Windows Vista - Spot the difference

[Jumpinbeans]

I was just wondering..........are we getting into the realm of "grey imports".........you know where Tesco was inmporting £2 levis or something like that and were told to stop selling them. Would a retailer be forbidden by law from selling items bought in other parts of the world.

Please say this isnt so

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11...ing_what_does/

[alexpollard]

This reminds me of a debate I had with one of my previous employers. They went online and ordered a copy of Quark Express from the US for about $450 (Legit copy). When I mentioned to them that it was a US only copy and that for all intents and purposes was pirate, they weren't bothered. You see, the UK version was £900! The only problem with the US copy was that it would not work if your regional settings were on anything other than US. So the US spell check was the only problem, and they were happy to deal with it (apart from the fact that the software was actually illegal).

My question is, is the UK version THAT much better or is this part of the same debate on rip-off Europe?

[alexpollard]

I was just wondering..........are we getting into the realm of "grey imports".........you know where Tesco was inmporting £2 levis or something like that and were told to stop selling them. Would a retailer be forbidden by law from selling items bought in other parts of the world.

Please say this isnt so

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11...ing_what_does/

Reading that article it would appear that anyone selling MS products for under the recommended retail price is probably selling pirated software??? Interesting.

[chrestomanci]

I was just wondering..........are we getting into the realm of "grey imports".........you know where Tesco was inmporting £2 levis or something like that and were told to stop selling them. Would a retailer be forbidden by law from selling items bought in other parts of the world.

Please say this isnt so

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11...ing_what_does/

To quote from that article on theregister.co.uk

As for OEMs selling on Microsoft software. It happens. A top five UK system builder admitted to doing it, but wouldn't go on the record for the same reasons he is very careful about how he sells on software. "You don't want to get on the bad side of Microsoft."

I doubt scan will be selling import coppies of Vista because they don't want to get on the wrong side of microsoft. 3XS systems probably represent a substantal part of their busness, and Microsoft could easily cut that off.

On the other hand, someone like Amazon could take on MS on this. Computers and MS software represent a small part of their busness, so they could aford to loose it, and if MS did play nasty and sue, the publicity would reflect badly on MS and well on Amazon who would get better sales of other products as a result, so even if Amazon loose the litigation, they win overall. Another likely contender would be Tesco, though they would have less to gain from publicity as everyone shops there anyway.

[Jonny M]

Get your orders in now guys, get your limited edition, signed by Bill Gates, copy of Vista!

[OV3RCLOCK3R]

No thank you!

[Whiternoise]

Only 20 000! Must get one quick!

[this_is_gav]

Am I right in thinking that the retail version of Vista will not suffer from the same activation problems as the OEM? i.e if I decide to change my motherboard with the retail copy I won't need to reactivate as I have bought the license for use with any machine I own (as long as it is only ever installed on one at any one time)?

If it still suffers from that then why not just get the OEM copy?

No, no... unless they've changed this from XP you would need to reactivate once a certain number of hardware changes have taken place (I believe it was 3 major changes in XP (HDD, RAM, mobo, CPU, etc), but it would be entirely legal to do so.

With the OEM version the same applies, but if you change the mobo (for anything other than RMA purposes) that license is, legally, invalid. Whether MS let you reactivate or not is another matter (they usually did with XP apparently, though it's rumoured they won't be as lenient with Vista).

[Gerrard]

With the OEM version the same applies, but if you change the mobo (for anything other than RMA purposes) that license is, legally, invalid. Whether MS let you reactivate or not is another matter (they usually did with XP apparently, though it's rumoured they won't be as lenient with Vista).

I thought this was all down to the MAC address, because you could get the same problem with an older MB (ie, with no onboard network) and changing a network card? As all MBs come with onboard network nowadays, changing it means you change your MAC address.
I only say this because the software company I used to work for would generate a customer key from the MAC address, therefore restricting it to running on just that machine.

[Funkstar]

Another likely contender would be Tesco, though they would have less to gain from publicity as everyone shops there anyway.

Tesco do have a history of buying overseas to get cheaper items. I can actually imagine them doing this. Selling Windows is an even tinier part of their business than Amazons.

[Agent]

I thought this was all down to the MAC address, because you could get the same problem with an older MB (ie, with no onboard network) and changing a network card? As all MBs come with onboard network nowadays, changing it means you change your MAC address.
I only say this because the software company I used to work for would generate a customer key from the MAC address, therefore restricting it to running on just that machine.

MAC addy's are very easy to change, so its silly just locking somthing that that only.

[JPreston]

Tesco do have a history of buying overseas to get cheaper items. I can actually imagine them doing this. Selling Windows is an even tinier part of their business than Amazons.

Ah but if there is a legitimate licence issue, or localisation one, then they won't touch it with a bargepole.

There are also issues about how could you secure a small DVD box that is worth £300 on a shelf in a shop where people are already knocking over staff to raid the duracell batteries

[Funkstar]

lol. well i guess they could have dummy boxes on display and then only issue the real one when you pay for it. Like they used to do with CDs, someone had to get them from the back of the store.

Good point about the localisation, but personally i doubt that will be an issue to be honest.

[Jumpinbeans]

Tescos would be a pretty good one to get on board They do seem to like taking on the big brands and tbh there isnt much bigger.

[SirusVirus]

We shouldnt be subjected to ridicule by Microsofts pricing program, could we get a petition together and staple it to Bill's forehead?

[Hawat]

Did anyone find a place that can ship the us version of vista to europe?
Amazon.com wont ship the us version of vista to europe.