Yeah more of a rhetorical question. I know you can go on ebay and buy a USB paperclip and get an OEM sticker and media with it. There's a doc from MS that spells out what constitutes something you can sell the media with. It's a bit strange.
Thanks, Brian Desmond [email protected] c - 312.731.3132 -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:21 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Can windows 2008 enterprise retail use an OEM license key? On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 10:43 PM, Brian Desmond <[email protected]> wrote: > How do you purchase an OEM license? OEM licenses by definition come with new > hardware. It seems to be a popular technique to sell a hard disk, mouse, paperclip, etc., with an OEM license. Then as long as you use that hard disk, mouse or paperclip with the computer, you're "in compliance". When I asked some Microsoft licensing people about this in years past they were really non-committal about it. The impression I got at the time is that it's really not what Microsoft had in mind, but they're willing to look the other way. YMMV. It's kind of an interesting question from a philosophical POV -- what constitutes "the computer"? The case? The motherboard? So if I upgrade one of those, does that invalidate my license? (I believe Microsoft says "no" on that point -- license is still good.) So I can keep the license if I upgrade pieces over time. But how is that really different from "upgrading" everything all at once? Is there some minimum amount of time that has to pass between upgrading one component and the next? And what's the sound of one hand clapping? ;-) -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
