John said:Many consumers buy an upgrade CD. Microsoft has been trying hard to
stop ordinary users from installing Windows on more than one
computer. That's what Windows Product Activation is all about.
I would call you an "ordinary user".
If you were experienced and skilled enough, you wouldn't be
personally upset because you could easily get around Microsoft's
Product Activation and whatever other schemes Microsoft can come up
John Doe said:Tomcat (Tom) <tom_overton_1968 yahoo.com> wrote
Many consumers buy an upgrade CD.
Microsoft has been trying hard to stop ordinary users
from installing Windows on more than one computer.
That's what Windows Product Activation is all about.
If it weren't for semantics, you would never have an argument.
I would call you an "ordinary user".
If you were experienced and skilled enough, you wouldn't be personally
upset because you could easily get around Microsoft's Product Activation
and whatever other schemes Microsoft can come up with.
For anyone who knows significantly more than the
average user (or has a friend who does), it's very easy
to work around Microsoft's monopoly era schemes.
Don't have to steal it. Linux is free you twit.
Tomcat said:Microsoft is not tightening the screws on "normal" consumers because
most of them will not even be affected by the new EULA. Most
consumers don't even know what's inside their computer, let alone
replace the motherboard to use up a transfer point. Most are just in
possession of a restore CD anyway so can't do a major upgrade even if
they wanted to.
As a casual home builder, yeah I'm upset with the EULA but we'll have
to wait and see how it evolves and how it will be enforced.
That's what I thought too, although I can't find a link to the newBioboffin said:I am confused by this thread, AFAIK the transfer restrictions were removed
at the beginning of November.
Mike said:You're half right. Nobody has been able to confirm that the new EULA
applies to anything but the full-price retail boxed version, which
everybody with half a brain avoids buying anyway. -Dave
Tomcat said:That's what I thought too, although I can't find a link to the new
official EULA (if it's even official yet, it could probably still
change before next year).
Mike said:Whoa. That one looks even scarier. It says that if the device is
connected to the Internet, the software will be activated
automatically. Anybody but me see a problem with this? You buy your
components, load Windows onto it, test it to make sure it's working
OK, (activation happens autmatically), find out eventually that your
mainboard is crap, decide to go with a different mainboard and CPU .
. .
Awww shit, your automatically activated software can't be reinstalled
ow. -Dave
This is no different from XP. If it worries you about the automatic
activation, turn off your internet connection. You can still play with it
for 30 days, just as you can with XP, before activation becomes essential
to continue.
Mike said:One HUGE problem with that theory, though. To test if a system is
stable, you need the latest drivers for everything, which are
available ONLY from hardware manufacturer web sites. So how do you
connect to the Internet without connecting to the Internet? -Dave
Bioboffin said:Download them *before* you upgrade? If you buy an OEM system, you contact
your seller.
Mike said:Well yes, if you think ahead, you can get fairly recent drivers
downloaded and stored on DVD or whatever. It's not possible to get
good drivers on a pressed CD, however. (as anything over a week old
is terribly outdated) So contacting your seller is not a good idea. -Dave
no doubt that MS will try to screw as much cash as they can out of us, I
don't believe they are going to make it impossible for you as a legitimate
user to change your motherboard if you have a problem after activation.
They haven't before, and they have relaxed their initial Vista EULA this
time under pressure from customers.
Mike said:You're counting on Microsoft to do the right thing? Ummmmmm...I'm
speechless
That's the rumor, which nobody has been able to confirm. Yet. -Dave
which started this bit of the thread.
http://download.microsoft.com/docum...lish_36d0fe99-75e4-4875-8153-889cf5105718.pdf
Mike T. said:As they say though, the devil is in the details. Depending on how you
interpret it, this EULA is a lot worse than Vista, and I'm not counting on
Microsoft's interpretation as being especially consumer friendly. -Dave
One HUGE problem with that theory, though.
Nope.
To test if a system is stable, you need the latest drivers for everything,
which are available ONLY from hardware manufacturer web sites. So how do you connect to the
Internet without connecting to the Internet?
Mike T. said:As they say though, the devil is in the details. Depending on how you
interpret it, this EULA is a lot worse than XP, and I'm not counting on Microsoft's interpretation
as being especially consumer friendly.