Wirt wrote:
> The Microsoft EULA has always been "desktop O/S licenses can
> never, ever be
> transferred to another machine. Desktop O/S licenses are tied
> to the machine
> on which they were first installed and can never be transferred" (see:
> www.microsoft.com/usa/presentations/May_2002_Licensing_Briefing.ppt).
If I read this correctly, this is referring to an OEM copy. So, if I buy a
PC from hp, that copy of Windows is supposed to stay with that PC. I think
this is normal for most companies, at least those above a certain size. They
don't build their own, or buy PCs with no OS installed, do they? I'm
wondering how MS could possible enforce this in my home, for instance. But I
don't expect to ever have enough PCs where my actions are going to even
cause a ripple (that said, I've paid for the MS OSs I'm running).

> If you've been ignoring that restriction because you've found
> that you could,
> it's difficult to know what to say, although I can understand
> your irritation
> that Microsoft is now trying to enforce the rules that
> everyone agrees to
> when they use their products. But it seems so blessedly unfair. See:
> http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2819063,00.html
Which has: "They say they have tried to make this as easy and painless as
possible and will be very reasonable when people call to reactivate. We'll
see." Unlike this article, I'm giving MS the benefit of the doubt that there
will be almost no troubles, the rare anecdote / FOAF stories aside. It's
been long enough now that were there problems, we should have heard some of
them by now, if only from people who decided to upgrade their hardware after
upgrading to Windows or Office XP.

So, we are used to installing multiple instances of our one licensed copy.
And now, we are complaining that MS is trying to do the smallest things to
prevent that... When I installed W2K Server for dual-booting, and I had to
reinstall the copy of SQL Server I got in class, I could not find the CD Key
for SQL Server. So, I rummaged around, and found that my Window Plus! CD had
a key of the same length. I'm don't think these two products have much in
common, or share much of their code base. But I wouldn't be telling this
story if SQL Server did not accept Plus's CD key.

And this server already had the 120 day eval of W2K Advanced Server, whose
expiration could be reset by reinstalling. I then had to reinstall all of
the OS updates as well. Eventually, it became not worth doing, and provided
its own motivation for getting around to installing my licensed copy of W2K
Server.

But I bet Wirt has read enough whining about MS's activation to know how
widely folk are aghast at the unfairness of it all. But I am reminded of a
Bill Gates response to Steve Jobs, when Jobs accused Microsoft of stealing
the GUI from Apple. Gates responded:
No, Steve, I think its more like we both have a rich neighbor named Xerox,
and you broke in to steal the TV set, and you found out I'd been there
first, and you said. "Hey that's no fair! I wanted to steal the TV set!

Of course, I am confident that everyone who is worried that copy protection
is the problem, and piracy is not, has already sent their $29 to Winzip
<https://secure.safesite.com/cgi-bin/wzc1>, and their $6.95 to Netscape
<http://www.e-cdorder.com/index47.html>.

Greg Stigers
http://www.cgiusa.com
Remember, Children, free like speech, not free like beer -
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