I fought Microsoft over selling NFR software and I won!


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I have a party pack also. But I already have an unlimited licenses for Win7 64bit Pro from my work that is installed on my home PC and working great. I do not really need the Win7 Ultimate version, and could easily sell it if I wanted to. I simply ?choose? not to because it was a gift. So I now plan to use the 32bit version (the one actually in the cardboard sleeve), when I get some money to build a PC just for recording TV. I could do this with the 64bit Pro version, but then I would not be able to use Sandboxie with it (in order to keep that system clean in the most easy way), and I wouldn?t have to re-image that PC (and lose space, or recorded programs), when I tinker with programs. I also think the flying turtle puzzle is funny, because it looks sorta ?upset?, is the turtle Microsoft, or Windows 7? ..LOL My party is soon, and I hope that people have some fun at it.

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But I already have an unlimited licenses for Win7 64bit Pro from my work that is installed on my home PC and working great.

I would re-examine this. What license does your work have that allows you to install copies of software on your own personal machines at home?

AFAIK there is no such Microsoft licensing scheme. I'd be interested to know what it is.

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I would re-examine this. What license does your work have that allows you to install copies of software on your own personal machines at home?

AFAIK there is no such Microsoft licensing scheme. I'd be interested to know what it is.

It's called "let's-steal-the-company's-VLK-licenses" licensing scheme.

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I would re-examine this. What license does your work have that allows you to install copies of software on your own personal machines at home?

AFAIK there is no such Microsoft licensing scheme. I'd be interested to know what it is.

Because we work from home and part of a government state license.

Laws do not fix people. Only people fix people. Morality or the lack thereof fix people, one way or the other.

It's called "let's-steal-the-company's-VLK-licenses" licensing scheme.

Plus are license allows for one copy per user of Office also.

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me might be referring to the Action Pack subscription, its not VLK's your given certain number of keys, and they can be used for internal business use ( just not sold )

Internal Business use can be considered usable @ home with an On-Call basis or Work from home thing. work gave me Office 07 Enterprise key/disk. but im using it to learn the ins and outs ( i do better hands on then reading about it ), and work offered me Win 7 Ultimate, which i may do as i want/need to learn troubleshooting XP Mode

It's called "let's-steal-the-company's-VLK-licenses" licensing scheme.
Edited by Hell-In-A-Handbasket
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Because we work from home and part of a government state license.

Laws do not fix people. Only people fix people. Morality or the lack thereof fix people, one way or the other.

Plus are license allows for one copy per user of Office also.

Nope I'm afraid your wrong. I work for the government at a university and we run under basically the same licenses you are alluding to.

You are infact running an illegal copy of Windows (and any other software you have installed from "work") and have actually technically stolen from the state. That license does not cover installing on your own personal machine. It would allow you to run a copy of office at home as long as it was the governments computer, not your own personal computer.

Infact here is part of the license :-

"Microsoft Office 2007 and Vista

Under our MS Campus agreement {University} will be entitled to Vista Enterprise (upgrades only) and to Office 2007 Enterprise for {University} owned equipment. With these new products come changes to licensing and components that will significantly affect how and when they are deployed at {University}"

Edited by Hackersoft MS MVP
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I had listed my Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition Party Pack on eBay and after a day or so, I got the e-mail telling me that my auction had been removed at the request of Microsoft:

I e-mailed eBay and Microsoft's Net Safe team with my feelings that my auction did not violate any copyright laws. I got the following e-mail back from Microsoft:

In response, I e-mailed them the following, referring them to some relevant court cases:

Just a few minutes ago, I got the following e-mail from Microsoft:

Yippee! Perhaps this will serve others who have similar problems selling software on eBay.

I do hope you realize that legally, since this is considered OEM software you will be required to proved the purchaser with all techncial support on the product.

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Back when i was interning a few schools i was actually given a free version of Windows XP, according to them their license allowed them for all the number of users to have a copy both for the work/school machine, as well as their own.

However back then i was also told that it was actually being phased out by Microsoft(Because too many "forgot" this license was only valid during your work/study there), but as i understood the license couldn't be retroactively changed so it was still legit for XP and i Office 2003.

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I doubt they would, they would lose if they tried it.

It's his copy of Windows, he decides what he does with it.

So, say you wrote a program.... lets use localhostr as an example.

I download it for free, make a new site and charge people to download it and make a profit from it.

Perfectly fine according to you?

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I do hope you realize that legally, since this is considered OEM software you will be required to proved the purchaser with all techncial support on the product.

They are not OEM copies, what gave you that idea?

So, say you wrote a program.... lets use localhostr as an example.

I download it for free, make a new site and charge people to download it and make a profit from it.

Perfectly fine according to you?

Actually depending on the license you used when you created the software, it might be. The BSD license allows for that, but the GPL only allows that if you also release the source along with it.

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Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this?

Because I'm sure Microsoft will now think twice about doing anything like this again in the future. So one person wins and thousands potentially lose.

It also goes to show you the character of the person when he states that he's already running Windows 7 that he got from work, so didn't need it (why apply for it in the first place then?). There's an extremely high chance that he's actually running an illegal copy of Windows on his home machine.

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The item you quoted was talking about using the House Party discussion boards and web pages in order to solicit money or goods. That means I can't post requests for money or goods on their web site, not that I can't sell the items I received for hosting the party.

you used the webpage to enter the contest and are using said items from said webpage to solicite money.

you said in another post you dont need any of the stuff now, so send it back to houseparty instead of selling it, you know what Earl says about karma?!?!

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Nope I'm afraid your wrong. I work for the government at a university and we run under basically the same licenses you are alluding to.

You are infact running an illegal copy of Windows (and any other software you have installed from "work") and have actually technically stolen from the state. That license does not cover installing on your own personal machine. It would allow you to run a copy of office at home as long as it was the governments computer, not your own personal computer.

Infact here is part of the license :-

"Microsoft Office 2007 and Vista

Under our MS Campus agreement {University} will be entitled to Vista Enterprise (upgrades only) and to Office 2007 Enterprise for {University} owned equipment. With these new products come changes to licensing and components that will significantly affect how and when they are deployed at {University}"

That's not entirely true. I work for a state college and our MS Campus Agreement allows us to install Windows & Office products on our personal machines at home (obviously we have a VLK).

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Because I'm sure Microsoft will now think twice about doing anything like this again in the future. So one person wins and thousands potentially lose.

It also goes to show you the character of the person when he states that he's already running Windows 7 that he got from work, so didn't need it (why apply for it in the first place then?). There's an extremely high chance that he's actually running an illegal copy of Windows on his home machine.

So because a few sell some handed out copies, MS will totally stop doing it.... I think if they had that mind set, they would have left the EU a long time ago after the hundredth or so fine....

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There's an extremely high chance that he's actually running an illegal copy of Windows on his home machine.

Why do you care? Are you a lawyer?

All I got to say is: this is NOT the first time that someone has resold some kind of promo CD/T-shirt/poster/software/whatever. Microsoft won't change their promo strategy because of this because it isn't the first time.

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Congrats roadwarrior, I'm glad you fought and won for your right to to sell something that was given to you! Big companies always seem to think they can do whatever they want without having to worry about the law, if no one complains they'll never stop.

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They are not OEM copies, what gave you that idea?

They're not EOM licenses by label, but as I'm aware they're not full licenses with MS support either, so as a reseller, you are responsible for support

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They're not EOM licenses by label, but as I'm aware they're not full licenses with MS support either, so as a reseller, you are responsible for support

the fact that they don't come with support doesn't make them OEM

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I have a party pack also. But I already have an unlimited licenses for Win7 64bit Pro from my work that is installed on my home PC and working great.

You don't

The Home Use Program you are obviously referring to applies only to Office Enterprise when you have licensed it through software assurance and lasts only as long as the software assurance does. It does NOT apply to the Windows OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/softwar...se-program.aspx

On a side note, yea the OP is a douche deserving to have his license key revoked. You could have at the very least waited for the offical party dates to pass before selling this kit. It's not like Microsoft sent you this in the mail randomly, you explicitly ASKED them to send it to host an event, and now you're literally turning your back on them and saying screw you.

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the fact that they don't come with support doesn't make them OEM

No, and I didnt' say they where OEM's either, I said they where like OEM's.

When you sell a product without support, then you are the one required to give that support.

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No, and I didnt' say they where OEM's either, I said they where like OEM's.

When you sell a product without support, then you are the one required to give that support.

Why would you be required? MS sold / gave you a product without support.

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