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Question about XP licensing

A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
A coworker of mine claims that the XP license allows for 2 installations on different machines. Anyone know if this is true?
 
Not at all, you've always had to buy 1 license for each machine you intend to install it on. I believe MS Office had a clause that allowed installation on one main workstation and one mobile as long as you didn't use them both at the same time, but I'm not sure if that's still true.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Not at all, you've always had to buy 1 license for each machine you intend to install it on. I believe MS Office had a clause that allowed installation on one main workstation and one mobile as long as you didn't use them both at the same time, but I'm not sure if that's still true.
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that clause (iirc) was for Office only, not windows.
 
Originally posted by: smack Down
Who cares unless you plan on calling up MS and having them audit your systems.
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If you think you can activate XP on more than one machine (LEGALLY), jump to it
😛
 
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: smack Down
Who cares unless you plan on calling up MS and having them audit your systems.
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If you think you can activate XP on more than one machine (LEGALLY), jump to it
😛
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It is legal as long as you don't get caught.
 
Will you please report back to us after you attempt to install the same os onto more than one system? Inquiring minds want to know.....how much money ms offered the second key to you for?
 
Will you please report back to us after you attempt to install the same os onto more than one system? Inquiring minds want to know.....how much money ms offered the second key to you for?
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There are ways to make it work, but it's still not legal.
 
Technically you should not. But let's say you have a Desktop and a Laptop
and you only USE either one at any one time ... that would meet the EULA
about the product only being used in One Place by One User at any given time.

Now if you use your Desktop and Laptop at the same time with same license, illegal for sure.
 
Originally posted by: brucebBut let's say you have a Desktop and a Laptop
and you only USE either one at any one time ... that would meet the EULA
about the product only being used in One Place by One User at any given time.
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That's not correct. The EULA allows installation on only one computer at a time. There's nothing about using it in "one place by one user at any given time" that I can see here:

1.1 Installation and use. You may install, use, access, display and run one copy of the Software on a single computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other device ("Workstation Computer").
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To the OP: you would need two WinXP licenses to run WinXP on two separate computers, yeah. I've met home users who see the "1-2 CPUs" on Win2000 Professional and WinXP Professional OEM COAs, and they think a "CPU" is a whole computer, so they mistakenly thought they could use the same license for two computers. So that might be where your friend got that idea, or maybe he's confusing Office with Windows.

 
That wording with the commas, is sort of vague .. that is why I interpret it as
Installed and In Use on only One Computer at a time
If only One copy of the OS is Running with that License Code then it might be
somewhat legit ... if both were up and running at the same time, definitely Illegal

It would be interesting to hear a lawyer's interpretation of that clause.

 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
That wording with the commas, is sort of vague
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Not really, the word "and" at the end of the list makes it all inclusive.
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yes, but there doesn't seem to be any prohibition in that sentence against installing and uninstalling, then using it on 2 different computers, which means a case could certainly be made, in court, that fair use would include having it on multiple computers if they weren't "used" at the same time.

EULAs aren't laws, their terms are subject to interpretation by the courts, and like any contract, they can't undo the actual law. If a court decided requiring repeatedly uninstalling and installing was an undue burden that interfered with fair use, then that part of the EULA wouldn't be enforceable.

 
Originally posted by: Tom
Originally posted by: Nothinman
That wording with the commas, is sort of vague
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Not really, the word "and" at the end of the list makes it all inclusive.
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yes, but there doesn't seem to be any prohibition in that sentence against installing and uninstalling, then using it on 2 different computers, which means a case could certainly be made, in court, that fair use would include having it on multiple computers if they weren't "used" at the same time.
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Is this your professional opinion? And would you base your professional reputation on one sentence of that EULA?

EULAs aren't laws, their terms are subject to interpretation by the courts, and like any contract, they can't undo the actual law. If a court decided requiring repeatedly uninstalling and installing was an undue burden that interfered with fair use, then that part of the EULA wouldn't be enforceable.
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But it doesn't. $99 and you've got a second license. If you can afford a second computer, you can afford a second license.
 
"But it doesn't."

My point is, it isn't up to you, or me, or Microsoft to decide if it interferes with fair use.

"$99 and you've got a second license. If you can afford a second computer, you can afford a second license."

that's an argument which might be relevant in a court's conclusion, I don't know. I think the relevance of my post isn't the argument I present, it's pointing out that EULAs aren't the last word on these issues, it's the interpretation of EULAs by courts that decides what is permissable and what isn't.

If you disagree with me, explain where Microsoft gets the authority to decide what's legal and what isn't ?

 
Originally posted by: Tom
"But it doesn't."

My point is, it isn't up to you, or me, or Microsoft to decide if it interferes with fair use.

"$99 and you've got a second license. If you can afford a second computer, you can afford a second license."

that's an argument which might be relevant in a court's conclusion, I don't know. I think the relevance of my post isn't the argument I present, it's pointing out that EULAs aren't the last word on these issues, it's the interpretation of EULAs by courts that decides what is permissable and what isn't.

If you disagree with me, explain where Microsoft gets the authority to decide what's legal and what isn't ?
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They get the authority from the same place as every one else: The US Treasury.
 
Originally posted by: bruceb
That wording with the commas, is sort of vague .. that is why I interpret it as
Installed and In Use on only One Computer at a time
If only One copy of the OS is Running with that License Code then it might be
somewhat legit ... if both were up and running at the same time, definitely Illegal

It would be interesting to hear a lawyer's interpretation of that clause.
Click to expand...
If installing the OS on two machines at once were compliant with the terms of the license agreement, then explain why Microsoft uses product activation to try to prevent you from using the same license key on more than one computer.

Answer: it's not compliant. If Microsoft wanted you to be installing the same Windows license on multiple computers, their EULA would say so, like the Office EULA does (desktop + laptop), and they wouldn't have a technical obstacle (activation) to try to prevent it.
 
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