News - Making sense of Microsoft's Windows 7 pricing and promotions

[Caudovittatus]

I know the versions they're selling are full-installs, but they're still 'upgrades' from a licensing perspective aren't they?

If that is so, is this acceptable based on MS EULAs?

I have an XP licences for my current desktop (OEM). I want to replace my current desktop (still haven't ordered and built my new one yet... dithering still!) systems and go over to W7 on the new system. My current desktop would be retired. So could I use the XP license as the basis for the upgrade but install on the new system?

[Caudovittatus]

Oh one other thing... I noticed that overclockers are doing the OEM vista licenses with the W7 upgrade vouchers now:

£99.99 for Home
£119.99 for Pro
£159.99 for Ultimate

[Splash]

I know the versions they're selling are full-installs, but they're still 'upgrades' from a licensing perspective aren't they?

If that is so, is this acceptable based on MS EULAs?

I have an XP licences for my current desktop (OEM). I want to replace my current desktop (still haven't ordered and built my new one yet... dithering still!) systems and go over to W7 on the new system. My current desktop would be retired. So could I use the XP license as the basis for the upgrade but install on the new system?

No - the OEM license lives and dies with the machine it's installed on.

[tickedon]

No - the OEM license lives and dies with the machine it's installed on.

Yep. But Microsoft will allow you to keep the license if the reason for the replacement parts is that the machine has suffered a hardware failure.

When I've done that (old P4 died), I managed to activate (with an AMD board and CPU) without even a call to Microsoft.

This is with a "retail" OEM though and not an HP/Dell etc...

[lodore]

Yep. But Microsoft will allow you to keep the license if the reason for the replacement parts is that the machine has suffered a hardware failure.

When I've done that (old P4 died), I managed to activate (with an AMD board and CPU) without even a call to Microsoft.

This is with a "retail" OEM though and not an HP/Dell etc...

thats only if you replace with the closest parts possible. so in other words your meant to use a intel processer in the same board if only the processer died. somepeople do cheat the system thou..

[Caudovittatus]

I do hate MS licensing - it never used to be that way - oh for the days of Win 95 and earlier when you could put your license on any machine (still only one but you could move it; and that was with OEM versions!) Grr. The only reason I still use MS is for games and occasional dev work - If only there was better games support for UNIX/BSD/Linux!

[Splash]

Sadly I don't recall that you could actually buy OEM licenses for Win95 through the retail channel, but I guess my memory must be busted...

[aidanjt]

I don't recall that either.

[badass]

I do hate MS licensing - it never used to be that way - oh for the days of Win 95 and earlier when you could put your license on any machine (still only one but you could move it; and that was with OEM versions!) Grr. The only reason I still use MS is for games and occasional dev work - If only there was better games support for UNIX/BSD/Linux!

Windows 95 was really, really ****.
Not just now, but for the time. Seriously, at the time, every other OS was better in every way. Everything that was good about windows 95 is either viewed through rose tinted specs or copied off a superior OS. However it was mostly rubbish. Windows was rubbish full stop before Windows 2000. XP to 2000 was Windows 7 to Vista.

[alex98uk]

I just hope they have the student deals and free copies via MSDN!

[watercooled]

I thought they only offered free copies if server OSes through MSDN?

[alex98uk]

Well, at University, each member of our computing department gets given a free MSDN account. From there you can get pretty much any MS OS/software. However, the OS's are usually Professional or Business versions.

But, business version comes with a few more tools than Home Premium and doesn't come with Minesweeper and other games pre-installed! (needs to be done manually so your employees don't slack!)

[Caudovittatus]

Sadly I don't recall that you could actually buy OEM licenses for Win95 through the retail channel, but I guess my memory must be busted...

I definitely don't remember whether or not they did - my Win 95 license came with a Gateway 2000 system that I sunk my savings into - A P90 with a 1Gb HDD and 16Mb of RAM; it was a BEAST!!!! (£2000 ouch!); still a nice upgrade from my Atari STe

Anyhow I don't remember any sanction against transferring the license to another PC... so it moved to my next PC and was shortly replaced by a Win98 upgrade (I was a still a CS student at the time and other folks from my course thought I was insane actually paying for a license)

[Caudovittatus]

Windows 95 was really, really ****.
Not just now, but for the time. Seriously, at the time, every other OS was better in every way. Everything that was good about windows 95 is either viewed through rose tinted specs or copied off a superior OS. However it was mostly rubbish. Windows was rubbish full stop before Windows 2000. XP to 2000 was Windows 7 to Vista.

Well yes... but it had DOS 7 (basically) under the covers which was fine for games (before DirectX) and I much preferred the GUI to Win 3.11. I never got on with Mac OS and it was definitely an improvement over TOS!

Linux was good even then though it was painful to configure X if you wanted a GUI

I had heard that the Amiga OS was good but it was one that I never encountered - I still hear people rhapsodising over it from time to time

[yamangman]

I had heard that the Amiga OS was good but it was one that I never encountered - I still hear people rhapsodising over it from time to time

http://www.chiptune.com/

[chis]

Windows was rubbish full stop before Windows 2000. XP to 2000 was Windows 7 to Vista.

Now there's a loaded comment, comparing Vista to 2000. 2000 had a poor selection of drivers at launch, but it improved steadily. It was fast and reliable otherwise.

I can't really say the same of Vista, not until SP1 at the very least...