Topic: Another reason Vista can kiss my ass.

[Pugnate]

Linky to techweb

   
[Update] Vista Licenses Limit OS Transfers


By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb Technology News

Microsoft has released licenses for the Windows Vista operating system that dramatically differ from those for Windows XP in that they limit the number of times that retail editions can be transferred to another device.

The new licenses, which were highlighted by the Vista team on its official blog Tuesday, add new restrictions to how and where Windows can be used.

"The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time. If you reassign the license, that other device becomes the "licensed device," reads the license for Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, and Business. In other words, once a retail copy of Vista is installed on a PC, it can be moved to another system only once.

The new policy is narrower than Windows XP's. In the same section, the license for Windows XP Home states: "You may move the Software to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove the Software from the former Workstation Computer." There is no limit to the number of times users can make this move. Windows XP Professional's license is identical.

Although the Vista team's blog did not point out these changes, it did highlight others. "Two notable changes between Windows Vista license terms and those for Windows XP are: 1) failure of a validation check results in the loss of access to specific features; and 2) an increase in our warranty period from 90 days to 1 year, which brings Windows in line with most other Microsoft products," wrote Vista program manager Nick White.

Specifically, the Vista license calls out the ramifications of a failed validation check of Vista.

"The software will from time to time validate the software, update or require download of the validation feature of the software," it reads. "If after a validation check, the software is found not to be properly licensed, the functionality of the software may be affected."

Vista's new anti-piracy technologies, collectively dubbed "Software Protection Platform," have met with skepticism by analysts and criticism by users. Under the new program, a copy of Vista that's judged to be in violation of its license, or is counterfeit, is disabled after a set period, leaving the user access only to the default Web browser, and then only for an hour at a time.

And more from the INQ:

Microsoft Vista licence restrictions hit hardware hard

It gets worse

According to Techweb, the licences will limit the number of times that it is possible to transfer the operating system to another device. The two least expensive models will not be allowed to work in a virtual machine.

Techweb hacks have been working their way through the licence and found a few things that have not been mentioned in the official releases.

The first is that once you have installed Vista on a machine you can only move it once. If you have an upgrade of your motherboard or anything else that will cause the operating system to think that it is a new computer you have to buy a new copy of Vista.

While the expensive versions of Vista, Vista Ultimate and Vista Business, can be installed within a Virtual Machine environment, Vole forbids you from doing so with the cheaper Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium.

Fuck that shit. One of the biggest things in favor of having a PC rather than a console is that you can upgrade it and it helps even out the costs over the course of a few upgrades.

I buy a $400 OS and am restricted to how many times I can install it on my machine? I don't care if I have changed two pieces of hardware, it is still my machine.

[Pugnate]

See what really makes me mad is that they can get away with this. Say you are a console gamer, and one of the console companies pulls a fast one. At the very least you can choose not to buy their product as there is competition.

M$ will just slowly start phasing out XP. They've already started with this DX10 B.S.

Fact is that DX10 games look jaw droppingly gorgeous, and you know they can implement DX10 on XP if they wanted to. As a PC gamer there aren't going to be too many choices 3 years from now, and sooner or later you are going to have to upgrade to Vista or quit your hobby. Yes that is bleak, but I am afraid that is the way it is.

What is sickening is that after any major upgrade they want you to buy Vista again.

I have no qualms about hacking this one.

Also on the subject of price, the only one worthwhile costs $400. The lower you go on the price range, the more nerfing you see. And the entry versions of Vista are just pointless... they are basically Vista minus the changes so why would pay to go from XP to those?

I actually paid for my XP, and wasn't allowed to use my legal copy because I had 'upgraded' too often. That was bullshit.

I understand why they are applying this restriction. They don't want people to buy one copy of Vista and install it on several office computers, but there has to be an easier way to control that? Wouldn't someone taking advantage be running Vista on several PCs at the same time? Sure they can deactivate those copies!

But a legit user who is upgrading his PC won't be using Vista on multiple PCs.

[idolminds]

Maybe devs will start going OpenGL and making Linux clients? We can hope.

But this will be cracked and wont matter anyway. Remember when "OMG WinXP is so secure!" before it came out?

[shock]

Linux FTW

[scottws]

Wait, so what happens if you install Ultimate in a virtual machine environment?  From the sound of the licence, that virtual machine is now the OS' final resting place.

I thought Microsoft was getting IN the virtualization game, not practically doing whatever it takes to prevent it from happening.

What is the point of the retail license now?  It used to be that retail was attractive over OEM because there weren't any restrictions if you wanted to move the license to another or a new machine.  But now you can only move it once, how much is that truly worth over OEM?

I'm starting to think all this anti-consumerism will start catching up to them.  Sure, there's Linux, but that's probably not feasible for Joe User.  But there are always Macs...

[Cobra951]

But this will be cracked and wont matter anyway. Remember when "OMG WinXP is so secure!" before it came out?

Right.  By the time it becomes too difficult to stick to XP, there should be plenty of unofficial solutions to the problem of Microsoft's monopolistic abuse of power.

[Xessive]

It is retarded, but I'm sure it'll be cracked.

I want an OS that's not Windows but can run all Windows applications. I think "Lindows" rendition of Linux did that, until Microsoft sued them.

[scottws]

Well there is Wine, something on Linux that runs a bunch of Windows stuff, including some older games from what I understand.  There is something specifically for MS Office too, but I forget what that is called.

[Pugnate]

No I think in the end we will have to make Vista work for us. And it didn't take long for XP to get cracked.

[scottws]

On the Anandtech forums, there is a MS guy ("stash", longtime Anandtech user) saying that people are misinterpereting certain parts of the EULA.  The worst part - the movement of the retail license - he hasn't commented on so it sounds like that one is true.

But as for not being able to use the two cheap editions in a virtual machine.  What is meant is that if you want to use those editions on a host machine and in a virtual environment on the same machine, you have to purchase a second licence for the virtualized copy.  This is how XP is right now.  If you want to run a legit copy of XP in a virtual environment and also on a regular physical host, you have to have two licenses (XP will want to activate against the virtual machine whether it is a true machine or not).

The higher-level editions of Vista will allow you to run Vista on a host system and in a virtual machine on the host both under the same license.  This is a new thing, and is actually a licensing relaxation in comparison to XP.