Burnsy

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:36

[TW]Fox;11354034 said:
I don't think this really counts - legally speaking there is no obligation for a retailer to accept a return of an opened copy of Windows becuase you've decided you dont like the EULA.

No, but you can get a refund directly from MS. It's been done before.

Burnsy

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:50

Burnsy2023 said:
What do you mean by "within the motherboard warranty"?

Burnsy

within the motherboard manufacturer warranty.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:53

gareth170 said:
within the motherboard manufacturer warranty.

That's never been specified by MS. It is up to the OEM (including system builders) when and how a warranty is enforced.

Think of it this way, what if you only had a 1 year warranty on a mobo but wanted to offer a 3 year warranty to a customer?

Burnsy

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:56

Burnsy2023 said:
That's never been specified by MS. It is up to the OEM (including system builders) when and how a warranty is enforced.

Think of it this way, what if you only had a 1 year warranty on a mobo but wanted to offer a 3 year warranty to a customer?

Burnsy

most motherboard manufacturers 3 year warranty.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:58

gareth170 said:
most motherboard manufacturers 3 year warranty.

That's kind of immaterial.

What about the minority who don't? Or what if you wanted to offer a warranty beyond 3 years?

Burnsy

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:00

Burnsy2023 said:
That's kind of immaterial.

What about the minority who don't? Or what if you wanted to offer a warranty beyond 3 years?

Burnsy

system builder can buy exstanded warranty for the motherboard.. tbh my idea/way sounds senseable lol...

sorry if wrong spelling

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:03

gareth170 said:
system builder can buy exstanded warranty..

We're kinda going round in circles here.

Not all manufacturers offer extended warranties because it's more likely they'll have to replace it, making it financially un-viable.

The point is that Microsoft have allowed an OEM to dictate their own warranty procedures and policies, which includes the replacement of motherboards because it makes OEM too dependant on hardware manufacturers.

Burnsy

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:10

Burnsy2023 said:
We're kinda going round in circles here.

Not all manufacturers offer extended warranties because it's more likely they'll have to replace it, making it financially un-viable.

The point is that Microsoft have allowed an OEM to dictate their own warranty procedures and policies, which includes the replacement of motherboards because it makes OEM too dependant on hardware manufacturers.

Burnsy

but this means if a system builder builds a system for themselve he/she could warranty the system for xx years, and just replace the motherboard anytime it faults..

manic111 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:27

gareth170 said:
but this means if a system builder builds a system for themselve he/she could warranty the system for xx years, and just replace the motherboard anytime it faults..

Yes it does. So?

Anyway, Burnsy, suppose the above happened and your mobo did break outside the warranty with the mobo manufacturer and you went out and bought a new one with different specs. How would you, as system builder, go about getting your key for Vista renewed? Judging by MS's website, it seems to cost £46 to phone them if you have bought an OEM license which strikes me as slightly ridiculous!

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:30

gareth170 said:
but this means if a system builder builds a system for themselve he/she could warranty the system for xx years, and just replace the motherboard anytime it faults..

Assuming it gets faults

Bare in mind that that the amount of system builders that make their own systems in minuscule compared to the amount of OEM licences sold. It wasn't exactly on their mind when drawing up policy

Burnsy

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:31

manic111 said:
How would you, as system builder, go about getting your key for Vista renewed? Judging by MS's website, it seems to cost £46 to phone them if you have bought an OEM license which strikes me as slightly ridiculous!

Why would you need a new product key?

And where does this £46 come from?

Burnsy

gareth170 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:34

manic111 said:
Yes it does. So?

so he/she could temporary make it not work and say yep its broke. then replace with something better because he/she could say they can't find the same motherboard.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:35

gareth170 said:
so he/she could temporary make it not work and say yep its broke. then replace with sometimes better because he/she could say they can't find the same motherboard.

Like we've said, a key thing here is trust. If you wanted to lie then there are easier ways to go about it

Burnsy

manic111 · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:37

You may have noticed that this isn't a particular area of my expertise!!!

I assumed that you would need a new product key for Vista as you changed the motherboard and therefore invalidated your prior one. Maybe reactivating would have been a better word...

The £46 comes from the MS website under the support section (it may not be £46, that's just what I remember it being). If your PC has an OEM version of Windows on it and goes wrong, they say that you can either contact the system manufacturer (which for most of us on OCUK would involve phoning ourselves) or contact paid support.

Ah, just found the link!

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?&ln=en-gb&c1=509&gprid=11712&