How many installations can I do?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HowburyPete
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HowburyPete

I bought a new IBM Thinkpad which came with a 'free' copy of XP Pro.
It came preinstalled, but the dealer supplied the OS on a cd as well.

I assume he must have activated the copy on the laptop, as I've never
seen the cross keys icon or had a warning about activation.

My question: at home I have two computers networks together and to a
single broadband connection via a router. Can I use the cd the dealer
supplied to install XP on both machines? Do I have to activate both,
and can I with the same key as the laptop?

Help appreciated...
 
You get to install Windows on one computer per copy/licence. If you have
two "LEGAL" licence's you many install it on two PC's.
 
One license, one computer, the way it has always been with consumer
Microsoft OSs.
Your computer came with one license.
You can not install that license on a second computer.
If you want Windows XP on the other computers, you need to buy a
license for each one.

Read the EULA for details
Start/Run
Type "winver" ENTER
Click "End User..."
 
Greetings --

Let's apply a little common sense to the question, shall we? Does
your local grocer let you walk out of the market with three loaves of
bread when you've paid for only one? Can you drive two cars home if
you've paid for only one? Does your local clothier allow you to leave
the shop with two shirts if you've purchased only one? Have you
noticed a trend, yet? So why would you think that software
manufacturers would sell their product licenses any differently? In
real life, it doesn't matter whether the product being purchased is a
physical item, a service, or a software license - if all you buy is
one, that's all you get.

As it has *always* been with *all* Microsoft operating systems,
it's necessary (to be in compliance with both the EULA and copyright
laws, if not technically) to purchase one WinXP license for each
computer on which it is installed. The only way in which WinXP
licensing differs from that of earlier versions of Windows is that
Microsoft has finally added a copy protection and anti-theft
mechanism, Product Activation, to prevent (or at least make more
difficult) the sort of multiple installations you're asking about.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Maybe maybe not, if you get a loan on the car, the owner of the loan
may place restrictions such as removing the car from the state or
country, keeping insured etc.
You do not own Windows, just a license to use Windows under the terms
of the EULA you agreed to.
If the terms are not acceptable to you, return the product or do not
buy it to begin with.
This applies to everything you buy that has terms.
 
if I buy a car does
the manufacturer retain the right to dictate how and when
I use it?
Click to expand...

If you rent a car, the Rental Company can place restrictions on how you
use it. The number of miles you may drive, Taking it out of state. etc.

You do not buy XP, You buy a license to use XP. Microsoft still owns it
and can place restrictions on it's use. Restrictions you agreed to when
you installed XP.

No analogy is perfect. Bruce's are only meant to show that unless it's
under a special deal, YOU DON"T GET TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE.

If you don't like that MS makes you buy more then one license for
multiple computers, Then switch to Linux, FreeBSD, or buy a friggen MAC.

--

David

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"
 
-----Original Message-----


If you rent a car, the Rental Company can place restrictions on how you
use it. The number of miles you may drive, Taking it out of state. etc.

You do not buy XP, You buy a license to use XP. Microsoft still owns it
and can place restrictions on it's use. Restrictions you agreed to when
you installed XP.

No analogy is perfect. Bruce's are only meant to show that unless it's
under a special deal, YOU DON"T GET TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE.

If you don't like that MS makes you buy more then one license for
multiple computers, Then switch to Linux, FreeBSD, or buy a friggen MAC.

--
Click to expand...

Jesus. I was not disagreeing with the EULA terms, only
the mindless analogies. I *understand* that purchasing
a license is fundamentally different from purchasing
what the lawyers like to call "chattels" (merchandise,
goods, tangible products, etc.). The reason that the
aformentioned analogies are stupid is that the OP was using
them to EQUATE licensing of intellectual property and
purchase of tangible goods.

You should try real hard to read the posts (or have someone
with a brain read them to you) before you blast off.
 
Wislu Plethora rambled on in microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers:
Again with the idiotic analogies. Do you not understand
the difference between buying a license to use
intellectual property and buying actual goods or
merchandise? Even in your own illogical way of thinking
your stupid analogies don't hold water; if I buy a car does
the manufacturer retain the right to dictate how and when
I use it?
Click to expand...

heh
 
Jesus. I was not disagreeing with the EULA terms, only
the mindless analogies. I *understand* that purchasing
a license is fundamentally different from purchasing
what the lawyers like to call "chattels" (merchandise,
goods, tangible products, etc.). The reason that the
aformentioned analogies are stupid is that the OP was using
them to EQUATE licensing of intellectual property and
purchase of tangible goods.

You should try real hard to read the posts (or have someone
with a brain read them to you) before you blast off.
Click to expand...

The whole point in Copyright Law is to protect Intellectual property as
tangible property is protected. In essence, Copyrights are the patents
for intanigle goods.

Copyright works on the premise that a marketable idea belongs to the
person that created it and confers on that person the rights to license
that idea.

Many people, it seems, can't grasp this idea. So, other prople try to
use anologies to express the concept in term that are easier to
understand. Terms they are familr with. Analogies aren't perfect. Almost
by definition, they can't be when you are trying to relate two different
comncepts such as tangible and intangible.

--

David

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"
 
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