OEM Software - do I own it?

dearg_doom

I'm thinking of selling my older PC in order to build a new one,

Now this PC came with a huge range of sofware, ie WindowsXP/Office, Works, video editing stuff etc..

I was told that I don't own this sofware as such, that it belongs to the PC.

This sounds like ****e to me, so I thought I'd ask ye?

If I sell the PC, can I sell it without the OS/software and keep it for my new one??

Cheers...

lomb

dearg_doom wrote:

I'm thinking of selling my older PC in order to build a new one,

Now this PC came with a huge range of sofware, ie WindowsXP/Office, Works, video editing stuff etc..

I was told that I don't own this sofware as such, that it belongs to the PC.

This sounds like ****e to me, so I thought I'd ask ye?

If I sell the PC, can I sell it without the OS/software and keep it for my new one??

Cheers...

u dont own the software enuf said.

Chalk

you own a license to use the software.
oem, orginal equipment manufactuere licenses, mean dell or whoever has a deal to distribute the license and software with its equipment.

while you do have to buy the license with the hardware, there shouldnt be a problem keeping the license and software for a new machine.

just have a look at overclockers.co.uk, they sell oem versions of windows with mice
youll hardly go to prison for changing your mouse would you?

ChRoMe

Your not allowed to do it. When windows xp goes to authenticate itself as a legit copy it takes a snap show of your hardware (its 7 different bits cpu,motherboard,cant remember the rest of them tbh) This effectively makes that registration of xp only work on a machine with those components. I found this hard to believe when I first found out.

But after some research its the case you are buying a licence for that particular machine. Sucks I agree but its the wishes of Mr. Gates. That isint to say there arnt ways around such measures but I'll leave you and google to that

Capt'n Midnight

Mr Gates has a special version of windows that you can MOVE from one machine to another but he charges extra for it. They also have another version that can talk to servers called PRO, again they charge more for it.

Because its a license they can add almost any conditions to it's use, in the future this may include a predefined expiry date.

dearg_doom

So if I were to use my lisence with a new set-up, I'd be breaking the law??

DRM sucks ass!

EDIT: oh yeah..

So basically I don't actually 'own' that lisence...?

do I have to sell it on with the computer it came with?

If I don't, is it illegal for me to use it on a new computer?

WizZard

dearg_doom wrote:

So if I were to use my lisence with a new set-up, I'd be breaking the law??

Yes

dearg_doom wrote:

DRM sucks ass!

It's not DRM, it's software licensing.

dearg_doom wrote:

EDIT: oh yeah..

So basically I don't actually 'own' that lisence...?

do I have to sell it on with the computer it came with?

If I don't, is it illegal for me to use it on a new computer?

Yes. (Can change depending on how you aquired the license, but if it came with a prebuilt PC then it's definitely a yes)

dearg_doom

Thats that answered, thanks!