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Windows XP License


Glenn9999

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Ok, i try the last time:

You may do any tricks with licenses for your personal usage at your personal risk. I do not have any complains about it.

But if you try the tricks for profit, like "why don't sell this used OEM license i don't need anymore?", you step on another side of law (or honour) from the one where i prefer to stay.

Thank you all guys for an interesting discussion. I'm done here.

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1 hour ago, Yellow Horror said:

But if you try the tricks for profit, like "why don't sell this used OEM license i don't need anymore?", you step on another side of law (or honour) from the one where i prefer to stay.

+1

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2 hours ago, Yellow Horror said:

... , you step on another side of law (or honour) from the one where i prefer to stay.

JFYI - and as a very side note - honour ceased to exist :w00t::ph34r: around 1781 when the English refused to accept the "paroles" Benjamin Franklin had obtained by the released English prisoners taken by the US privateers: :

https://books.google.it/books?id=LaFYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

jaclaz

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7 hours ago, Yellow Horror said:

 

But if you try the tricks for profit, like "why don't sell this used OEM license i don't need anymore?", you step on another side of law (or honour) from the one where i prefer to stay.

In order to sell something you first need a buyer. I don't know the situation in Russia is but I don't know of anybody who would buy an XP license at this point. Get on to YouTube and search for "trash picked computers". Most of the computers you see will have an XP license sticker on them. Why would anybody pay for something they can have for free. Microsoft has already been paid for their XP licenses. None of the money someone is likely to pay will find it's way back to Microsoft. I have got half a dozen found computer cases in my shed with XP licenses on them. I would sooner give a license sticker away to someone who wanted it than to ask money for it.

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19 hours ago, antiproton said:

In order to sell something you first need a buyer. I don't know the situation in Russia is but I don't know of anybody who would buy an XP license at this point.

You'd be surprised.  The Windows ME license (Upgrade Edition/Retail) I sold last year went pretty quickly after I posted it.  It just depends on what people are wanting at any one moment.

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I once bought a colour photocopy of the bottom of an old Windows XP laptop from a computer shop for $10 (which included the license sticker) because I was desperate to get my new desktop built and Windows XP installed and updated over a short break, and before the "Doomsday" "End of Life" or "Insert your favourite overdramatic scare word here" was fast approaching and no one knew if Microsoft/Windows Update would continue running (April 8th, 2014).  If I had more time and money I could have bought a legitimate CD and licence online for about $75, which is obviously a lot more, but then it's guaranteed to work, and your purchase is reimbursing the re-seller in this case, who has already paid Microsoft for the licence likely years ago, so I would feel better on spending the money on this small company.

For the "new" custom-built laptop I will soon be ordering (an IBM T601p FrankenPad), I will be happy to buy a legitimate license from a re-seller if it doesn't come with one and I have none laying around.

I believe the $10 license sticker photocopy didn't work at the time, I thought because of the service pack mismatch, but it's too long ago to remember.  The reason people do this, despite being technically illegal, is that

  1. Microsoft is an obviously scummy corporation which like many, has zero ethics itself and tries to get around the law whenever possible, too evil and monopolistic to go undisturbed even by the USA's fully pro-Capitalist legal system so they don't care.
  2. I know a lot of people pirate Windows XP, but to get around the "Windows Genuine Advantage" or whatever other legitimacy checkers are in the system, it has to be "cracked" which as I understand it, is kind of risky, as it breaks the integrity of the operating system as Microsoft has designed it, and could contain keyloggers or whatever other malware you could imagine!

Regarding Microsoft's definitions, I know that a computer's hardware can be upgraded in any way using the same license/key, but the motherboard is what defines a computer.  If you have a new motherboard, you have a new computer according to Microsoft; the case has nothing to do with it.

I think it's quite a fair and sensible definition, eh?

Edited by ThomasW
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Well, we have three cases over here to discuss:

1) If resold Windows XP OEM licence key will work. And for that we have many confirmed examples from this topic's commenters. XP licence keys is officialy gone form M$ shopping catalog, so they have no reason to cause problems for users. Most will get what they have bundled with new Laptop anyway.

2) If resold Windows XP OEM licence key is legal - and by the way, that was the original topic's question. For what I know reselling retail, boxed Windows is legal, as long as you previously uninstalled it from the machine it was installed on, or the original machine is broken. And, as far as I know, this does not apply to OEM keys.

The problem goes further, as my knowledge is most likely compliant with European Union legislation. Licence terms are not applicable, when they are not permitted by national/state/local laws. and if you are not copyright lawyer, good luck finding that out.

As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft does care about being in terms with law, and I suspect their licence terms are applicable to US law. You know, it is US company, and US is the biggest market worldwide, so I'd say, that most likely in @Glenn9999 case buying used OEM licence is not legal.

Whether you wanna get on well with licence terms, is a case of your ethics.

3) If copyright/licencing laws that forbid reselling no-longer-used OEM licences are sane and ethical - Well, M$ put a lot of effort and money for lobbying certain laws, but trying to discuss that out if it is right or not is an entry to an endless debate, which is danger close from a political debate on MSFN.

8 hours ago, ThomasW said:

Regarding Microsoft's definitions, I know that a computer's hardware can be upgraded in any way using the same license/key, but the motherboard is what defines a computer.  If you have a new motherboard, you have a new computer according to Microsoft; the case has nothing to do with it.

As far as I know, previously it was tied to processor, but after M$ lost some anti-trust cases, it was forbidden for them to do it any more, so, well, Mobo was good enough replacement ^^

I'm nearly sure I found this piece of trivia somewhere over here, but I cannot find the particular article.

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