Windows Licensing for Hobbyists

Idiots at Microsoft, surely this is a loss situation for all, unless they make their retail OS cheaper. I was planning to upgrade to Windows 7, but I don't think I'll bother if it costs over £100 to do so.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
No, that's not what has changed. The change is whether the transfer to a third party through being sold was an absolute requirement or not.
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Ok my mistake, although the premise still holds in that they seem to be claiming that anyone who bought an OEM licence which wasn't sold on to a third party has violated the conditions of the licence.
 
This will change next to nothing.

Quick Survey:

Hands up who purchased OEM
Keep your hands up if your OEM is still being used with the same motherboard on which it was initially installed

All those people who raised their hands at the first question and lowered it after the second are running illegally as it is already.
So it's quite obvious that a vast majority of OEM purchesers aren't interested in being licence legal anyway - well they are until their first motherboard upgrade.

Those that aren't interested in being license legal will simply go and pirate anyway.

Most people know that if they are indeed a "hobbyist" then they will almost certainly be doing at least one motherboard upgrade during the OSs life, in which case the Retail license is the best option anyway - as Microsoft themselves say at the very beginning.

If MS have got any sense they will simply agree to supply OEM copies to OEMs only and chase any company that sells OEM copies of the OS.
What this will do is make two distinct groups:

1. Those that want to be license legal - they will buy retail
2. Pirates

There won't be this third group who think that buying an OEM copy once somehow makes them legal no matter how many upgrades to their hardware they do make and also feel they are somehow "better" than the people who downloaded their copy of the OS illegally in the first place.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
They probably won't. Most people won't care, but for people like me who do, it just adds complexity I don't need.
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You buy a legitimate copy of OEM Windows for personal use. You build a rig and install it. You activate it. You live happily ever after.

Do you believe in hell and think that you will go there if you do not follow the letter of the EULA?

Please try and make me understand why you care. :confused:
 
So what you are saying, Stoofa is if you buy (paid for) an OEM copy and use it on the same pc, but change your motherboard, then call up MS and ask to activate, they allow it and you aren't using the OS on another computer that you are just as illegal as someone who torrented a cracked version, have never activated and got away with not paying a penny-? :(
 
Mattf121 said:
So what you are saying, Stoofa is if you buy (paid for) an OEM copy and use it on the same pc, but change your motherboard, then call up MS and ask to activate, they allow it and you aren't using the OS on another computer that you are just as illegal as someone who torrented a cracked version, have never activated and got away with not paying a penny-? :(
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Yes, that's exactly what he's saying. And he's right.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Why not pirate if you aren't going to follow the rules?
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You don't know what lovely 'features' have been added to a pirate copy. You are a nice guy and want to add to Microsoft's coffers. :p

Person A builds a rig and installs OEM Vista. He doesn't plan to upgrade his motherboard for a few years. But if he does, he will dutifully buy another copy.

Person B buys a pre-built rig from a store with OEM Vista already on it.

Why should Person A pay more? Microsoft have only themselves to blame.
 
stoofa said:
This will change next to nothing.

#snip#

There won't be this third group who think that buying an OEM copy once somehow makes them legal no matter how many upgrades to their hardware they do make and also feel they are somehow "better" than the people who downloaded their copy of the OS illegally in the first place.
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i don't upgrade my motherboard that often, i'd say every 2 years, ish and i always use that older machine as a media centre, or sell to my brother/sister, as a pc, along with the oem copy

it's easier to give my siblings legal copies than wrestle with any anti piracy measures that MS could bring out in the future
 
It seems a strange move to me. They must realise that they make a significant amount of sales from hobbyists, and that in turn these people simply won't buy retail.
 
platypus said:
It seems a strange move to me. They must realise that they make a significant amount of sales from hobbyists, and that in turn these people simply won't buy retail.
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I think they think that hobbyist will pay for retail. I'm not sure they know how many hobbyists use the SB OEM licensing channel.
 
Why would a hobbiest want to pay full price for what is essentially support from Microsoft, when they are going to be able to resolve problems themselves. It doesn't seem like a very sound decision to me. As mentioned, changing to Windows 7 for ~ £80 would be reasonable, paying full retail price for a package you won't be taking full advantage of isn't.
 
Paulus said:
yeh, you get a box too...

joking aside, and seriously, what are the other differences? (from an end user perspective)
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It's all in the sticky, but being able to change mobo and stay legal is probably the key difference (whcih means activation is easier)
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Simple, why buy a licence you are going to void and render worthless? Why not pirate if you aren't going to follow the rules?
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I'm willing to bet that MS don't share in that view. Given the choice, I have little doubt they'd rather people use OEM versions than not bother buying it at all.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
It's all in the sticky, but being able to change mobo and stay legal is probably the key difference (whcih means activation is easier)
Click to expand...

so for people who wait to upgrade their whole pc in one go and include a new oem OS in their next purchase, this has little value

which brings it back to just having support from MS
 
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