[mythtv-users] Possible Cheap Frontend

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Tue Jul 14 23:59:34 UTC 2009


On Tuesday 14 July 2009 17:06:33 Matt Emmott wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > Such deals on used/refurbed/off-lease machines are common. For another
> > $50 you
> > can get more RAM, a DVD-RW drive and a hard drive.
> >
> > In fact, if the machine has an XP COA it might be the cheapest way to get
> > an
> > XP license (if you wanted one). I'm not sure if that's legal, I guess
> > you'd have to read the license the machine was shipped with. I think it
> > would be legal to use XP on a machine originally sold with it, not sure
> > about moving it to another box.
>
> As somebody who's had several run-ins with MS and their licensing stickers,
> I know a thing or two about a thing or two:
>
> The XP COA sticker on the machine is good only for that machine. Their OEM
> licensing is such that the stickers are non-transferable and must live with
> the computer. Could you move the sticker to another box? Physically,
> probably... Legally, no. You could also use that number to install XP
> (Providing you had the exact same OEM version) on another system, but
> technically you'd be breaking the MS agreement.
>
> IANAL and can't say if this would hold up in court... Just speaking from
> experience.

That makes sense, as long as I install XP on a machine that  originally shiped 
with it I think I'm OK, COA or not. You can usually weasel a working number 
from most of the vendor's support people.

But why would I want XP in any case?

Thanks for the (informal) info. I once tried o get a straight answer from MS, 
got referred to their legal dept., and gave up. Appparently they do not want 
people knowing precisely what their licenses actually say.

-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org


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