Microsoft regional licensing

[ZippyDan]

If I buy a retail MS Windows or Office license in North America, can I ONLY use that license in North America?

If so, that is stupid.

 

[corkyg]

Ihave travelled in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and North America with my Microsoft products, and have never had a hint of such a problem. AFIK, my licence has no specific geographic ties or limits.

 

[ZippyDan]

Ihave travelled in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and North America with my Microsoft products, and have never had a hint of such a problem. AFIK, the lioence has no specific geographic ties or limits.

It is obvious you CAN do this. What I mean is: is it legal by the licensing terms?

It seems obvious that such a restriction for a laptop would be stupid, but what about for a business desktop that only lives in one place?

 

[cubby1223]

In other words you want to buy cheap 3rd world copies of MS Office at a discount for deployment in your U.S. business?

If this were for an individual, or a small business (five computers?), no one cares. You have a license that Microsoft was compensated for, just make damn damn sure the license is legit. Even if you are in an event you have to call MS for activation, the representative on the phone doesn't care. Microsoft doesn't come after individuals or small businesses with legal action for breaking license agreements so long as you have invoices for the purchases.

For a large business, I would not go down that path, the savings are not worth the gamble. Push a move to openoffice before hunting for foreign licenses.

 

[ZippyDan]

In other words you want to buy cheap 3rd world copies of MS Office at a discount for deployment in your U.S. business?

If this were for an individual, or a small business (five computers?), no one cares. You have a license that Microsoft was compensated for, just make damn damn sure the license is legit. Even if you are in an event you have to call MS for activation, the representative on the phone doesn't care. Microsoft doesn't come after individuals or small businesses with legal action for breaking license agreements so long as you have invoices for the purchases.

For a large business, I would not go down that path, the savings are not worth the gamble. Push a move to openoffice before hunting for foreign licenses.

Actually the opposite. I buy most of my licenses in the USA and then ship them to 3rd world countries.

With the prevalence of pirating in the 3rd world, I find that sometimes the authorities come down even harder on businesses there when they choose to discover illegal copies.

 

[corkyg]

It is obvious you CAN do this. What I mean is: is it legal by the licensing terms?

It seems obvious that such a restriction for a laptop would be stupid, but what about for a business desktop that only lives in one place?

Nothing in any of my Microsoft EULAS that restricts where it can be used. I do not carry my floortop tower around when I travel. However, if I were posted to another country, I would not have to change my software on moved computers. I might have to pay some sort of taxes, however, to use a foreign ISP.

 

[ZippyDan]

Nothing in any of my Microsoft EULAS that restricts where it can be used. I do not carry my floortop tower around when I travel. However, if I were posted to another country, I would not have to change my software on moved computers. I might have to pay some sort of taxes, however, to use a foreign ISP.

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But see here I know that you are wrong. For example, Open Volume Licenses can definitely be restricted to certain regions:

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/licensing-options/open-regional.aspx

Also, the whole reason I asked this question is because I ran across a RETAIL copy of Windows 7 Professional in our Mexico branch, purchased locally, which has big red warnings printed on the front:

Warning 1 (translated): Exclusively for distribution in Latin America and the Carribean

Ok, maybe "distribution" means it can only be sold in a particular region, but can be used anywhere? Well there is another warning:

Warning 2 (translated): Restrictions for Activation. The distribution and required activation must occur in Latin America or the Caribbean

Note that this region matches up perfectly with the Open License regions I linked above, but this is a retail copy. Now, the situation is still not clear: does that mean it can only be sold and bought and activated in that region, but once activated can be used anywhere?

Note that these advisories are not stickers placed on the box, but are printed directly on the official Windows 7 Professional cover. Here is a picture of the same kind of copy I have: http://www.computo.com.pe/gestion/fotos/d92588edfd6295e6fc4d858b7f080200251cac30.jpg

So this got me wondering whether all MS licenses have similar restrictions but they are hidden in the horrible mess that is MS licensing...

 

[corkyg]

I can only speak for retail licenses sold in USA. They are legally good anywhere if installed in a laptop or USA based PC. And, it is possible that products sold abroad can be subject to restrictions required by local trade rules. What you are surfacing may be requirements of national customs and tariffs.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/exporting/overview.aspx

 

[ZippyDan]

I can only speak for retail licenses sold in USA. They are legally good anywhere if installed in a laptop or USA based PC.

What if they are installed on PCs from and in, say, a Latin American country?

 

[cubby1223]

There is always that difference between what Microsoft states should be the rules, and what Microsoft actually enforces to be the rules.

It was like that long-standing debate over OEM XP licenses, if you can install it on a different machine. As long as the old computer is not running, Microsoft doesn't care.

I've bought Spanish copies of Office then used the English install file. Once bought a French version of Office that was stated only for Canada, installed and activated no problems.

Even when you need to call for activation, and get connected to a live rep, they don't care, so long as you are within the limit of numbers of computers it is currently installed on they don't care.