January 26, 200719 yr so I bought and oem copy of xp pro with my new computer. This copy came with a voucher for free vista business. So i go online to the website it tells me. I fill out my info.. and it kicks back at me saying that it cant validate the COA number on my xp label. I try this many times. then i emailed moduslink. (company handling the vouchers) they reply with the very well thought out answer of "try it again" so thinking that they may have fixed something i try again to no avail. I emailed them again and have not received a reply....its been 2 weeks. NICE!
January 26, 200719 yr Author Beware OEM buyers. I heard that if you replace your motherboard, you will no longer be allowed to authenticate your license. So in essence, you will have to to purchase another copy of Vista. :thumbsup:
January 26, 200719 yr Beware OEM buyers. I heard that if you replace your motherboard, you will no longer be allowed to authenticate your license. So in essence, you will have to to purchase another copy of Vista. :thumbsup: I don't think MS will be that strict, because that will force people to switch to another OS. I think it will work much like XP does with home versions. You will just have to call and ask for a new activation code after explaining you upgraded your PC.
January 26, 200719 yr Author I don't think MS will be that strict, because that will force people to switch to another OS. I think it will work much like XP does with home versions. You will just have to call and ask for a new activation code after explaining you upgraded your PC. I was reading the comments from the folks who purchased at NewEgg, and several of them called up and stated this was the case. If you change the motherboard, you will need a new copy. That is what they said anyway. I plan to call Microsoft myself today and confirm this.
January 26, 200719 yr According to MS. You will NOW be limited to running One Instance of Vista at a time per KEY. How they will accomplish this I do not know. In other words. If a part fails. You will be able to reinstall over and over and over w/o having to buy a new copy at some point. I think they finally got the point. Mac
January 26, 200719 yr Author I called MS Support and they said 3 reinstalls, and then you will be prompted to purchase on the 4th attempt. Thats what she told me anyway. :thumbsup:
January 27, 200719 yr Hmmm maybe the Inquirer got the info wrong. I'll see if I can find the article. And Jpenn. Vista will be so uber. You wont need to reinstall. YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!! What am I thinking???!!!
January 27, 200719 yr http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=166 Here are the practical implications of the change: If you purchase a new computer with Windows Vista preinstalled, or if you build your own PC using an OEM version of Windows, this change doesn't affect you. Your copy is locked to that PC and cannot be transferred to another. If you purchase a retail copy of Windows Vista and install it on a PC, you can install that same copy on another PC, provided you remove it from the original PC. In this scenario, you may be unable to activate the new copy over the Internet, but you will be able to activate over the phone. You can perform an unlimited number of upgrades to an existing computer running a retail version of Windows Vista. If those upgrades are significant enough to cause the computer to look like a new PC, you'll be required to reactivate within 30 days. This change should resolve one issue associated with the use of Windows Vista in virtual machines as well. Under the newly worded license, you should be able to move a virtual copy of Windows Vista to a new physical hardware without violating the terms of the license agreement, provided that you remove the virtual machine files from the old hardware. One detail about the new license-enforcement terms remains a mystery. How does Microsoft determine when an upgraded PC crosses over the threshold and goes beyond the specified "tolerance level"? In Windows XP, the algorithm used by Windows Product Activation was documented in a Technical Market Bulletin published around the same time Windows XP was released to manufacturing. For Windows Vista, Boettcher says, the algorithm has changed significantly. "The algorithm in Windows Vista has gotten a bit more intelligent and lenient," he told me. "Different components are assigned different values, with the hard drive and motherboard being the highest-weighted components." Earliler this week, Mary Jo Foley published excerpts from a draft document on Volume Activation 2.0 that appears to confirm this change. That section (which refers to "retail activation") is not included in the final version of the document posted on Microsoft's website. Boettcher argues that the algorithm has changed from its XP predecessor and that it's subject to change in the never-ending battle with software pirates. For Windows Vista customers, he says, the details are irrelevant: If you upgrade an existing PC, you'll be allowed to reactivate under the new license terms, and you'll have 30 days to do so, which is a significant improvement over the three-day grace period allowed when Windows XP goes "out of tolerance." Update 3:30PM PST - The Windows Vista Team Blog has this mea culpa: Our intention behind the original terms was genuinely geared toward combating piracy; however, it’s become clear to us that those original terms were perceived as adversely affecting an important group of customers: PC and hardware enthusiasts. You who comprise the enthusiast market are vital to us for several reasons, not least of all because of the support you’ve provided us throughout the development of Windows Vista. We respect the time and expense you go to in customizing, building and rebuilding your hardware and we heard you that the previous terms were seen as an impediment to that — it’s for that reason we’ve made this change. I hope that this change provides the flexibility you need, and gives you more reason to be excited about the upcoming retail release of our new operating system.
January 28, 200719 yr Has anyone noticed that many of things coming out in Windoes Vista look exactly what are on the mac machines OSX.4 GAdgets...Widgets / the serch bars ar ejsut diff colors....many similarities however it is still easer to program on macintosh becasue there are no tie ins to the os(u use finder which acts as a shell).....windows is a diff story however.....however it is much easier to game on windows and upgrade to new parts on windows machines than it is on a macintosh machine
January 28, 200719 yr Yeah there is also a new way of searching that looks a lot like Spotlight. I was planning on upgrading sometime in March or April. Though I think I will dual-boot so that I don't have to lose half my RAM just to run windows. I head the minimum RAM req. was 512 MB, and I only have a 1 gig. So I was gonna use XP for playing all my games till I have the cash to get more RAM.
February 1, 200719 yr I've just read that WVista was available in Poland a week before the world premiere....
February 1, 200719 yr No plans to buy it anytime soon: need to buy a new one computer with double core cpu, etc... Notice this: Here and specialty in France, they are not very warm for to buy the win Vista: All "computers magazin" are scaried for to test all configurations on all computers and also all configurations on one computer = to buy a new win vista every each 2 days???? They pm to MS for to have an unlimited version of win vista else he (Bill Gate) can put it in his "ass"! <--- Not from me but computer configs testers... Egidio.
February 1, 200719 yr Microsoft put in a back door way to use an upgrade version to do a clean install. It's a bit tedious, involves installing vista twice, but it does work if your looking to save a little money.
February 1, 200719 yr I had some good posts about Vista and what MS Bullcrap is going on with it. I will have to find them again. MS is really Not cool of late.
February 1, 200719 yr Until a lot of these software companies release patches or newer versions that work in Vista I'm not going to upgrade. I know some may work set to run in compatibility mode for XP and such, but it's not worth upgrading at this time if none of my programs are going to work. Think I'm going to wait awhile, maybe get some more RAM too, seems like 2gb is really a good thing to have.
February 1, 200719 yr Just saw an article about Microsoft screwing up the Family pack licensing. If you don't know about it, if you purchase a full copy of Vista Ultimate you can buy additional copies of vista home premium for your other computers for only $50. It turns out they are giving away license codes that are invalid.
February 1, 200719 yr So we have a big no vote of vista?, i ask because I'm planing on building a new comp by the end of the month so i can get back on (the sound on this one died)
February 1, 200719 yr I do plan on installing it soon, I just wanted to wait and see if their would be more application support in the near future.
February 2, 200719 yr I got my action pack version of Vista, but it's just 10 licenses of Vista Business Upgrade, not Ultimate. I don't use the media center additions anyway, but I really want to see the bitlocker components. I don't want to run this on my main PC yet, but none of my other PCs can handle it... I may have to go buy a new one <_<
February 5, 200719 yr Heres a link for the poor man's vista upgrade....list of equvalent tools that give XP some of the same functions. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,125324-page,1-c,backuputilities/article.html
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