Window's XP License question....

[Engineer]

My company purchases new PC's from Gateway. They are ordered with WindowXP, shipped to our Michigan facility from which they are stripped of WindowsXP and have a fresh copy of a pre-configured of Win2k installed. We (our company) pays for the license for the Win2k separately from the Gateway installed version of XP. Is it against the rules to take the copy of WinXP for the PC's and use it on another PC (at home, etc)? I'm not talking about my company's rules (which may prohibit this anyway), but rather MS's rules.

Each Gateway comes with the "sticker of authenticity" and the full install disk?

Comments and or clarifications welcome....

Thanks in advance...

 

[spyordie007]

the OEM licenses work a little differantly, generally you are only allowed to install/run them on the computer they came on. I'm not sure how much it would matter in this case though if they come with the full install disk (as opposed to a "system restore" CD), I suppose you could always try installing it on another computer. If it is locked down so that it wont install on anything but a Gateway BIOS than it will let you know.

We often do the same thing with laptops when we order them, we have them put the cheapest OS they will install on them (generally XP Home). As soon as they arrive we format and install 2K...

-Spy

 

[Nothinman]

You're proabbly paying for Win2K licenses for no good reason, I believe if you get a license for WinXP you can use that same license for previous versions of the software, so it _should_ cover Win2K too.

 

[spyordie007]

I dont believe the licensing works like that.

 

[Nothinman]

I dont believe the licensing works like that.

I don't think anyone truely knows how MS wants the licensing to work =)

 

[cleverhandle]

I think you'd have to talk to MS. My school district has a deal like that with Windows XP/2K, but not Office. Or maybe it was the other way around... It's going to depend on your particular volume licensing agreement. If you're a small outfit with no volume licensing, then I think you're technically screwed, though I have a hard time believing that BSA would sue you for it if they found out. Using XP Pro would probably make for a lot better case, though.

 

[Engineer]

All I can say is that our IT dept. (What's left of it after cuts) isn't the brightest light on the block. We have to keep record of how many installs of each OS we have so that we can do the proper license EACH year...or so says the IT dept. Since we're probably paying each year for the individual license (I don't know why? :confused, I thought it might be OK to take the sticker and OS and run it on something since it's being bought from Gateway and not being run...but I dunno!

 

[BornStar]

All Microsoft software purchased with an OEM system is only licensed to run on that specific machine. You can uninstall the OEM software but you can't put it on any other system. As far as I know, you can't even trade OSes between two identical systems. I've had to keep on top of Microsoft licensing recently since we replaced all of our computers within the last year.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: BornStar18
All Microsoft software purchased with an OEM system is only licensed to run on that specific machine. You can uninstall the OEM software but you can't put it on any other system. As far as I know, you can't even trade OSes between two identical systems. I've had to keep on top of Microsoft licensing recently since we replaced all of our computers within the last year.

Probably true...and I think it sucks! To pay for software....and not be able to use it.....no wonder people pirate! (I don't pirate...hence the reason I asked the original question)

 

[Engineer]

OOPS...double post!

 

[cleverhandle]

But it's not certain that those are actually OEM licenses that you're getting. We order machines from Acer (bleh...) via a local shop. They also come with the stickers, but they're apparently just leftover from stock retail machines - the OS is installed via a volume license image using a volume license key different than that on the sticker.

 

[redmist01]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I dont believe the licensing works like that.

I don't think anyone truely knows how MS wants the licensing to work =)

LOL...I don't think no one know how MS them self works ...

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: spyordie007
I dont believe the licensing works like that.

Most of the corporate licensing does, you pay for XP but you can actually install 2K or any backrev OS until your company revs to XP.
Bill

 

[Lovehandles]

Engineer, lemme give you the straight lo-down on Windblowz Product Activation:

From MS's website, http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/mpafaq.asp

they state that:

"Product activation will not be required for licenses acquired by a customer through one of Microsoft's volume licensing programs such as Open License or Select License."

However, it says in all other instances you will be required to activate your copy of XP.


When you buy a license of MS OS, you are entitled to install it on ONE system only. It has always been M$'s policy. So technically speaking, following the letter of the law, if you own 5 PCs, that you means you have to buy 5 inviduals licenses if you want to install MS Windows on each one. Of course we know that many people who are not obeying the EULA and thus the reason for M$ Activation scheme.

The bottom line is that what you are proposing to do is ILLEGAL. It really doesn't bother me either way what you choose to do, just remember there maybe M$ spies lurking in here so i would not post your intentions very loudly!

EDIT: I misread your post. It is still against the law to install your company's version of WinXP on more than 1 PC nor is it "OK" to install it on your home PC. The COA is rather meaningless now with M$ activation. You can have all the COA stickers you want on that PC, they will all be useless if you cannot activate your copy of XP.

 

[BornStar]

Another small problem you could run into is the fact that come corporate licenses are purchased from the OEM which originally sold them the computers. There is an understanding that they already have licenses for these computers but want a copy without activation and for all the computers to have the same CD key. This allows Ghosting or similar rollout methods. In other words, the corporate license for Windows cost very little since all of the compters already have their own Windows license. We ran into a problem with this with Dell. We purchased a volume license from them and then decided to get the cheapest OS that we could which turned out to be Windows XP Home. After speaking with Dell, (prior to making the purchase) we found out that was technically a breach of the EULA. Just another reason for you not to do it.

 

[leolaw]

change to linux, problem, solved.
jk