OS License gotcha

Ok, just a quick bit of information on Windows license details (I would prefer everyone buy Linux, but sometimes you have to feed the beast). These are as I understand them, and your mileage may vary….

If you purchase the retail version of Windows the software is yours and you can move it from machine to machine as you upgrade etc. You cannot have it on two machines at one time, but you can take it with you.

If you purchase the OEM version at your local computer store (why not it’s cheaper eh?) that software is only licensed for the first motherboard you install it on. If you replace your motherboard to get the next latest and greatest features, or maybe your motherboard just died and you had to replace it with another one, you no longer own a license for Windows. I don’t know of Microsoft enforcing this, but since Windows XP has the capability, so I wouldn’t think it’s too far down the road. This is also what happens with many of the retail computer systems. When you buy the system it has a OS disk with the system, but it will not install on that system if you replace the motherboard with another one. It will also not install on another computer if the original one dies. I’m not sure about academic licenses, but if I find any information on them I will post it here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 3rd, 2004 at 4:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.