News - Remember, the Windows 7 Release Candidate won't last forever

[jim]

AFAIK, if you own a previous version of windows then you meet the previous requirements.

You can even use the upgrade media itself as the OS to upgrade from, if you like, let alone the RC. Install from the upgrade CD - it won't activate though because you were meant to run the upgrade. Then "upgrade" from that install, and then activate. Done. Or I think they might've added a way to edit the registry and avoid having to even go through that hassle.

Paul Thurrott has done a few articles on it, and he was convinced (when I last read up on it) that Microsoft are happy for you to do that, as long as you do genuinely own a previous version of windows. How you actually do the install is up to you.

[Noxvayl]

I had the upgrade install problem... so annoying having to install Windows twice before it lets you activate

First time was with a brand new hard drive I got at the same time as Win7, second time I got the permissions bug where I couldn't install anything, not even Windows updates from the Admin account. So I did a DBAN format over night and went to install only to find I couldn't activate.

I just wish they allowed a previous CD Key feature for upgrade activations. Provide a previous version of Windows CD Key when asked to activate and it goes through. Much easier for the customer than editing files or installing software twice.

[Saracen]

..... As a bit of an aside, does anyone know what the legal situaiton regarding upgrade licensing is? I've read online that if you use an upgrade Win 7 package on a PC with the RC on it it runs through, recognising the RC as a valid previous version of Windows, but does this meet the legal requirements of the upgrade license?

As I understand it (which is my way of saying I think this is right but don't blame me if it isn't) the situation is this ....

You need the machine you are installing an upgrade on to have either

- an OEM copy of XP or Vista on (or was on, prior to formatting) the machine you intend to "upgrade", or
- a retail licence for XP or Vista assigned to that machine.

In other words, no, the RC doesn't provide a basis point to upgrade from.

Whether something will physically install and owrk and whether it's legally licenced aren't directly linked. The upgrade version might well be able to be conned into working without the above, but it wouldn't make it legal.

For instance, suppose I have two machines and ONE XP licence. I then buy two W7 upgrades. Could I put/assign the legit licence on machine 1, then upgrade legitimately? Yup. Now, having upgraded, I "assign" that licence to machine 2 and use my second W7 upgrade. Is it legit? Nope, because I've used the same licence of XP to upgrade 2 machines.

I'm however, one of those machines (say my laptop) had an OEM XP. and I also had a full XP retail pack, then I can buy two W7 upgrades and upgrade both the laptop and desktop, using the OEM licence for one and the retail licence for another.

If I also have a third machine, currently running Linux, and have no more Windows XP or Vista licences, then I need a full (not upgrade) W7 licence to put W7 on that machine, and it would change that if I removed Linus and put a Win7 RC on first.

The RC licence, if you like, gives you a temporary right to use that and only that version, but is invisible, or non-existent, for conventional upgrade purposes

[usxhe190]

Can someone tell me why there is a licence regime for software when there is no licence regime for hardware? I.e. Why don't hardware guys say when you buy this product, you are just licensing the product from us and you don't own it?

Is it because it is "non-physical" for software?

[TheAnimus]

when there is no licence regime for hardware?

Except for all the hardware which is leased.

[usxhe190]

Except for all the hardware which is leased.

Of course.

But I was just thinking aloud. Can I ever "own" software like what we do in hardware?...

[Syllopsium]

Of course you can, but it doesn't apply to all software.

Software that you're literally allowed to do anything with, including copy, resell and suchlike is likely to be either a) extremely cheap/free or b) vastly expensive (a bespoke program)

The fact software can be easily copied does necessitate a different model.

PK

[Noxvayl]

As I understand it (which is my way of saying I think this is right but don't blame me if it isn't) the situation is this ....

You need the machine you are installing an upgrade on to have either

- an OEM copy of XP or Vista on (or was on, prior to formatting) the machine you intend to "upgrade", or
- a retail licence for XP or Vista assigned to that machine.

In other words, no, the RC doesn't provide a basis point to upgrade from.

...

Technically you are correct. However the check for a previous version of Windows being installed is not that sophisticated. It doesn't prevent activation if Windows 7 RC was the last OS installed.

For me the first time I installed Win 7 Pro I had Win 7 Pro on before hand to provide the necessary files for recognition and allowed activation. The second time I had Win 7 RC on berfore I installed Win 7 Pro. I do, however, have a Vista OEM license to use once Win 7 RC stops working.

From my understanding of magnetic storage, I think all Windows Upgrade versions do is check a level below that which is currently used to see if any Windows files were previously installed. Hence when I do a DBAN format which does 3-5 passes of blank information on my HDD it can't find any previous Windows files and prevents me from upgrading.

This is just my experience though.

[scaryjim]

Thanks for all the replies guys, looks like the situation is as I thought (i.e. it'll work, but it's not legal!). It would've been a nice thankyou from MS for all of us that did the hard work testing the Beta and RC to let us have a real copy at upgrade pricing, but I didn't think for a minute that they'd do it

So, back to ebuyer's OEM software pages for me...!

[badass]

Thanks for all the replies guys, looks like the situation is as I thought (i.e. it'll work, but it's not legal!). It would've been a nice thankyou from MS for all of us that did the hard work testing the Beta and RC to let us have a real copy at upgrade pricing, but I didn't think for a minute that they'd do it

So, back to ebuyer's OEM software pages for me...!

Did you send any bug reports?

[scaryjim]

Yeah, two or three. There weren't that many bugs to report tbh