Downgrade Rights in Windows XP Professinal

[gbrux]

Can somenone explain the downgrade rights in the EULA for Windows XP Professional?

This is what the EULA provides:

"1.7 Use of Previous Version Of SOFTWARE. If the COA which
accompanies the HARDWARE identifies the SOFTWARE as
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SOFTWARE, then in
lieu of installing and using Microsoft Windows XP
Professional SOFTWARE, you may install, use, access,
display and run the same language version of ONE
(1) of the following versions: Microsoft(R)
Windows(R) 2000 Professional, Microsoft(R) Windows(R)
NT Workstation version 4.0 or Microsoft(R) Windows(R)
98 (Second Edition) ("Downgrade Software") on the
COMPUTER, provided (1) you agree that Downgrade
Software support will NOT be provided hereunder by
Manufacturer, MS or Microsoft Corporation, their
affiliates or subsidiaries; (2) you agree that neither
Manufacturer, MS nor Microsoft Corporation are obligated
to provide you with the Downgrade Software or media; (3)
you may not loan, rent, lease, lend or otherwise
transfer the CD or back-up copy of Microsoft Windows XP
Professional to another end user, except as otherwise
provided in the transfer provisions of this EULA;
and (4) such Downgrade Software shall be deemed
"SOFTWARE" for the purposes of this EULA and use
of the Downgrade Software shall be in compliance
with all the terms of this EULA, except that, with
respect to Microsoft Windows 98 (Second Edition),
your Connection Maximum shall be limited to five
(5) Devices. If you exercise the downgrade rights
granted herein, you may install, use, access, display
and run the Microsoft Windows XP Professional
SOFTWARE, provided (1) you remove the Downgrade
Software from your hard drive; (2) you do not loan,
rent, lease, lend or otherwise transfer the CD
or back-up copy of Downgrade Software to another
end user, except as otherwise provided in the transfer
provisions of the EULA for the Downgrade Software;
and (3) such Microsoft Windows XP Professional
SOFTWARE shall be deemed "SOFTWARE" for the purposes
of this EULA and use of the Microsoft Windows XP
Professional SOFTWARE shall be in compliance with
all of the terms of this EULA. If the COA which
accompanies the HARDWARE identifies the SOFTWARE
as either Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or Windows
XP Media Center Edition 2004 then no downgrade
rights are granted herein."

Does this mean that the EULA for Windows XP Professional allows you to install and run Windows 2000 or Windows 98SE (downgrade software) on another computer while also running Windows XP Professional on a second computer?

Or, does this authorize a dual boot setup on one computer?

 

[bersl2]

This specifically denies you the right to dual boot.

If you exercise the downgrade rights
granted herein, you may install, use, access, display
and run the Microsoft Windows XP Professional
SOFTWARE, provided (1) you remove the Downgrade
Software from your hard drive;

The same applies to two separate machines as well. One license means one license; you can only have installed one copy of one of the applicable OSes installed at a time. Furthermore, a copy of any of the legacy versions you are allowed to install, upon doing so, automatically comes under the terms of the EULA from which this is excerpted. Additionally, the COA for the XP Pro must have come originally bundled with a system from the manufacturer.

All of this may be avoided by buying a license to the legacy software in question.

 

[gbrux]

Originally posted by: bersl2
from the manufacturer.

All of this may be avoided by buying a license to the legacy software in question.

Unless one already owns a license to the legacy (Windows 98SE or Windows 2000) software. Correct?

 

[bersl2]

Correct. How does this even involve the XP EULA then?

 

[gbrux]

Are you asking me what the Windows XP Pro EULA means?

I guess I want to know, in practical terms. what the EULA permits or disallows.

I"ve edited my original post to stike out "COA" because the COA is different from the EULA.

 

[Woodie]

The point of allowing "Downgrade software" is for companies that buy new hardware which comes w/ XP...but they want to continue using W2K for their particular applications.

This way those companies can reformat the machines, and install from their existing media, and still be correctly licensed. This also allows those companies to upgrade their fleet to XP whenever they want, without having to worry about licensing issues.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: Woodie
The point of allowing "Downgrade software" is for companies that buy new hardware which comes w/ XP...but they want to continue using W2K for their particular applications.

This way those companies can reformat the machines, and install from their existing media, and still be correctly licensed. This also allows those companies to upgrade their fleet to XP whenever they want, without having to worry about licensing issues.

Woodie is correct. For example, we can no longer buy Windows 2000 server licenses, but only Wiindows 2003 server. However, we are not ready to upgrade our servers to 2003 so we install from our existing media of Windows 2000 software. Perfectly legal and is the intent of the "downgrade" clause in the EULA.

 

[gbrux]

Thank you wood man and De Phantom

This makes sense. Standing alone, and not being experienced, I couldn't figure this part of the EULA out.