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<< Ummm.... You still have to buy a legal CD. >>
yes one legal M$ holographic CompactDisc then you can buy extra COAs(of preferably the same version as of the previously purchased CD) for other installs. >>
Actually if you do this you are still in violation of Microsoft's new end user licensing agrements for Winodws XP OS and Office products. Sites like #9 software that sell simply the COA are doing so under the pretense that you already have a volume licensing and a Software Assurance agreement with Microsoft. If not, you are no more legal than you would be download from the Net and installing a pirated copy. Unlike previous versions of Microsoft products that allowed qualified users to simply purchase a COA, the new licensing agrements require that end-users to purchase a retail boxed copy or a new machine from an OEM with the OS preinstalled. For those of you who get Information Week, you might want to check out the article this week about the new bots that Microsoft is unleashing on eBay and other online auctions sites. Here is a brief summary....
In the past, MS has been somewhat leniant with the resell of the resell their OS and and office products, but they are now intent on persuing all violations forund on eBay under eBay's Vero rights program and eBay has apparently given them carte' blanche access to their active DBs. According to MS, not only will illegal copies and OEM copies of MS software be persued, but also those reselling PCs from the major OEMs such as Dell and Gateway since these companies license the MS OS installed on their machine to the original purchaser and not to a third party as is often the case when people buy from these OEM with the intent to resell on eBay. Dell has also agreed to cooperate with MS in this effort by now disclosing to a warranty transfer receipients that they will not transfer the system warranty from to them until they read and aggree to a MS EULA technology transfer agreement and either puuchase a new license from them or agree topurchase a retail boxed copy of the preloaded MS product originally shipped with the unit. If the retail boxed option is chosed, Dell, will subsequently void the number from the COA and report it to MS as deactivated. MS also announced plans to include anti-piracy measures in future service packs releases and Windows Update produts to circumvent illegal product keys that are often forund on the Net. A time frame for such measures was not available at press time
I guess Bill think that he is going to run out of money!:Q
