So... my copy of XP isn't genuine

lay-z-boy · 8 May 2006 at 21:24

Slam62 said:
umm what are the vista sytem requirements then....

lots'o'power cap'n

In this case I don't think it's even worth correcting him. I mean clearly he is like living on planet Mars or something...

so it doesnt have those faults then?
please proove me wrong if i am.

NathanE · 8 May 2006 at 22:01

lay-z-boy said:
so it doesnt have those faults then?
please proove me wrong if i am.

Yes it's wrong. But no I'm not going to 'prove you wrong' because it would require about an hours work on my part of writing a small essay (with citations). If I replied with anything less than that you or some other equally anti-Microsoft poster would find some tiny mistake, ommision or inaccuracy to snipe at.

lay-z-boy · 8 May 2006 at 23:26

NathanE said:
Yes it's wrong. But no I'm not going to 'prove you wrong' because it would require about an hours work on my part of writing a small essay (with citations). If I replied with anything less than that you or some other equally anti-Microsoft poster would find some tiny mistake, ommision or inaccuracy to snipe at.

if your going to fit me in with the other windows haters, fine do that, its your opinion so i have no contol over what you belive, however i am not, as i am a huge fan of xp and office.
but the fact you wont prove any of my statements wrong and the fact i have tried it for myself and had sluggish performance convinces me that vista, so far, is rubbish (im sure you have seen the screenshot of the windows app that says explorer.exe is a hog), unless they can fix that between now and sell date, i wont be urged to rush out and buy it like i did with xp.

Caged · 8 May 2006 at 23:31

It's not even out yet, so pretty much any opinions people give on it are flawed. Breaking news: Beta product doesn't run at full speed :eek:

!

Where did you buy XP from in the first place? The MS thing doesn't kick up those kind of things about your license unless there really is a problem with it.

Shoseki said:
Why pay for XP when Linux is about 800 times better...

/stirring

Because I can buy Windows and put it on my PC, and it works. No Linux desktop distribution has managed that yet.

ZXSpectrum · 9 May 2006 at 15:56

As a matter of fact due to the new licencing laws from microsoft regarding OEM licencing OCUK are indeed breaking the terms of OEM distribution by selling that product on its own. Also in the past you were able to sell it with a "Qualifying" piece of hardware (Normally HDD, Memory, etc) but some distributers got around this by packaging it as a bundle with a mouse...

Naughty Naughty!

Burnsy2023 · 9 May 2006 at 16:19

Skyline said:
As a matter of fact due to the new licencing laws from microsoft regarding OEM licencing OCUK are indeed breaking the terms of OEM distribution by selling that product on its own. Also in the past you were able to sell it with a "Qualifying" piece of hardware (Normally HDD, Memory, etc) but some distributers got around this by packaging it as a bundle with a mouse...

Naughty Naughty!

Policy, not laws.

And its an old policy anyhow.

And yes, they are supposed to sell it with 'qualifying hardware' (this supposidly meaning "non-peripheral hardware") So technically a mouse isn't enough.

Burnsy

Caged · 9 May 2006 at 16:36

burnsy2023 said:
Policy, not laws.

Try and fight it in the courts then, good luck.

And it is relatively new policy, OEM goes with a full machine only now.

ZXSpectrum · 9 May 2006 at 16:43

burnsy2023 said:
Policy, not laws. And its an old policy anyhow.

And yes, they are supposed to sell it with 'qualifying hardware' (this supposidly meaning "non-peripheral hardware") So technically a mouse isn't enough.

Burnsy

Nope that isnt the case any longer. OEM are now just for system builders full stop. Distributers are now only allowed to sell directly to system builders...

Microsoft Partner Channel said:
Changes to packaging and licensing for OEM system builders Based on your feedback, we've made some important changes to our packaging and licensing arrangements for OEM system builders. These changes are designed to give you greater flexibility when you acquire and distribute Microsoft Windows(r) XP and Microsoft Office 2003 software.

1. Packaging. New single packs of Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office
2003 are now available for system builders. They come packaged in a box just like the original three-packs, which remain available, with the OEM 'break-the-seal' licence agreement fixed to the side of the box. Inside there's one software licence which includes the Certificate of Authenticity
(COA) label, hologram media and documentation).
2. New rules for Windows XP system builder licensing. Once a pack is opened,
the enclosed individual software licence(s) must be pre-installed on a fully assembled computer system before distribution. The individual software
licence(s) inside the pack can no longer be distributed with a non-peripheral computer hardware component. With the new single pack, the unopened package can be distributed to another system builder by itself, without any hardware requirement.
3. New rules for Microsoft Office system builder licensing. Once a pack is
opened, the enclosed individual software licence(s) for application software must now be pre-installed on a fully assembled computer system before distribution.
4. New Certificate Of Authenticity.As part of Microsoft's continuing efforts
to curb piracy and counterfeiting, a new COA label, with enhanced security features, will help to differentiate system builder software from direct OEM software.

Find out more about changes to packaging and licensing for OEM system builders and download a copy of the new System Builder Licence (Partners
only) <http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentPage.aspx?pageid=555653#packaging >

Burnsy2023 · 9 May 2006 at 16:49

Caged said:
Try and fight it in the courts then, good luck.

And it is relatively new policy, OEM goes with a full machine only now.

You'd be brought to court for failure to meet terms of contract, which is slightly different, but lets not nickpick. It just seemed like MS was making laws, which it isn't.

And as for the policy, its an old policy that has been clarified by MS and it can be sold without a new computer. I quote from the OEM system builder license:

4. SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION.
4.1 If the individual software license is a desktop operating system (including Windows XP Media Center Edition),
we grant you a nonexclusive right to distribute individual software licenses; provided that each one is distributed
with either (a) a fully assembled computer system or (b) a nonperipheral computer hardware
component. A “fully assembled computer system” means a computer system consisting of at least a central processing
unit, a motherboard, a hard drive, a power supply, and a case. A “nonperipheral computer hardware
component” means a component that will be an

Burnsy

Edit: Seems as though I am looking at an old version of the license...interesting

king144 · 10 May 2006 at 00:43

I had a similar experience and i found the easy way to carry on is to just switch your updates to "notify me but dont instal", this way you will be notified whenever an update is ready and you can just choose to install it. As i understand it the genuine copy thing only matters if you try to do a windows update yourself. My automatic updates have carried on as normal ever since.

ps. this is a reply to the original thread title!

joroma · 10 May 2006 at 20:24

If you choose not to install the Counterfeit Detection Update I'm not sure you can install any subsequent updates. I've got the genuine product and got some more updates today but a friend who has a counterfeit copy has set to manual updates but the only update waiting to install is the detection Update. Best thing is to bite the bullet and take advantage of the Genuine Advantage Offer.

Pezza · 11 May 2006 at 11:08

I'm in the same boat as the OP, turns out my copy of WinXP-Pro isn't valid either, and I agree the offer from MS is actually v good.

However, I'm interested in streaming some videos over to my 360 and for that I apparently need MCE. A couple of questions:

(i) All the screenshots on MS' website seem to focus on the TV-recording stuff, or video-playing on the PC. There's not a single shot of a Windows desktop on there - can someone confirm that the MCE front-end is actually a separate application, and that I'd be able to run all my applications (Photoshop, Office etc) as normal? Or is this not the case?

(ii) If I buy a copy of MCE from a retailer and install it, will it do some sort of 'upgrade' on my existing XP-Pro installation such that everything still works as before? Or will it overwrite everything?

Thanks guys!

PS - In fact, slightly OT, if you know a way to stream videos without having to use MCE then I'd be pleased to hear it. Then I'll just keep using my current installation and will buy a proper copy of Vista when it comes out next year.

PinkPig · 11 May 2006 at 11:23

As far as I know with the 360 you need MCE, I don't think there's any way around that. Other devices can let you stream video without MCE, I expect.

MCE is certainly just a "front end" for Windows, except for the lack of domain support, it can behave exactly like Windows XP Pro and all software will run completely normally.

Can't comment on the upgrade installation procedure because I've never tried it, it's possible that XP Pro to MCE won't count as a "valid upgrade path".

BigAl · 11 May 2006 at 11:44

This should do the trick without having to install MCE:-

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/devices/wmconnect/default.aspx

Pezza · 11 May 2006 at 11:49

Already have that installed, but only does music and pics on a 360 unfortunately