Your OEM Installation is not valid.

Flukester

Flukester

Flukester

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A lot of us here do puchase OSs, and many use a OEM license.

Thing is, OEM is not for the end user, you are allowed to purchase if reselling the license, or the hardware it is affixed to. (and have invoices to back up the claim)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/is-it-ok-to-use-oem-windows-on-your-own-pc-dont-ask-microsoft/1561

What I'm getting at here, if you built your own PC and affixed a OEM license, it's not actually worth the paper it's printed on, and in effect you're just buying a way to get product activation illegally.

Your purchased OEM license is no different than using a crack, ie - illegal, and it still costs you money for no reason

Any thoughts ?
 
This was brought up a long time ago, and these are my thoughts:

1: MS could very easily pull system builders packs from retail outlets if they were bothered, but instead they continue to allow sales to the public in large numbers (could be a consideration in the event of a court case).

2: If you're really, really, really bothered about sticking 100% to the letter of the system builders' licence, you could always sell your finished build to a disinterested third party for 1p, with appropriate paperwork of course, and they could sell it back to you. This might not be in the spirit of the licence, but AFAIK it's not specifically prohibited, and the law only cares what an agreement states, not what might or might not have been the unspoken intent of one of the parties.

3: It's ultimately up to a judge, not Microsoft, to decide what is or isn't "legal", and AFAIK MS have never sued anyone for breach of contract in respect of these particular circumstances, so until there's established case law (which seems unlikely) it will just be one person's speculation against another.

Now I await the appearance of worms, having escaped from their obligingly opened can. :D
 
Yeah it's a massive can of worms, years a go I remember online retailers only letting you have OEM software if you also bought hardware, though you could buy 20 licenses and 1 mouse to qualify.

MS need to sort their life out, at the moment if you affixed a OEM license to your own build you wasted your money and would have been better just using a crack and save your money.

Of course MS want you to buy your OS retail / boxed, which is what many unsavvy general public do in certain highstreet stores, but in reality they are the savvy, with the 'tech heads / geeks' being the criminals :)

btw, if you were buying the license and system to sell to someone, even for 1p, in effect you would also need to register with HMRC as a business and declare the income ;) (though at what point a item becomes 2nd hand is unclear)
 
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*grabs popcorn* - oh dear here we go again :P

Ultimately what CaptainCrash and Flukester say really. OEM to the letter is for system builders, however I do not see Microsoft suing it's own customers any time soon (this is not SCO we are talking about here).

Personally I've never bought a OEM license for Windows however; always either been pre-installed or part of business licensing. If you really want to look at a grey area - look at Microsoft's small business licensing or corporate "special" deals - basically large corporations can get their employees cheap deals on Windows OS's and Office. Parts of that will blow your mind.
 
I once made the error of buying Vista OEM from here, before I knew better. Retailers sell them as you could easily be a system builder and there is no issues with that. It's just when you see people buying it then lying to MS to get it reactivated on a new system when they upgrade. I always advise my customers to buy retail.
 
Lets skip past all the terms and conditions etc.
Bottom line - OEM versions of OS's make no economical sense unless you have NO intention of upgrading the motherboard in your system.

Home Premium Retail is £125.
For that money you can install the OS, upgrade the machine as often as you like.
You can uninstall it from your machine and install it on another.
Once the next version of Windows comes out you can uninstall your current copy and sell it.

Home Premium OEM is £80.
It is good for installation on the machine "as is".
You can upgrade anything you like except the motherboard.
It cannot be moved from one machine to another.
You cannot resell it.

Common sense shows that Retail makes the most sense to anybody that is planning on upgrading their machine within the lifetime of the OS.
OEM copies are aimed at large system builders and the license is only of use to somebody who doesn't upgrade.
However if they aren't upgrading they are also highly unlikely to be building their own PCs - as it costs more to build a PC than it does to buy a ready built from the likes of Dell these days.
 
Flukester said:
btw, if you were buying the license and system to sell to someone, even for 1p, in effect you would also need to register with HMRC as a business and declare the income ;) (though at what point a item becomes 2nd hand is unclear)
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Would you? I don't think there's any stated requirement to be registered with HMRC, or even to draw an income, to qualify as a "system builder" within MS's definition of the term: http://oem.microsoft.com/public/wor..._system_builder_licensing_guide_v2_012111.pdf

stoofa said:
Lets skip past all the terms and conditions etc.
Bottom line - OEM versions of OS's make no economical sense unless you have NO intention of upgrading the motherboard in your system....
Common sense shows that Retail makes the most sense to anybody that is planning on upgrading their machine within the lifetime of the OS.
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Well, yes, I don't think most people would dispute that the retail version makes more sense for home builders in the majority of circumstances.

It's more of an abstract point as to whether home users are legally licensed if they buy and use a system builder's pack (I say abstract as MS clearly don't care), and idle speculation as to what decision a court would come to in the unlikely event that things ever progressed that far.
 
CaptainCrash said:
Would you? I don't think there's any stated requirement to be registered with HMRC, or even to draw an income, to qualify as a "system builder" within MS's definition of the term: http://oem.microsoft.com/public/wor..._system_builder_licensing_guide_v2_012111.pdf
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No, but the point I was making by faking a sale you are then breaking another law by being in business but not being registered as a business, nothing to do with MS though... it's just another can of worms opening, this time with Her Majesty :)
 
Flukester said:
Your purchased OEM license is no different than using a crack, ie - illegal, and it still costs you money for no reason

Any thoughts ?
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You have far too much time on your hands...

I doubt MS care so long as they have recieved £80 for the oem copy regardless of who its going to and what pc its being installed on.

My last Win 7 was retail previous versions have been oem and they have been installed on one or more motherboards,did MS moan when i rang to activate it? No they didnt.
 
Deluxe1 said:
You have far too much time on your hands...

I doubt MS care so long as they have recieved £80 for the oem copy regardless of who its going to and what pc its being installed on.

My last Win 7 was retail previous versions have been oem and they have been installed on one or more motherboards,did MS moan when i rang to activate it? No they didnt.
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you don't go stealing something though even if you know someone won't notice ?

im saying whats the point in buying it if it's not valid ?
 
I sell all my PC's so OEM is fine, does the COA specify I cannot keep the machine in stock for 4 years before selling it?????????? (and test it for those 4 years as well)
 
lord filbuster said:
Sole traders? No need to register with anyone.
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yes, it's called paying tax :-), if you are buying anything to sell you must register to file tax returns and pay NI. This applys to sole traders as much as any other form of trade / company

it's a bit off topic and I was just thinking of random examples why someones idea of invoicing someone wasn't legal either

and yes, I'm bored, but nothing I have said is false
 
edscdk said:
I sell all my PC's so OEM is fine, does the COA specify I cannot keep the machine in stock for 4 years before selling it?????????? (and test it for those 4 years as well)
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slightly unlikely, still if you think it will stand up in court then fine :)

if you do indeed sell your pc's that are soaked for 4 years and keep stock in this manner then I take it you filed all this in your last tax return ?

the pc's I assume in question are in as new condition ready for sale ? ;)
 
Flukester said:
you don't go stealing something though even if you know someone won't notice ?

im saying whats the point in buying it if it's not valid ?
Click to expand...

stealing is to take an item, no item has been taken.. its copy right something or other....

anyway in my mind if I buy an item I can do what the **** I want with it... if i stick it on 10 machines I have technically stolen 9 copies of windows (thats naughty)... but as long as i only put it on 1 pc thats fine (i know their eula says differently)
 
Dano said:
Indeed, I'd love to see Microsoft try and take somebody to court for buying software and then using it...
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+1

Why is it anyone brings up genuine licensing POV, the discussion nosedives on this forum? :confused: It's like mentioning the religious topic and / or the BNP EDL *Insert flame material here* in speakers corner. ;)

I mean it's not exactly "right" to use OEM but I really do not see Microsoft suing it's own customers for it. It's all down to the individual (i.e. you) and your personal moral compass really. If you believe it's alright to use OEM then use it, if you don't then buy the full retail version. In the most strict sense EULA does not equal law. Most of it in nigh on unenforceable and / or against some "other" UK, PAN EU law these days. Some EULA's do contradict themselves these days. :D

Let's take for example the HP EPP (Employee Purchasing Program) for the UK a couple of years ago before the COE builds came in. After you leave the company (after buying a Microsoft OS) according to the agreement you must stop using the OS (even though you personally bought it!). Swings and roundabouts really.
 
At the end of the day Microsoft can put whatever they want in their EULA whether it's enforceable legally is another matter, if retailers are selling OEM versions separately then it's either a legal license or fraud on their part.

Microsoft do not make any attempt to stop OEM users from activating and reactivating on different hardware despite all the "scare" talk, so I believe it's just a trick employed to make people buy the more expensive retail version because in the XP days nobody ever bought the rip-off retail version. It's been very successful as well seeing the way people on forums such as these tell everyone to avoid the OEM version like the plague.
 
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