12 Oct 2006
Vista Licenses Limit OS Transfers, Ban VM Use

Well, this pretty much puts the cap on it for me: once XP is obsoleted and my current Windoze machine dies the death it's destined for, we'll be a 100% Unix/Linux/Mac operation.

TechWeb has posted an article regarding Vista's new license and how it allows you to only move it to another device once. How will this work for people who build their PCs? I have no intention of purchasing a new license every time I swap out motherboards. 'The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time. If you reassign the license, that other device becomes the "licensed device," reads the license for Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, and Business. In other words, once a retail copy of Vista is installed on a PC, it can be moved to another system only once. ... Elsewhere in the license, Microsoft forbids users from installing Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium in a virtual machine. "You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system," the legal language reads. Vista Ultimate and Vista Business, however, can be installed within a VM.'

(link) [Slashdot]

19:40 /Technology | 2 comments | permanent link