Ken Foskey wrote:
>On Sun, 2002-04-21 at 18:45, Jon Biddell wrote:
>
>>The legal position is; If I buy a PC with Windows pre-installed (with
>>licence, cd, etc), I can give that PC away to whomever I choose WITHOUT
>>WINDOWS included. I cannot use THAT Windows licence on any other hardware.
>>So if you give a PC away, destroy the Windows licence / CD, and you are
>>legally in the clear.
>>
>
>I am not a lawyer, caveate emptor...
>
>As I understand it, the doze license is that magic little hologram. If
>you have possesion of that you own the license, if you do not then you
>don't own it and it is a pirate copy and you can be subject to
>persecution :-}. You can legally give away or sell this license
>because you have paid for it and it is your license to use the software,
>the cost may have been in your hardware but you still paid for it. M$
>cannot stop you from doing this. The same as the manufacturer can stop
>you selling the video card out of the computer when you upgrade your
>video card to a new one.
>
According to the computing unit at UNSW:
All Microsoft Operating System licences, including upgrade licences, are
tied to the machine on which they are first installed and clients may
not transfer the operating system licences from the original machine to
a different machine.
The Microsoft definition of a machine is "a complete PC including a hard
drive. Note you wouldn't need a new licence if you only upgraded [the]
hard disk. If a major upgrade was undertaken, i.e., hard disk, CPU,
graphics, etc., then you'd need a new licence."
(end of quote)
Two clauses from the NT 4 Workstation EULA:
Single COMPUTER. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed with the
HARDWARE as a single integrated product. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT may only
be used with the HARDWARE as set forth in this EULA.
Software Product Transfer. You may permanently transfer all
of your rights under this EULA only as part of a permanent sale or
transfer of the HARDWARE, provided you retain no copies, you transfer
all of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including all component parts, the media
and printed materials, any upgrades, this EULA and, if applicable,
the Certificate(s) of Authenticity), and the recipient agrees to the
terms of this EULA. If the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is an upgrade, any
transfer must also include all prior versions of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
So, as far as I can tell, no you can't "legally" sell or give away the
windows "license" you have, unless you give or sell the computer that it
belongs on as well - and you can't get a new computer, wipe windows off
your old one, and reinstall it on the new one.
I think it stinks, but this is what everyone is agreeing to with
Windows.....
Regards, Rob.
--
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