[X4U] New recruit mustered out of Boot Camp :-(

[Stroller]

On 8 Apr 2006, at 8:38, Robert Ameeti wrote:

> At 4:30 PM +0100, 4/8/06, Stroller wrote:
>
>> On 8 Apr 2006, at 15:51, Jim Robertson wrote:
>>
>>> Brought home ..., my copy of Windows XP
>>> Home (painful purchase price)...
>>
>> For anyone who's still not getting it:
>
> And as has been noted before....

Inaccurately.

> , the OEM version is not a legitimate license and could be turned  
> away similar to a borrowed copy. Been there, done that.

Should you wish to address any of the points I made in my postings of  
6 April 2006 21:00:26 BDT and 6 April 2006 21:10:42 BDT then I will  
be glad to discuss those points. (I think BDT is Mail.app for British  
Summer Time)

But saying "it's not a license" doesn't cut it - it's CERTAINLY a  
legitimate license in this jurisdiction and just because you & your  
mate Bill Gates _say_ it's not a legitimate license in your  
jurisdiction does not make it so.

We all know that one of these OEM CDs & licenses bought from a  
reputable vendor like NewEgg will work & activate equally well on a  
home-built PC or on an Intel Mac and will continue to do so should  
you ever wish to reinstall XP. You may need to buy a "qualifying"  
hardware component in order to buy this software but a $6 PCI  
ethernet or USB card has done the trick for me in the past [1]; it is  
pretty clearly spelled out at http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/ 
archive/2005/09/07/461950.aspx that Microsoft don't want you to do  
this, but also implicit in the statement "grant you a nonexclusive  
right to distribute an individual software license only with a fully  
assembled computer system... consisting of at least a central  
processing unit, a motherboard, a hard drive, a power supply, and a  
case" that you could buy this OEM Windows XP CD, install it on an  
Intel Mac and give (distribute) it to a member of your family and the  
license would be fully qualified.

It's my experience that these licenses will also continue to activate  
should they be installed on another PC and it's my understanding that  
in the UK (or the EU?) you are entitled to transfer this license to  
another PC (implying that here Microsoft are obliged to continue to  
activate them should they be transferred to other PCs, although I  
personally wouldn't want to argue that with them).

Stroller.


[1] My current supplier is trade only and will happily sell me the  
software alone.