Windows Vista - OEM Vs Retail Licensing
Part 4
The Bottom Line
There are differences between the Retail and OEM license.
There can also be quite a difference in price between Retail and
OEM and it is unfortunate that people look at this price before
they look and see just how much more flexible the Retail license
is over the OEM one.
Let us just assume that the OEM license is twice as much as the
Retail license.
As soon as you replace your motherboard once and buy the new OEM
license you are breaking even – you’ve purchased two OEM
licenses, had you purchased Retail in the first place you could
simply have legally transferred it.
Replace your motherboard a second time during the life of the OS
and buy a third OEM license and you are now out of pocket.
It would have made a lot more sense to simply purchase the
Retail in the first place at double the cost and use it time and
time again throughout the lifetime of the OS.
There is a good chance you will be told (more than once) that
there is no problem reactivating an OEM version of the OS even
after you buy a new motherboard.
This takes us right back to the “legally” and “physically”
statement at the beginning of this article.
Legally you cannot do it, physically however you may be able to
get away with it, you might have to lie over the phone, you
might not – from the EULA point of view what you are doing is
illegal.
These people will tell you that if they reactivate your OS over
the phone it must be legal as the person you spoke to is
representing Microsoft.
Again this is incorrect because in all cases where you tell them
the 100% truth you will be told by the activation line that you
need to buy a new license.
Phone up and don’t tell them you’re reactivating after a
motherboard upgrade or tell them that it is due to a motherboard
failure or you are reinstalling the OS on exactly the same
machine and the chances are you will get a reactivation code.
However you would be NO MORE LICENSE LEGAL THAN IF YOU’D SIMPLY
DOWNLOADED THE OS ILLEGALLY.
Call up the Activation line any number of times and tell the
100% truth “I’ve upgraded my motherboard” and each time you will
be told that no, you cannot reactivate the OS as you are no
longer legally allowed to use it as per the EULA you agreed to
when first the OS was installed.
There is a massive difference between what can be done legally
and what can be done physically – it’s just a lot of people
think they are the same thing, they are not.
Guide Parts
1,
2,
3, 4
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