[olug] funny, true but funny

[Rob Townley]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 3:08 PM, T. J. Brumfield <enderandrew at gmail.com> wrote:
> Actually, if you're not using that license on that computer, you can
> install it legally on another.
>
> So it would be akin to reusing the screws elsewhere.
>
> My wife's laptop came preinstalled with Windows Media Center. I wiped
> it and put openSUSE on there. When someone else had a dead PC and lost
> her Windows license, I just ended up effectively giving her out Media
> Center license.

MS Licensing prohibits using the OEM engine elsewhere.  With the
activation restrictions getting tighter and tighter, it will probably
not work soon enough.  I would have doubts as to whether you will get
all the updates pushed to other machines in this scenario.  Many of
the installation automation tools for windows fail on these OEM cds as
well.  MS scared _Compaq_ to not put Netscape on the desktop even
though people knew at the time that a browser integrated into the OS
was a bad thing from a security perspective.  Luckily, Compaq put
Netscape on the desktop anyway, but imagine the pressure on the little
vendor to this day.

>
> -- T. J.
>
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Carl Lundstedt
> <clundst at unlserve.unl.edu> wrote:
>> On Thu, 2009-11-19 at 11:39 -0600, T. J. Brumfield wrote:
>>> The license is an OEM license, heavily discounted. Microsoft sold the
>>> OEM license to HP, Dell or whomever. They resold it to you as part of
>>> the bundle. Plenty of retailers tell you that you must buy a bundle,
>>> and don't allow you to return individual components. If I purchase a
>>> piece of furniture from Ikea, and assemble it with my own screws, can
>>> I demand Ikea return the cost of screws?
>>>
>> Understandably no, but I'd expect that Ikea would have no problem with
>> me using said screws to build a birdhouse in shop class or selling them
>> to my brother-in-law to use to build his Shopko purchased furniture.
>> How well does that OEM license transfer?  (Ownership is a nebulous thing
>> here and that's my problem with OEM.)
>>
>> I fully appreciate and understand both sides of the OEM argument.  I
>> think the situation is still a little consumer hostile and it's not
>> getting better (and I don't pretend to have the answer on how to make it
>> better).
>>
>> Carl Lundstedt
>> UNL
>>
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