The Official OcUK Vista Licencing Questions FAQ Thread

FatRakoon · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:13

As another side note ( Of which there seem to be many here )

Lets just say MS did remove the sales of OEM licences and there was indeed only RETAILS available...

What percentage of users will move over to an alternative O/S?

I know that a massive majority of computer users around, only really use their PC for EMails and web browsing, and pretty much nothing else.

Those people would be better off going to Linux for sure.

In fact, soem time ago, I left a SuSE Live CD in my parents PC and it was about a week later that my father asked me to remove the theme from windows... He didnt even realise that it was Linux running and not windows at all, but it was still able to do all the junk he used his PC for!

I think this is typical of many users out there, and that if given a choice of using Windows for £200+ or Linux for free, I know that a great many of them would try Linux out... Even if it was just to try.

The Running Man · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:14

i never said OEM's would have to pay Retail price.

OEM's buy 1000's in bulk lisences. for 1 single machine, fully aware of the EULA restriction.

These copies are also getting out into retail space, and MS probably see them as being mis sold. what im saying is that MS would simply crack down and remove the OEM option from those retail customers, allowing OEM's to buy OEM software at OEM price, anf forcing End users to go Retail instead of scrabbling around with oem software which wasnt intended for us.

The Running Man · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:15

FatRakoon said:
As another side note ( Of which there seem to be many here )

Lets just say MS did remove the sales of OEM licences and there was indeed only RETAILS available...

What percentage of users will move over to an alternative O/S?

I know that a massive majority of computer users around, only really use their PC for EMails and web browsing, and pretty much nothing else.

Those people would be better off going to Linux for sure.

In fact, soem time ago, I left a SuSE Live CD in my parents PC and it was about a week later that my father asked me to remove the theme from windows... He didnt even realise that it was Linux running and not windows at all, but it was still able to do all the junk he used his PC for!

I think this is typical of many users out there, and that if given a choice of using Windows for £200+ or Linux for free, I know that a great many of them would try Linux out... Even if it was just to try.

the majority of PC owners will have a legit copy of windows XP. upgrade isnt really a problem for them, as they have a legit version anyway.

the only real losers int his are those who do not currently have a LEGIT XP because they will have to pay full price, and obviously begredge paying for the software they want to use...

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:19

doesnt the oem price indicate the true price the retail should be as they are both the same. (if you assume you would only use 32bit)

FatRakoon · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:23

No, the Retail version you get support from MS.

With the OEM version, MS have nothing to do with it, and any support is from the supplier of the PC.

With retail you get a nice little box that obviously costs £200

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:14

Slam62 said:
He is not paid to defend the rights of consumers or to legally analyse the eula. He is paid to blurt out over and over again the MS public spin on the eula. Which is great from MS point of view but not necessarily the correct angle in all matters.

There is no spin on the EULA. It is a binding contract between you and micrsoft.

This is not a thread intended for discussing whether the OEM EULA or retail EULA is fair or not or how to get out of it or how you personally feel about it.

It is clearing up what you can and can not do with each licence while keeping the agreement intact.

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:16

Slam62 said:
doesnt the oem price indicate the true price the retail should be

No. They are the same software versions but different licence versions. You are buying the licence to use the software not the software it's self.

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:21

Nickg said:
the majority of PC owners will have a legit copy of windows XP. upgrade isnt really a problem for them, as they have a legit version anyway.

the only real losers int his are those who do not currently have a LEGIT XP because they will have to pay full price, and obviously begredge paying for the software they want to use...

The upgrade is a problem for those with OEM XP though seeing as it is the OEM licence that will be carried over on the retail upgrade and not an upgrade to a retail licence.

One mobo change and the chain is broken, they need another OEM XP licence or a retail XP licence or another licence to take it's place.

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:22

OzyOly said:
There is no spin on the EULA. It is a binding contract between you and micrsoft.

This is not a thread intended for discussing whether the OEM EULA or retail EULA is fair or not or how to get out of it or how you personally feel about it.

It is clearing up what you can and can not do with each licence while keeping the agreement intact.

How come you can write but not read

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:23

Slam62 said:
How come you can write but not read

Becuase I can't find my glasses. Notice all the typos?

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:23

OzyOly said:
There is no spin on the EULA. It is a binding contract between you and micrsoft.

This is not a thread intended for discussing whether the OEM EULA or retail EULA is fair or not or how to get out of it or how you personally feel about it.

It is clearing up what you can and can not do with each licence while keeping the agreement intact.

yeah right

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:25

Slam62 said:
yeah right

I'm not seeing what you mean here.

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:26

OzyOly said:
I'm not seeing what you mean here.

Well you said you couldnt find your glasses

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:28

Slam62 said:
Well you said you couldnt find your glasses

I can't. I have double vison but not something that can be solved by glasses. The glasses only sort out the very slight blurry vision I have. I'm tired from revising for my A-level exams and have a bit of problem seeing in this situation.

You find that hard to believe?

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:32

OzyOly said:
I can't. I have double vison but not something that can be solved by glasses. The glasses only sort out the very slight blurry vision I have. I'm tired from revising for my A-level exams and have a bit of problem seeing in this situation.

You find that hard to believe?

You have my sympathy, I hated revising for each and everyone of the zillions of exams I've done in my time, good luck with them.

OzyOly · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:34

Slam62 said:
You have my sympathy, I hated revising for each and everyone of the zillions of exams I've done in my time, good luck with them.

Cheers.

A-level Physics on Monday, A-level Chemistry on Tuesday. I need A's in both of them.

Slam62 · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:41

OzyOly said:
Cheers. A-level Physics on Monday, A-level Chemistry on Tuesday. I need A's in both of them.

Crikey, I did both of those and maths, needless to say many years ago and chemistry wasnt exactly my finest hour (I blame the teacher

)

Burnsy2023 · 16 Jan 2007 at 23:51

Slam62 said:
Well you're blatantly disagreeing with someone who is (by the look of it) far more qualified than you to make a judgement. You should be making use of his wider knowledge.

If you have information which may change his judgement then please show it to him and let him form a fresh view. If he is being truthful about his qualifications and experience then his opinion is of great value to you and you would do well to learn from it.

We might also question your own authority with regards to these matters and hence the validity of the whole thread.

In all fairness, you are right, Spinstrom is more qualified then me to say whether the terms are unfair or not. However, that is not the point of this thread and is way off topic.

Spinstorm, the point's you have raised are interesting but I think it's for another thread.

Can we stop the crap and leave this for Q and A? The point of this thread is for users to know how to definetly be correctly licenced, can we keep it to that?

Burnsy

OzyOly · 17 Jan 2007 at 15:02

Slam62 said:
Crikey, I did both of those and maths, needless to say many years ago and chemistry wasnt exactly my finest hour (I blame the teacher )

Oh, I do maths as well. I've pretty much got an A in maths because I got 271/300 UMS marks last year.

stealthgeek · 18 Jan 2007 at 08:31

This may have been answered before, but I couldnt find it! So apologies in advance if this 'rubs anyone up' the wrong way...

OK, I understand that with the OEM version of Vista Ultimate, you can install on your PC, but if you upgrade the motherboard, the license expires with the old motherboard, meaning that a new license is required. Correct? Conversely, does Vista Ultimate retail allow you to install multiple times (I am referring to multiple upgrades over the next few years! Im not interested in putting it onto multiple PCs)?

I currently have OEM XP Pro and was thinking of getting the upgrade version of Vista. There seems to be some confusion across various forums about how you are licensed and how Vista will activate, if at all.

Firstly, If I upgrade from an OEM OS, does that make my Vista license OEM? If so, does that mean I am restricted to one motherboard?

Secondly, how will Vista know I am licensed to use my copy of XP? Will it just request the disc, or will it check the hard drive ffor an activated copy of XP? Or will it even need to contact Microsoft to validate?

Thirdly, I understand that after you upgrade to Vista, your license to use XP dies - is this correct? If so, how does that leave me if I wanted to dual boot from an OEM version of XP and an upgrade version of Vista?

Basically, I want to be able to dual boot with XP and Vista to begin with, and further down the line move completely to Vista. I would also like to be able to upgrade at least 2/3 times without having to buy another vista license, if possible?

I think thats everything! Thanks for your time!