EggXpert

That is correct, M$ has scr**ed the Public again. We all thought we were getting such a sweet deal with preordering W7 upgrades, now the truth comes out. For each upgrade you use you must have a seperate and legal copy of windows XP or Vista or be prepared to lie out your *** and make sure you have no other computers running using the same version of XP or Vista when you call to activate your XP or Vista. Why do I say call because if you have activated your XP more than 25 times the automated system will kick you to a service rep who asks you why and what for are you bothering me.

Surprise surprise. Who cares though?

Just tell anyone to cater to the reps script. If they ask

"How many computers is this already installed on?"; Your answer: 0. 

"Do you have a legal copy of Windows XP/Vista on this computer you are upgrading?"; Your answer: Yes.

These people are drones; answer their very leading questions in the way that will get you what you want. Have you ever tried arguing with one of them? They're more mindless than a brick wall so steer clear of the wall. 

They do not know what you are up to at all (re: Mindless drones) and they are believing whatever you say, which is why you have to "be honest" (and by honest, feed their script). 

Even when I am calling for simple things, I will find the easiest way to get what I want just for the sake of doing so. I never mention anything about the developer network because they immediately want to transfer me to that "special support team" so I just play their game no matter what the situation is. I've tried too many times to activate a copy simply and tried to explain my situation to no avail because they're so mindless that I prefer the "simple honest customer" approach no matter how bending of the truth it is. Because I know how annoying it is to sit on the phone listening to bad elevator music for far too long.

I came up with a short clip for you to go by when talking to M$: "Lie lie lie your a** until you're satisfied"

No body really but it may save someone else from wasting their money or prepare them to lie their *** off so they don't make the mistake of trying to be honest and fair with a noncaring M$ rep that lives in timbuck too or half way around the world and can barely speak the english language let alone understand it. Me I just won't bother with M$ anymore I will just learn how to use and operate a Linux OS.

HOGHAULER:

No body really but it may save someone else from wasting their money or prepare them to lie their *** off so they don't make the mistake of trying to be honest and fair with a noncaring M$ rep that lives in timbuck too or half way around the world and can barely speak the english language let alone understand it. Me I just won't bother with M$ anymore I will just learn how to use and operate a Linux OS.

Wow, that's quite unexpected..    I mean, yea, I learned Linux from top to bottom years ago and I have a dedicated Linux box as an HTPC, serving out Linux ISOs, and as a general file server..

 Even with XP, if you reactivated it too many times, you had to call Microsoft. How is this any different? You need one upgrade license of Windows 7 for each legal installation of XP or Vista to bump it up to Windows 7..  When a 3-pack Family Pack of Windows 7 Home Edition Upgrade is only $150 or so, I think it's a real steal.

It has ALWAYS been the case that you need a legal copy of a previous version for each "upgrade" that you purchase.. You can't just buy an old version and then buy 3 upgrades and install it on 3 different computers, it doesn't work like that and never has.  It might have been possible to do it without tripping Microsoft's piracy alarms, but it's never been legal.

 But anyway, some time on Linux always does some good.. If nothing else, to start appreciating all the work that Microsoft puts into their DirectX..  Really, DirectX is the only reason to have Windows and DirectX has been completely blowing OpenGL out of the water for the past 5 years and that likely won't change any time soon.

The OpenGL committee / group / bunch of bald people really don't care AT ALL about gaming.. The OpenGL group is a bunch of people who have deep connections to corporations that use OpenGL for non-gaming purposes.. So they're lagging way behind DirectX and the OpenGL group has shown time and again that they don't care enough about gaming to even try to fix the problems with OpenGL lagging behind the gaming industry.. It doesn't look like that's going to change and that pretty much means Mac OS X and Linux will always be behind Windows in gaming as Microsoft puts gaming first, unlike most companies that deal with Unix based operating systems.

Always use the right tool for the job..

Linux for servers

Palm for mobility

Mac OS X for graphics

Windows for Solitaire

Not so Sidicas when I bought 98 before it became 98SE I bought an upgrade to SE and put it on 3 or 4 computers no problem so I figured it should be the same for this, my mistake M$ is profit hungry and never have I seen it in writing or in their so called agreements that you must accept for their updates or upgrades that this was the case. Sorry but I cannot appreciate the fact that they hide their policies or don't make them public unless you want to dig through their dirty laundry to find that super fine print hidden in gobbilty goop that only an Attorney could comprehend. I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else but M$ could so easily state their legal stand and why but instead they hide it and do not publisise it except in legal terms that only a lawyer could understand and it would probably take them years to make it into something you or I could understand without having a legal library at hand to understand what the words truly mean.

slmclarengt's right just say what they want to hear, most people will have a legal anyway.

I just installed the upgrade version of Windows 7 Pro last night and I was able to do clean install w/o providing xp or vista product key.  Matter of fact, I don't even have to use the key until you done with the installation then provided the product key at Windows.

Note: From what happen yesterday a lot of users who activated their product key during the initial installation setup will become "invalid key" you must activated in the Windows.  (Only Upgrade version was reported I think). 

Anyway good luck.

just gonna piss off OS pirates, legit owners should not worry

prtuc2:

Note: From what happen yesterday a lot of users who activated their product key during the initial installation setup will become "invalid key" you must activated in the Windows.  (Only Upgrade version was reported I think). 

I entered my key right after it installed it and asked for it, had to setup network drivers before I could activate it

but once I did that, it activated fine

I have the full pro ver

Joe88:

had to setup network drivers before I could activate it

Really?  Huh. I guess I lucked out then as the board with an AMD chipset that I had, Windows 7 detected it right out of the box and just about everything worked: network, sound, etc.. Actually, in retrospect, I think the HD 4200 needed a driver though, but that was no big deal.  Much less annoying than a networking driver. 

The user Interface of Windows 7 certainly has a bit of a learning curve to it..   I'm trying to explain it to my 'lil sis and she figured it out pretty quick..  Windows 7 is a lot closer to a Mac OS style than any other Windows or Linux desktop environment that I've used before.

 

Commercial software, unless explicitly specifying multiple license has always been single-user.    Before verification methods like activations were easily enactable, it was fairly simple to install same copy of software to multiple PCs, for multiple users - ILLEGALLY.   

For the record, just last week, I ran a clean install of a W7HP Upgrade on a PC that was running an XP OEM license that was bought in like 2002, reactivated many times, and seen at least three motherboard changes.   It was smooth sailing start to end, W7 activated without a hitch.    And then I installed VMware, created a virtual XP machine and activated it with my original XP key - again with no problem, and without having to pick up the phone.

 

Yeah, this shouldn't be a big deal.