DONT CHANGE YOUR MOTHERBOARD EVER THIS IS BS

[Javaman]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127581-c,vistalonghorn/article.html

Irked Users Seek Vista Licensing Clarification

     Microsoft's announcement of limited transfer rights for Vista OS unpopular, confusing, users say.

          Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

     Thursday, October 19, 2006 03:00 PM PDT


Windows users are raising concerns about Microsoft's new licensing for Windows Vista that will allow them to transfer a Vista license to only one machine other than the computer for which it was purchased.
         The has caused confusion, especially for power users who rebuild their computers with new components several times a year, or who plan to upgrade their computers more than once in the lifetime of the OS. Users are demanding clarification from Microsoft about how scenarios like these will play out under the new licensing.
A Sample Scenario

         "My question about the one-time transfer is, what constitutes a machine?" asks Windows user Roger Halstead. "I have four machines and they are running legal copies of XP Pro. Those four machines are in a constant state of upgrade. I have to reactivate the OS around three or four times a year due to upgrades."
         Halstead says that if he is not allowed to continuously upgrade his machine without purchasing new licenses, then "Vista will not be a viable operating system for me."
         "I can stay on XP Pro, which I probably will [do] as long as I can, but what happens when MS no longer supports XP?" he asks. "If I have to do a reinstall, will I be able to get it to work?"
         Unfortunately, Microsoft has so far been unable to answer these kinds of questions from users. Contacted Wednesday to clarify Vista's licensing in such an instance, by this morning Microsoft's public relations firm still did not have an answer.
More Confusion

         Don Smutny, a software developer for the DST Technologies division of DST Systems in Kansas City, Missouri, considers the one-license transfer a message from Microsoft that "they don't care if you ever run Vista."
         He, too, says it isn't clear what, for Microsoft, constitutes a new PC that would require another Vista license purchase. With XP, it's considered a license transfer with "every motherboard, CPU or hard-drive upgrade," he says. If Microsoft follows the same tack with Vista, things could get extremely complicated and pricey for users, Smutny says.
         He adds that this kind of move from Microsoft is the sort of thing that would inspire users to switch to an alternative desktop if transferring and using Windows applications on that platform was easy.
         "If someone could come up with a Linux distribution that was just as easy to use as XP, and included Windows-emulation software that would allow users to play their Windows-based games without a large performance hit, then you will finally see the shift of OS use that the Linux folks have been saying is 'coming soon' for the last 10 years," Smutny says.
'Arrogant'

         Smutny isn't the only user who is downright angry with Microsoft for its new licensing practice. Another Windows user, Mark Smith, who has his own business developing custom data-acquistiion and analysis packages for industrial applications, says the policy shows how "arrogant" Microsoft has become.
         "It knows that governments (both the U.S. and E.U.) are essentially powerless to effect any changes to the Microsoft status quo," he wrote in an e-mail. "It also knows there are no real competitors (Apple and Linux notwithstanding). So its new attitude is 'To hell with the customer, we're going to do whatever we want because the customer has no choice but to buy Vista.'"
         Like Smutny, Smith says that he, too, has been on the lookout for years for a viable alternative to Windows so that he does not have to do business with Microsoft.
         "I've tried all the competitors and hoped that IBM would have stuck it out and created a viable competitor; they were close," he says. "There certainly is a huge market, so we can always hope."

[Dr.Jeckyl]

a tricky situation for sure.

[MONOLITH]

:hmm:

[Javaman]

The big problem I have with this licensing is that the life of a computer is currently about 3 years, without upgrading your system once. If you do update your system, you have to reinstall your OS. If your motherboard goes out, you have to repair your OS (which requires your cd key if it's windows) or reinstall it. If your hard drive goes out, you have to reinstall your OS. In the instance of users improperly shutting down systems, hard drives typically last 3 years or less, and with most users not knowing to blow the dust out of their system motherboards tend to last 2 to 3 years. So in the 5 years that Vista is going to be the newest OS, if the average user buys a new PC with Vista loaded as soon as Vista is released, and they upgrade twice, they'll likely have to repair or reinstall their OS 4 times, which means buying 2 more Vista licenses.


and they wonder why ppl go to FREE software if they would put out something worth buying ppl would just like movies now a days and music its all crap......and do they really think even for a min that they can really stop ppl from ripping there software...i mean come on within hrs of the new IE 7 ppl was already finding flaws which by the way are still in IE 6...all this has been a joke for a few yrs now and will cont to be a joke and the only ppl that will get harmed by this is honest ppl not the hackers.....

[Javaman]

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

[Dr.Jeckyl]

LMAO! like i said it's(Ubuntu) been looking better and better each update. my next rebuild other than my next gaming machine will be with that system.

[RogueDOC]

Can you run Windows software with Linux (i.e. games and such)?

[MindlessOath]

i dont think this will be a problem at all.  it was suppose to be simular to this previously with windows xp.  people could do what they want, and i see it to be the same in the future - it will be to expensive and tricky for MS to do anything to counter enthusist.  i mean hell WGA is an annoyance at most to some people - but still bypassed.  i bet you that the day it comes out that a mass people will have free copies of vista with an authorized key... it happens every revision.

BASICALLLY from what i gather, they dont want people using a dell/hp/compaq restore disk to restore a custom computer that you built.  but you can... they just dont want it happening for vista.

i DO agree its confusing, but it always has been, in fact its been more confusing with xp and previous versions than it is now, they cleaned alot of BS up.

i havent needed to activate my machine for new hardware at all myself... but then again if i add a new hdd or motherboard then i need to do a restore anyways (that would require an activation i guess).  any new cards i have added or video or whatever i never have any issues... i like to do a restore when adding a differnt video card because its usually trying differnt brands like nvidia and ati.

[MikeDaMan]

Dont worry Javaman, even before its out... there will be or friendly neighbourhood hAxOr-MaNz that will be all over that stuff. The stronger the protection(s) the more of a challenge it is to these groups to be the first and the best to... well FIX it.. :wink: :tongue:

 Not to mention a probable leak or 2 Winblows is always good for that will enable normal people like us to stick with windows for yet another gen.

If MS dident secretly alow the leaks windows would suffer baddly... they dont make ther money off guys like us, they go after the big guys for there bread and butter.

MS is the all time champion of  OOPS... how did that get out?!!!

... meanwhile Bill Gates himself is uploading the OS's to the newsgroups.:roll:

[shiver]

There's also a thing built into it called the Software Protection Platform.
From time to time windows will check for updates and during that
operation it will run a validation check of the software.
If validation fails, you lose most of the functionality of the os. It turns into
a web browser. It's been known to flag ligit copies by mistake.
Here's a link to a podcast by Leo Laporte. It was recorded a week ago.
He talks about it right near the begining.

[lozart]

Panic over!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/03/ms_vista_climb-down/

[Javaman]

good

[Ronin]

They were talking about this on the Windows Weekly podcast with Paul Thurott (and Leo Laporte).  Apparently Microsoft has already backed off on this licensing scheme a little.  It was supposed to be like this on Windows XP (as someone else already mentioned).  I have never had to call Microsoft to revalidate my machine and I make lots of changes to my PCs (we have several) running Windows XP.

I'm wondering what the final license will look like once Vista becomes available to consumers at retail.

[Fixxxer]

Honestly, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to implement something like this. I'm willing to bet a lot of big businesses and even home office users would switch to Mac if they did.

The only thing Windows is better for is games. Anything to do with audio, video and soon business applications is far better on the Mac.

[MindlessOath]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=playing+windows+games+in+linux
refine your search words for differnt/better results
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/31/common-linux-myths-dispelled/

[Kyobanim]

Here's a mac user's opinion of Vista http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16873608/

macs are way over rated. But they do make a halfway decent anchor.

[Ronin]

Honestly, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to implement something like this. I'm willing to bet a lot of big businesses and even home office users would switch to Mac if they did.

The only thing Windows is better for is games. Anything to do with audio, video and soon business applications is far better on the Mac.

Well, big business buy the Enterprise version which doesn't require validation.  They get site licenses.  So this won't affect them.

But there are lots of businesses and individuals out there that it would affect and many of those might switch.  So, they'd still be shooting themselves in the foot.

[Mofoka]

Coming in rather late into the thread but there is no problem with transferability in Windows Vista. Just go buy the OEM version from newegg for real cheap and install it.

Here were the old rules for windows OEM software purchase:

If the pack was opened, the enclosed individual software license(s) for Windows desktop
operating systems had to be distributed

   1. preinstalled on a fully assembled computer system or
   2. to another system builder with a non-peripheral computer hardware component.

If distributed with non-peripheral hardware, the acquiring system builder had to accept the
license agreement and the distributing system builder had to keep records of the
distribution to show that this requirement was met.

Here are the new rules for windows OEM software purchase:

If the pack is opened, the enclosed individual software license(s)

    * must be distributed with a fully assembled computer system and
    * must be preinstalled.

The individual software license(s) inside the pack can no longer be distributed with a
non-peripheral computer hardware component.
With the new 1-pack, the unopened package can be distributed to another system builder by
itself, without any hardware requirement.

That is taken from the Microsoft OEM system builder site. It is restricted to system builder members so I posted the rules so everyone can see them. The site does go on to say:

OEM system builder software packs are intended for PC and server manufacturers or
assemblers ONLY. They are not intended for distribution to end users. Unless the end
user is actually assembling his/her own PC, in which case, that end user is considered
a system builder as well.

And for more information about the OEM

http://www.betanews.com/article/MS_Its_Okay_to_Buy_Vista_OEM_Software/1170100341

But here is a quick update on how many times you can install the OEM software before having to call in and reactivate it.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2087792,00.asp

[MindlessOath]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932
this has been around for quite awhile...
go buy the upgrade DVD for less and install it like a clean install of vista, WITHOUT loosing your windows XP key.

just remember the upgrade has certain drawbacks.

Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.

When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.

When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.

Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.

This time, type in your product key when prompted.

When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.

Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

[Aramis]

Honestly, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to implement something like this. I'm willing to bet a lot of big businesses and even home office users would switch to Mac if they did.

The only thing Windows is better for is games. Anything to do with audio, video and soon business applications is far better on the Mac.

Actually, with the penetration that Windows has into business, it's not better. Add to that Windows 2003 Server/server applications, and Windows is second to none in use and functionality, with maybe Linux servers close behind. Granted, we're talking about Vista which isn't a server OS, but still you won't see businesses switching from Windows anytime soon.

Honestly, you won't see them switching to Vista anytime soon either since adoption for an OS is very slow thanks to needing to make sure homebrew apps work and such.