Buying only license illegal?What does Validation needs?

Jonathan_King · 30 Dec 2009

bigmck said:

Jonathan_King said:

bigmck said:

I offer you a challenge. There have been many that have disagreed with you. Can you find one that agrees with your viewpoint?

I'm not sure. I came to my conclusion after much consideration. Not sure I understand your point. Do I need to find someone that agrees with me in order for my opinion to be valid?

Normally when coming to a conclusion from a group, the majority decision is valid. Not the decision of the minority. I am only saying if you can not find anyone that agrees with you, the chances that you are right are very slim.

That is where we disagree. I believe in absolute truth: either it is legal or it is not. The majority has nothing to do with it; Digital River determines that in this case, and as I interpreted them, I was fine. I am a student, if that helps any.

Qdos · 30 Dec 2009

Tell you what... I'll put my hands up... because I pre-ordered Windows7 disks from a number of UK stores, the retail Home Premium version - and I also bought a couple of family packs too, which are upgrade disks... and because a lot of my workmates and contacts are not as savvy with PC's as I am - well, I did this...

Sold them the retail disks for double what I paid...
Swapped them a retail disk and licence, for an upgrade disk and licence, with cash in my favour when they found they appeared not to be able to do a custom install from their upgrade disk...
Never told them about this forum...

However, I haven't breached Microsoft rules in any way or form. I've certainly not been peddling student licences to people who might not have qualified to have met the criteria for the discounted Digital River download and licence... and I don't presume to interpret Microsofts EULA by just picking sections from it which please me, and ignoring passages which don't LOL...

bigmck · 30 Dec 2009

QDos -- You are quite the businessman.

Qdos · 30 Dec 2009

Fankoo... and I forgot to say... I also used the traded back upgrade disks to do a few custom installs for peeps, so they got full versions (which Microsoft have endorsed as legitomate LOOOL...) for a little bit of pin money outside of office hours... :)

gregrocker · 30 Dec 2009

What do you mean by:

saeedcp said:

*the license is activated already.

The key is only activated when it is inserted to activate an install of Win7.

If it has already been used on an installation, that person (hopefully seller) needs to confirm they have uninstalled and are not using it.

Then when you reinstall to the new computer, a robo call will be required to MS to deactivate the old install and reactivate the new one.

If some other person has that key installed (other than the seller who says they've taken it off) and attempts to reactivate what has just been deactivated, then MS will attempt to determine who is the rightful owner holding the license and it's sales receipt.

The final decision is based on who has the license insert and retailer's receipt in hand.

saeedcp · 30 Dec 2009

The key is only activated when it is inserted to activate an install of Windows 7.

If it has already been used on an installation, that person (hopefully seller) needs to confirm they have uninstalled and are not using it.

Then when you reinstall to the new computer, a robo call will be required to MS to deactivate the old install and reactivate the new one.

If some other person has that key installed (other than the seller who says they've taken it off) and attempts to reactivate what has just been deactivated, then MS will attempt to determine who is the rightful owner holding the license and it's sales receipt.

The final decision is based on who has the license insert and retailer's receipt in hand.

the person Who I bought it from is a seller and hadn't installed windows any time. Who installed it is just who I exchange the licenses with him.

Some one who I am exchanging licenses with him is worried about "time to time validation" as said in email(post 1)
How can he Validate succesfully the windows which after that he can be sure that his Windows is validated?

gregrocker · 30 Dec 2009

There is no validation.

There is activation when you install Windows 7. It is then attached to that hardware until it is moved to be activated again on another hardware/machine.

At that time, it is deactivated on the first hardware and activated on the new machine/hardware.

MS tracks this to be sure it is not on more than one machine at a time.

Why did you exchange licenses with "someone" instead of buying directly from your seller?

Does the seller have a way to assure you that "someone" has uninstalled the license key and neither he nor anyone else will be using it in the future?

If so, do you have the key now?

Install the same version as the license key and insert the key to see if it works or is rejected.

Is it an Upgrade or Full Retail?

If the key is rejected, you can wait until after install to try to activate at Computer>Properties link and call MS at the number given if it rejects activation.

Then you will know for sure if it will activate.

unifex · 31 Dec 2009

saeedcp said:

Some one who I am exchanging licenses with him is worried about "time to time validation" as said in email(post 1)
How can he Validate succesfully the windows which after that he can be sure that his Windows is validated?

In practice, your license key will either work or not. If it works - then you're fine, but make sure that you are actually in possession of the key - not just a bunch of letters and numbers scribbled on a piece of paper. Once Windows is activated - that's it, there is nothing else.

Fliplip · 31 Dec 2009

As posted above, Isnt it just a case of putting the serial number in, clicking on validate and thats it. Either its validated or its not.
I got a couple of keys off Ebay, plus i got the HP edition form Amazon and all the keys worked fine.

gregrocker · 31 Dec 2009

I knew this was going to be a problem when one of the major tech blogs ran a popular article "How to Get Windows 7 For Free" which proposed that users buy two copies of the pre-order $50 Upgrades, install one and sell the other for twice the cost. I actually considered doing this but did Release Party instead.

So when the keys start showing up on EBay and posters are asking if they are safe to buy, and suddenly my first reaction is "Maybe not!" - then I knew for sure I was glad I didn't do that.

Jonathan's approach of having sisters buy Student Deal and then share keys amongst family/friends seems to be ambitious and a lot less risky - but probably best kept within the family