The killer is that, technically, since he is not the original owner
of the computer, that licence supposedly died on resale so even re-installing
the
original software with the original licence key on the original computer is,
allegedly, a copyright violation.
Retail versions of Vista allowed
one to uninstall from old (original activation) hardware and 'reinstall' on new
(different) hardware ONCE and only ONCE. In essence a once only 'move'. This
original condition was relaxed somewhat due consumer backlash from the
enthusiast side of the market. I'm not sure how many 'moves' the updated retail
license terms allowed.
On the other hand, OEM license terms never allowed
one to 'move' the license to new (different) hardware. It had to stay with the
original hardware the OEM manufacturer (or first user) initially activated it
on!
I also understood that OEM hardware and OEM OS could be resold as a
bundle, especially in the land of the free where the first sale doctrine
still rules (unless SCOTUS has now nixed this).
In essence, the OEM OS license
ties the OS and the hardware together (in that one can't sell the OEM OS license
separately from the hardware).
So, in the OP case, if the hardware was sold
with an OS license, even if the OS was no longer installed due to the original
owner securely wiping the HDD to protect his privacy, the original OS can be
reinstalled on the original hardware. This is true for OEM and Retail licenses
but in the case of a Retail OS, the new owner could also 'move' the install to
new hardware altogether (some unknown number of times but more than once).
I
guess it's the resale terms that are really important, so if the license was
bundled with the hardware and a recovery disc was supplied (or the purchaser was
told where he could get one), all should be kosha.
One could even argue that in
the case of an OEM license, it must remain bundled with the OEM hardware and
it's an implied inclusion whenever the COA sticker is on the hardware (since the
license can't be sold seperately from the hardware) :)
In fact that's what
some organizations do, sell OEM hardware with wiped HDD's and provide an OEM
recovery disk or backup recovery disk with the sale.
Some just sell their old
machines for parts with a statement that no OS discs are supplied.
Me, i'd
still go for as linux install :) [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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