Windows Vista Transfers Limit Number of OS Transfers to New Computers

[mandy]

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 and ban the two least-expensive versions from running in a virtual machine.

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...

full article: http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/193300234

[mandy]

I’m very pleased to let you know you this morning (or afternoon, or evening, depending on where you are when you read this) that the Windows division has revised the retail license terms for Windows Vista in a significant way.  Namely, the terms regarding license-to-device assignment of the retail product (including Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate) now read as follows:

    * You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use.  You may not do so to share this license between devices.

full article: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/window...terms.aspx

copy of new license terms: http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/use...fault.aspx