Do you HAVE to supply a license sticker??

If you supply a Windows XP machine with Windows XP installed, do you
HAVE to supply a license sticker with that installation, even if you do
not have to supply the original Windows XP disc?

I have just upgraded a system that has no license sticker on it, with
it, or anywhere to be seen.

In addition, Office XP and Pinnacle Studio 8 were installed on the
machine.

All this on a box that cost less than £400 .... ??

The owner shrugged his shoulders, and had little to say except "I walked
into a retail shop and bought a computer, I know nothing of the
requirements"

Is there cause for concern over this vendor, a local independent who has
recently started trading?

"TX2" wrote in message
...

Is there cause for concern over this vendor, a local independent who has
recently started trading?


Possibly, I have also seen computers sold as new, when clearly at least
three years old with Windows XP installed, and a copied CD with a product
key written in pen on the CD label in the past few months.

"TX2" wrote in message
...
If you supply a Windows XP machine with Windows XP installed, do you
HAVE to supply a license sticker with that installation, even if you do
not have to supply the original Windows XP disc?


I used to think so but I recently sold a load of PCs to a local university.
The PCs had blank hard drives and no licence stickers but aparently the Uni
did some investigating and found that they could install their Windows 98
image onto them legally as the PCs were originally supplied with a licenced
Windows 98 from Dell although there is no available proof with the machine,
somewhere there exists a record that the serial numbers have valid Win98
licences connected to them.

This was news to me and as I was just supplying the blank hardware I didn't
argue. Does anyone know any better?
--
Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers

"Snowdon Computers" wrote in message
...
"TX2" wrote in message
...

I used to think so but I recently sold a load of PCs to a local
university.
The PCs had blank hard drives and no licence stickers but aparently the
Uni
did some investigating and found that they could install their Windows 98
image onto them legally as the PCs were originally supplied with a
licenced
Windows 98 from Dell although there is no available proof with the
machine,
somewhere there exists a record that the serial numbers have valid Win98
licences connected to them.

This was news to me and as I was just supplying the blank hardware I
didn't
argue. Does anyone know any better?
--

It depends if you subscribe to the view that an OEM licence lives and dies
with a machine. If you do and the Dell supplied licences were OEM then the
uni would be in the wrong. If the licences were retail ones then they could
do this. As for an individual agreement between MS and the Uni, it would
depend on the terms of their agreement.

In article , says...


What has it to do with you?


I run a small local computer services business.

If the trader in question is trading illegally, it is everything to do
with me, as he is potentially affecting my profits by cutting prices on
his systems to an unknowing public who could have otherwise come to me
for the genuine article, albeit at a higher cost, but none the less, the
genuine article.

So, instead of turning a blind eye to illegal activity, I would prefer
to do something about it, both from a business sense, and a moral one.

Does that answer your question?

In article ,
says...

I used to think so but I recently sold a load of PCs to a local university.
The PCs had blank hard drives and no licence stickers ...

[...]

Yes, but this is a brand new machine, supplied as new, with Windows XP
professional installed. No doubt were I to dig further, I would find
(embedded in the registry) one of the well known illegal licence numbers
that are in circulation.

Added to the fact we have a system, sold as new, for less than £400
which included XP Professional, the entire Office XP suite, and Pinnacle
Studio 8, then I fail to see how any profit could have been made!

Again, this is not a resell, it is a new machine.
Should a license sticker have been provided on it?

You're quite right there mate, I had a high street shop up until last year,
and the other 'shop' in the area was undercutting me by about the cost of a
licence, but try telling the public that. When they asked what the
difference was, most didn't want to pay 65 notes plus vat for a 'sticker' as
they saw it. To make matters worse, I used to get undercover trading
standards in regularly, asking to buy a machine, and say 'could you just put
windows on it mate and no charge me for it !!'. How they never caught my
'competitor' i don't know. If you think it's affecting your business, set TS
on them anyway !!
--
Ally Maxwell
Well-Tech Computer Centre
www.wcc-ltd.co.uk

If the trader in question is trading illegally, it is everything to do
with me, as he is potentially affecting my profits by cutting prices on
his systems to an unknowing public who could have otherwise come to me
for the genuine article, albeit at a higher cost, but none the less, the
genuine article.

So, instead of turning a blind eye to illegal activity, I would prefer
to do something about it, both from a business sense, and a moral one.

Does that answer your question?

In article , Snowdon Computers
writes

I would say almost certainly this other trader is being a naughty boy.
Microsoft would take a very dim view of it.

From my experience Microsoft aren't interested. I had a similar
situation a year or so ago, I was called in to an Estate Agents in North
Oxfordshire who had been hit with Nimda. They had a network of 6 PC's,
which had been supplied and installed by a company in Birmingham, for
which they'd shelled-out £12000. The cost was to include all operating
systems (Windows 98SE), Office 2000 Premium on each machine, and Norton
AV.

To cut a long story short, there were no licences supplied, no stickers
on the machines, and the only disks they were given were burned ones of
WE98 and Office 2000 Premium. To add a touch of flavour, on one of the
PCs I found a copy of Serials 2000. The PCs, btw, were crap AMD K6-2
500's running at 450 or so, and the motherboards were the cheapest
rubbishy integrated ones.

I spoke to Microsoft Anti-Piracy, who seemed to be in France, judging by
the accent of the girl who I spoke to. They weren't interested, didn't
want details of the company who supplied the PCs, and only confirmed
that my clients would have to shell-out on a complete set of licences
again.

Local TS got involved, but the original suppliers went into liquidation,
and that was it.
--
Paul B The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new
respectability to uninformed opinion. - John Lawton

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 16:47:51 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

"TX2" wrote in message
.. .
If you supply a Windows XP machine with Windows XP installed, do you
HAVE to supply a license sticker with that installation, even if you do
not have to supply the original Windows XP disc?


I used to think so but I recently sold a load of PCs to a local university.
The PCs had blank hard drives and no licence stickers but aparently the Uni
did some investigating and found that they could install their Windows 98
image onto them legally as the PCs were originally supplied with a licenced
Windows 98 from Dell although there is no available proof with the machine,
somewhere there exists a record that the serial numbers have valid Win98
licences connected to them.

This was news to me and as I was just supplying the blank hardware I didn't
argue. Does anyone know any better?

Are you sure that's not because they've got a site license from MS? I
used to work at a uni and they had a site license for unlimited copies
(on-site) of various flavours of Windows and Office in addition to
cheap copies of software for members of staff (MapInfo for £15,
anyone?).....
--

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Please reply to the group
Replies to this address will bounce!
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"Cheeky" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 16:47:51 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

"TX2" wrote in message
.. .
If you supply a Windows XP machine with Windows XP installed, do you
HAVE to supply a license sticker with that installation, even if you do
not have to supply the original Windows XP disc?


I used to think so but I recently sold a load of PCs to a local
university.
The PCs had blank hard drives and no licence stickers but aparently the
Uni
did some investigating and found that they could install their Windows 98
image onto them legally as the PCs were originally supplied with a
licenced
Windows 98 from Dell although there is no available proof with the
machine,
somewhere there exists a record that the serial numbers have valid Win98
licences connected to them.

This was news to me and as I was just supplying the blank hardware I
didn't
argue. Does anyone know any better?

Are you sure that's not because they've got a site license from MS? I
used to work at a uni and they had a site license for unlimited copies
(on-site) of various flavours of Windows and Office in addition to
cheap copies of software for members of staff (MapInfo for £15,
anyone?).....


I don't think so as they were very particular about whether I could supply
the licences or not. The majority of the networked PCs run on Win2K so maybe
their site license is a Win2K one?
--
Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers