Microsoft Windows Vista EULA

[jph1589]

I predict that Vista will be the next Windows ME !! Remember Windows ME? Ha.....nobody else does either

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by jph1589

Remember Windows ME?

OH YES, I (unfortunately) remember Windows ME. My first computer (a Dell Inspiron 900MHZ PIII) came with Windows ME. God what a nightmareish OS
I was sooo happy to sell the thing to my ex-girlfriend's little sister for $500 so I could get my first desktop (unlocked Barton 2500, 2x256MB Kingston HyperX DDR400, and a powercolor 9600Pro!)

As for your prediction. I'm not sure. I see Vista as more of a Windows 95 than a Windows ME. It will be good, but still has a ways to go and much better things will come along soon.

[Lead Head]

I actually think vista will be one of MS's best OS's. Many people knock on it for its massive ram usage, but that ram usage is for the agressive caching it does to actually speed up performence. Alot of people say that it seems quicker then Windows XP already in its RC1 and RC2 stages...

Granted I don't like alot of its DRM junk, but I don't think its gonna be anything like ME..



BTW:When we got our first computer, (A Dell Dimension L800r(p3 800Mz)..The Dell guy actually said ME was horrible and that see should chose Win98, she chose win98

[jph1589]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

BTW:When we got our first computer, (A Dell Dimension L800r(p3 800Mz)..The Dell guy actually said ME was horrible and that see should chose Win98, she chose win98

I would have made the same choice at the time. I was running Win 98 on my other ECS machine until about 2 months ago. It was a very good operating system. Until XP SP1 came out it was probably better than XP.

So maybe Vista will be the same. When SP1 comes out, people might start installing it. Until then I see lots of people dragging their heels.

With the whole Vista thing so far, Microsoft has really reminded me of an old joke we used to have about IBM Salesmen. On their wedding nights, they would stand up on the bed and tell her how good it was gonna be.

[Jokerswild]

I doubt that it will be another ME but I also don't think it will be another XP.
It seems like it's just another step in OS development and not a giant leap at that. The difference between 98se and XP was quite a bit but I don't see all that much improvement with Vista and MS dropping some of the features hasn't helped it's image but then again it isn't really out yet.

[jph1589]

I think it will be pretty disappointing for the average user when they find out that Aero isn't even included in the Home Basic License. That was the one thing that I thought might make the whole effort worth doing. But knowing that if you want Aero, that you have to buy a much more expensize license will certainly limit the market for Vista in my opinion.

The other issue that scares me is the wording in the License about upgrading. It sounds like the days of endless upgrades and activations are being stopped. The license implies that you will be able to do that one time under any Vista Home or Home premium License. Even if they don't plan to enforce that, It sure would be nice to have it explained in black and white exactly what the limitations will be.

I guess I did read the license correctly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2006...pcworld/127517

Based on the new license terms, if I had been running vista for the last two years, I would have had to buy 2 licenses over that time period because I ran on 3 different motherboards. That is just completely unnacceptable IMO!.

[yurimxpxman]

I agree with your prediction, and BTW, the guys at every big-name OEM have told me that Me is terrible lol.

[stinger608]

Here is a very interesting look at the new Vista license from a premier Windows Enthusiast, Paul Thurrott!!!

On Friday, I wrote a lengthy article for the SuperSite for Windows in
which I communicated Microsoft's licensing changes for Windows Vista.
In tech enthusiast circles, these changes--which include limiting the
number of times a user can transfer a Vista license from PC to PC--
were the source of a lot of controversy. However, it seems to me that
the new license, or End-User License Agreement (EULA), was really just
a clarification of the Windows XP license, and my original article
reflects that. But based on a weekend's worth of email, it's now clear
that a large and important group of Windows users will be alienated by
the new EULA.

Here's the problem. In the XP EULA, users were granted the right to
"move [XP] to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer,
[users had to] completely remove [XP] from the former Workstation
Computer." Many people read this clause and assumed they had the right
to move a single retail copy of XP from PC to PC as often as they
wanted. Not so. "This clause was always aimed at very specific
circumstances," Microsoft General Manager Shanen Boettcher told me.
"Someone has a hardware failure, but still wants to run that copy of
Windows on the new machine, for example." The intention, Boettcher
said, was for users to perform such a new installation only in the
event of a catastrophic hardware failure. A single copy of Windows is
licensed for use on a single PC.

The Vista EULA has been "clarified" to be more explicit. Now, a user
can "reassign the [Vista] license to another device one time."
Microsoft told me that the actual process of transferring Windows from
PC to PC hasn't changed since XP: You might be able to electronically
activate Windows on the new PC, but if you can't, you can activate
Windows over the phone. "[Now] we let them move a license, while being
clear about what the license is intended for," Boettcher said. "In the
past, we haven't been super clear up front."

I've never been a big fan of the Windows EULA, but given the inherent
restrictions in the document and the fact that Windows users don't
technically own their copy of Windows anyway (according to the terms
of the license, you're granted only limited rights to use the
product), I felt the Vista license change amounted to a simple
clarification. Besides, it would affect a very small group of users.
Last weekend, I heard from those users and I'm starting to see a very
real problem.

The computer enthusiasts who are most apt to run into problems with
the Vista EULA are the people who funnel the most money into the PC
industry--the ones who buy expensive gaming PCs and regularly upgrade
their systems. These enthusiasts are most likely to gravitate toward
the most expensive Vista version, Vista Ultimate. In short, one might
argue that Microsoft's new EULA will harm these people quite a bit,
especially if their reactivation attempts are thwarted because of
licensing problems.

Koroush Ghazi, the owner of TweakGuides.com, argues that if even 5
percent of PC users are affected by this change, we're talking about
50 to 65 million consumers. And again, these are the people spending
money on the most expensive PCs and accessories they can get their
hands on. These people are enthusiastic about technology and would
otherwise be championing Vista. These are the people that Microsoft
should be embracing, not alienating. And with mainstream PC makers
such as Dell and HP buying boutique gaming-PC companies to find new
revenue streams among these increasingly important customers, it's
clear that Microsoft should be reaching out to them as well.

If you'd like to read more about this topic, both my original article
and the excellent response from Koroush Ghazi are available on the
SuperSite for Windows.

Licensing Changes to Windows Vista
http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3C41E:43189C

Windows Vista's Enthusiastic Licensing Restrictions
http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3C41C:43189C

[Panda Man]

In all seriousness, the activation and other bullcrap with XP is the reason I bought a legal copy but use a im-not-gonna-say-illegal-but-its-not-really-legal copy. I know people who claimed that a firmware upgrade required activation. Now vista is even worse.

NOTE: my bro still has a rig running off ME. We booted it up one time, let it idle for 20 minutes, came back and it had BSOD'd

[drew and not u]

That was an interesting read stinger, and I agree with the problems they outline. I have no intention on spending a ton of money on an OS only to have it become worthless the second time I swap out major components.