Microsoft changes Vista license terms

[Crawley]

Holy Crap, good news for us!


Full Story: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=166

There's good news out of Redmond today for anyone planning a Windows Vista upgrade in 2007. Bowing to intense feedback from the enthusiast community, Microsoft has modified the license terms for retail versions of Windows Vista to allow end users to transfer a retail license from one computer to another, or to upgrade an existing computer without fear that they'll be locked out until they purchase a new license.

The new license terms say: “You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.”

That's a welcome step back from the sneaky change that had been embedded in the previously published license agreement, which restricted users to a one-time reassignment of a retail license. A subsequent attempt to spin this change as a "clarification" of the existing license terms only made the avalanche of negative feedback worse.

In sheer numbers, this change won't affect many people, but those who are affected represent some of the most vocal and enthusiastic members of the Windows community. I spoke with Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Vista Product Management, who acknowledged having received "lots of e-mail and other feedback" on this issue.

Here are the practical implications of the change:

* If you purchase a new computer with Windows Vista preinstalled, or if you build your own PC using an OEM version of Windows, this change doesn't affect you. Your copy is locked to that PC and cannot be transferred to another.

* If you purchase a retail copy of Windows Vista and install it on a PC, you can install that same copy on another PC, provided you remove it from the original PC. In this scenario, you may be unable to activate the new copy over the Internet, but you will be able to activate over the phone.

* You can perform an unlimited number of upgrades to an existing computer running a retail version of Windows Vista. If those upgrades are significant enough to cause the computer to look like a new PC, you'll be required to reactivate within 30 days.

* This change should resolve one issue associated with the use of Windows Vista in virtual machines as well. Under the newly worded license, you should be able to move a virtual copy of Windows Vista to a new physical hardware without violating the terms of the license agreement, provided that you remove the virtual machine files from the old hardware.

One detail about the new license-enforcement terms remains a mystery. How does Microsoft determine when an upgraded PC crosses over the threshold and goes beyond the specified "tolerance level"? In Windows XP, the algorithm used by Windows Product Activation was documented in a Technical Market Bulletin published around the same time Windows XP was released to manufacturing. For Windows Vista, Boettcher says, the algorithm has changed significantly. "The algorithm in Windows Vista has gotten a bit more intelligent and lenient," he told me. "Different components are assigned different values, with the hard drive and motherboard being the highest-weighted components."

Earliler this week, Mary Jo Foley published excerpts from a draft document on Volume Activation 2.0 that appears to confirm this change. That section (which refers to "retail activation") is not included in the final version of the document posted on Microsoft's website.

Boettcher argues that the algorithm has changed from its XP predecessor and that it's subject to change in the never-ending battle with software pirates. For Windows Vista customers, he says, the details are irrelevant: If you upgrade an existing PC, you'll be allowed to reactivate under the new license terms, and you'll have 30 days to do so, which is a significant improvement over the three-day grace period allowed when Windows XP goes "out of tolerance."

[eggman]

would you mind please posting this sort of stuff in off -topic so we don't have to moderate it?

[[PR]AC3421]

What microsoft is doing with Vista is borderline illegal. Its such a load of crap. And dont even get me started on the DRM (Digital Rights Management) bullsh*t. That IS downright ILLEGAL. It vialates every privacy law that has ever existed.

[Sir. Mavrik347]

I have no idea what you just said but it made me giggle.

[[PR]AC3421]

Originally Posted by [R-CON]Sir. Mavrik347

I have no idea what you just said but it made me giggle.

If you were talkin about my reply, I edited it. I was typing fast, lol.

[trogdor1289]

Basically Vista is going to be so locked down with DRM it is going to be almost unusable for exercising your rights to backup your media.

[Crawley]

would you mind please posting this sort of stuff in off -topic so we don't have to moderate it?

Listen Baby, show me a smile.