Vista license

In what way are MS being anti-competitive?

a) You can still install and dual boot Linux
b) You can still run linux under a VM in the business and ultimate editions.

MS argument would be that the average home user would have no need to have VM machines. After all, which average home user is going to purchase two lots of OS just so they can run a VM? MS could argue that this function is aimed at business and if you purchase a business edition you can run VM.

After all when you buy XP home you dont get all the additional security functions of XP pro. Likewise the home version of Vista wont be able to do the things the business version will.

I think all those people who have been using the Vista Beta's come to purchase the final release of Vista. They are going to see a lot of reduced functionality unless they shell out for the ultimate version. How many people are going to get burned buying the wrong version that no longer has the functionality they came to rely on.

MS has always been run by lawyers. Its just that they are tightening the thumbscrews. If honestly dont think I will buy vista. I will probably spend the money on a console to play games on, and go Linux for the web on my PC. For apps like photoshop, I will use Wine. I think MS must be paying Adobe a lot of money for not releasing photoshop on Linux. Can you imagine if they did? A heck of a lot of people would be ditching Windows Tommorow.

This might be the last OS MS release's for all the wrong reasons.
 
dark_matter said:
After all when you buy XP home you dont get all the additional security functions of XP pro. Likewise the home version of Vista wont be able to do the things the business version will.
Click to expand...
XP Home has 99% of the functionality of XP Pro - most of the things that it lacks would be of zero interest to a home user. The home versions of Vista are significantly more crippled than the business versions. The XP situation does not compare.
 
dirtydog said:
XP Home has 99% of the functionality of XP Pro - most of the things that it lacks would be of zero interest to a home user. The home versions of Vista are significantly more crippled than the business versions. The XP situation does not compare.
Click to expand...

Agreed XP Home does have most of the functionality of XP Pro. You could argue that owners of XP Pro were getting ripped off.

The XP situation compares because im using it to demonstrate the MS business model. Not if you agree with it or not.
 
I have received this email from microsoft. Still has me confused because he is saying vista licence will be the say as xp when it is not. I suggest everybody email him with individual concerns, the link is at the bottom of the reply.

This mail is in response to the concerns raised by you in the previous mail.
Your concern refers to the EULA for Windows Vista wherein it says that any
major hardware change can cause renewing/buying the license. Firstly. I would
like to mention the links that you have reffered to are third party l
inks which do not contain complete information or the logical reasons as to why
such procedure is put in place. Secondly, any operating system when it is
installed puts its activation code on the motherboard and at the time of
installation HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) is created in order to com
pletely register the hardware. If the HAL is disturbed frequently (as 3 times
in a year) it may make the OS instable, it is something that is applicable to
all OS.

I would like to state the Windows Vista is still in a beta process and not
launched, your suggestions are more than welcomed as it is the customer's
feedback that motivates a company to decide the features of an OS. I would also
like to state that information provided in that link is not at all acc
urate as in Windows XP if you do the same process (changing the motherboard)
you have to run a a repair install (it does not require a clean install or
buying a new license). I cannot find any reason why Windows Vista will not have
the same procedure. I would like to assure that Microsoft, at no gi
ven point, will compromise on customers' requirements or satisfaction. To
further lodge any concerns/complaints/feedbacks, you can contact our Response
Management Team (RMT) : +44 118 909 7977.

Please do let me know incase I can email you the documentation about Windows XP
on the same.

Yours sincerely,


Subhasish Mukherjee
[email protected]
Microsoft Product Support Services http://www.microsoft.com/uk/support
Microsoft Contact Centre (UK): 0870 60 10 100
Microsoft Contact Centre (Republic of Ireland): 1 850 940940

We pride ourselves at Microsoft on delivering an excellent service and we trust
that you are totally satisfied with the service you have received.



Move To: (Choose Folder) Drafts Saved mail SentMail Trash


Back to: INBOX
 
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I wonder how deeply buried all this self checking code will be.

It's a little ironic that, if it gets ripped out on some pirated copy, useability for the average enthusiast will probably go up.
 
Secondly, any operating system when it is
installed puts its activation code on the motherboard and at the time of
installation HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) is created in order to com
pletely register the hardware. If the HAL is disturbed frequently (as 3 times
in a year) it may make the OS instable, it is something that is applicable to
all OS.
Click to expand...
Hmm...any operating system puts its activation code on the motherboard... Really? Where?

Hardware changes twice a years are OK, but 3 times in a year may make the OS unstable...really?

I'm not trusting information from the person who wrote this email.
 
If this all goes as it appears to be going, I expect that I'll be buying a games console instead of PC hardware upgrades for gaming and switching to Linux for my PC. Apart from games, there's nothing I need Windows for.

I can see Vista contibuting to the end of PC gaming. Many PC gamers are the very people who will be hit hardest by Microsoft's EULA, unless Vista can be effectively pirated on a mass scale. I think that will be made very difficult by having Vista "phone home" regularly to check validity and disabling itself.

I was planning on waiting a few months after release to see how much Vista compromised my privacy and security and to give Microsoft a chance to put out some patches for the inevitable security holes, then buying Vista if it wasn't too bad. The price of a license looks pretty steep to begin with, but if I look at it spread over the time I keep an OS for, it looks cheap.
 
Angilion said:
If this all goes as it appears to be going, I expect that I'll be buying a games console instead of PC hardware upgrades for gaming and switching to Linux for my PC. Apart from games, there's nothing I need Windows for.
Click to expand...
There's no need to switch to Linux any time soon - Windows XP will be good for several years yet :)

As for PC gaming, I think it's been on a steep decline for a long time and yes perhaps Vista will accelerate the decline.
 
Angilion said:
Hmm...any operating system puts its activation code on the motherboard... Really? Where?

Hardware changes twice a years are OK, but 3 times in a year may make the OS unstable...really?

I'm not trusting information from the person who wrote this email.
Click to expand...

The activation code is not physically put on the motherboard, I think he means that the configuration of the board is saved, which it is. It's just bad wording.

As for changes in hardware? It is true that if intergral hardware is change frequently, like graphics, it does disturb the HAL and will make the OS more unstable. You may have not noticed it does, but its key to how the HAL works.

Burnsy
 
burnsy2023 said:
The activation code is not physically put on the motherboard, I think he means that the configuration of the board is saved, which it is. It's just bad wording.

As for changes in hardware? It is true that if intergral hardware is change frequently, like graphics, it does disturb the HAL and will make the OS more unstable. You may have not noticed it does, but its key to how the HAL works.

Burnsy
Click to expand...
But why would it take several months for the HAL to repair itself? I don't see how that works.
 
burnsy2023 said:
The motherboard must be replaced under a 'warranty claim'.

The license quoted is retail and not OEM, therefore I didn't expect it to be mentioned.

Like I said earlier, MS need to define 'device', as they did with 'Machine'.

Burnsy
Click to expand...

So what happens if your motherboard fails out of its warranty period?

Buy a new motherboard and new new copy of Vista?
 
wmb said:
So what happens if your motherboard fails out of its warranty period?

Buy a new motherboard and new new copy of Vista?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much correct.

Look, I don't like it anymore then you do, but working in a situation where you must be licenced, you don't have much choice.

Burnsy
 
Oh and just to go back to one of the posts in this thread about Paul Thurrott and "his guide on Vista licencing". Dirtydog and myself were unsure of his conclusions and it seems we are not alone.

TheRegister slate him quite happily and so does Ed Bott: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=158

I enjoyed reading that..

Burnsy
 
Angilion said:
It appears that Microsoft have altered the EULA to allow unlimited transfers of the Vista license for the retail versions only, not the OEM ones.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2051991,00.asp
Click to expand...

That article seriously sensationalises what is already accepted as part of XP licencing.

But clever tech geeks have often found that buying an OEM license when they buy a new motherboard or hard drive is cheaper than buying the retail version. In those cases, you may still have problems re-activating after several motherboard swaps.
Click to expand...

So you should, your running unlicenced software. In anycase, you don't need to buy hardware with OEM software anyway.

The author needs to research his topic and not turn the article into something that comes out of a tabloid newspaper.

Burnsy
 
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