Thu, 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]

/Technology | 2 writebacks | permanent link

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On 10/13/2006 03:26:33
Bjorngrímnir wrote

It's like those 'break-away' stickers that companies put on their retail goods, in theory as a security measure to make it harder for thieves to do their thing. The practical side of it is that, once you have paid good money for something, you get it home and sometimes have to spend a bit of time trying to scratch and scrub away the blasted price sticker (hoping that you don't either ruin the finish on your new possession, or leave those nasty residues behind). It's a pet peeve of mine, because I have the silly notion that once I pay for something, by all fairness it should be mine, and I shouldn't be burdened with anti-theft technologies that don't apply to me (as lawful owner). The licensing process MS is putting people through is, in my opinion, the same thing...except it's not just scratching off a sticker and hoping you don't ruin your new toy in the process, it's shelling out money so that you might have the privilege of paying for your OS more than once. Tell me who the pirates are now, Mr. Gates.

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On 10/13/2006 06:42:08
Thud wrote

That pretty much tears it for me, too: the next machine is a Mac.

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