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Does Windows XP Pro come with 2 Licenses?

E

EpOxY

Senior member
I saw someone else get their thread locked for asking a question similar, but mine is decidedly different.

I *think* I remember reading on here, that if you purchase Windows XP Professional (but not home), it actually comes with 2 licenses? One for your desktop and one for your laptop? So you could install them both at home, without doing anything illegal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I just wanted to double check before I voided my activation or did something illegal.

TIA
 
Nope. You can only legally install it on 1 system at a time. OEM licenses are for the computer it came on. Retail can be moved from computer to computer but can only be installed on 1 system (legally).
 
Microsoft does allow for running a 2nd "virtual session" of the OS on the same machine, as could be done via "VMWare" or Microsoft's "Virtual PC" product.

*edited for content.. sipping coffee now. 🙂

 
EpOxY, I think you heard about Microsoft Office 2003, which allows you to run the same license on your desktop system and also your own laptop, so you have Office-y goodness even when you're on the road.
 
Maybe you're thinking of Windows XP letting you have either two physical cores (dual core) or two virtual cores (HT). You can't run one Windows XP on two computers simultaneously (and legally).
 
This belief goes way back to the Windows 2.0 and 3.0 era. Back then, (no activation), it was legal to install the OS on a desktop and also a laptop provided that the laptop was not used when the desktop was on. This was a fairly common practice in the business community. Then along came XP and activation, and everything changed.

Today, some programs that require activation, have a means of TRANSFERRING activation to another machine. Specifically, I speak of Adobe Acrobat 7.0. I use it on my laptop and my desktop, but I use Adobes transfer function to make it happen.

If I am going to travel, I open Acrobat 7 on my desktop, and after a while, I can (under Help) use the transfer activation function. Then I can fire up may laptop and open Acrobat 7 and activate it using the transferred authorization. This makes a lot of sense, especially to business users who travel with a laptop.

It wouldbe nice if Microsoft would adopt such a policy. They key is, the program cannot be used on more than one machine at the same time.
 
Personally I think that the whole activation thing with XP and various other methods of anti-piracy are a waste of company R&D after all if there is a will there is a way, and there are plenty of people who are not going to pay the price to get legit software. All it does is inconvienience the legit users and drive up costs to aforementioned users which in turn becomes more an incentive to get software in a less than legitimate manner... YMMV
 
Originally posted by: L00ker
Personally I think that the whole activation thing with XP and various other methods of anti-piracy are a waste of company R&D after all if there is a will there is a way, and there are plenty of people who are not going to pay the price to get legit software. All it does is inconvienience the legit users and drive up costs to aforementioned users which in turn becomes more an incentive to get software in a less than legitimate manner... YMMV
Click to expand...

I would disagree...I think joe shmoe who had no idea he was illegal is now willing to plunk down the measly $100 to be legal. The amount of folks willing to jump through hoops every other week are few
 
Originally posted by: L00ker
Personally I think that the whole activation thing with XP and various other methods of anti-piracy are a waste of company R&D after all if there is a will there is a way, and there are plenty of people who are not going to pay the price to get legit software. All it does is inconvienience the legit users and drive up costs to aforementioned users which in turn becomes more an incentive to get software in a less than legitimate manner... YMMV
Click to expand...



Keep in mind that most joe shmoes buy Dell and such, which include CDs keyed for the BIOS- that is, if you have a Dell and a Dell CD, there's no activation required.

MS's real beef seems to be with people selling illegal copies, which makes sense. That's why they keep going after these vendors who're selling their computers with cracked or corporate keys. I have no problem with that- it's illegal, they're making money off of it, and they're undercutting the legitemate vendors who do get a license for each machine they sell.
 
Correct me if I am wrong but don't some Academic versions (MSDN Alliance) allow for 2 licenses (1 for laptop, 1 for desktop)?
 
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