Windows 7: Is Microsoft changing policy on System Builder licensing for Windows 8

Just to add to the discussion



If you buy a full retail box version (I am thinking 7 Ultimate) you can
1. Use it on one pc at a time and any you build in future
2. Install it and use it on any Laptop you buy
(using both PC+Lappy installs at the same time)

So if you also have a laptop in da house - it halves the cost of a retail box

You can do that with some versions of Microsoft Office but not with Windows. Retail versions of Windows can only be activated on one PC at a time.

You need those keys that are for like bussiness,like the ones the school use.My old high school last year when I was in my tech class used a copy of windows 7 enterprise that could be activated on multiple machines but you needed to buy that special lisence and I forgot how many pcs you could activate it on but it also had a limit but it was really big to put on all the schools pcs.

You are right guys - it was office I was thinking of for the laptop!

I knew I read you could install 7 twice but only like this >

"you can install one more copy of Windows 7 on the same licensed machine in a virtual machine. However, it has to be on the same computer."

Well you are right here MIG companies can do just this too and if the company agrees to take part in the development of the software by whatever means I am not sure of perhaps they employ tech fellows who do just that - they get the licence for a whole heap cheaper than retail.

Plus the employees are entitled to buy a "chunk" of that licence for a minimal amount - I heard one fellow out here who bragged about getting the Ultimate for $20 to use on his own machine.

Now it is stuff like that gets me back up because it is usually folks on fairly good salaries who are able not only to do that but are more than able to pay for the retail we have to pay for

What more galling is that Microsoft lets this go on!

Windows 7 Enterprise = Volume License = activation on more than one PC with the same Product Code. You buy as many Licenses as you need from Microsoft and use the one product code they give you. MSDN and TechNet codes work in a similar manner with a preset number of allowed installs etc.

Check this out.
Windows 8 May Not be Sold Solo | PCWorld

Companies who utilize the volume license copies of Windows are not entitled to send copies of licenses home with their employees, nor can the employees buy a volume license key from the company for a reduced fee. In most of these cases, a tech employee (IT Staff, Help Desk), will get their hands on the volume license key and will simply take it home (aka "steal it") for their own personal use.

The only exception to this that I know of, is the Microsoft Home Use Program, which allows companies who maintain an enterprise agreement with software assurance to provide a download link and code to employees to purchase a copy of Microsoft Office for their home computers at a very heavily discounted price ($9.95 or $19.95 usually). The caveat here is that if the enterprise agreement ever expires, or the employee is no longer employed by the company, they are supposed to discontinue the use of that software. If the enterprise agreement is allowed to expire, future employees will not be able to hit the website and link for the download.


In an enterprise environment, businesses either get a KMS key (Key management server). They activate that key on that server, and as long as they have a minimum of 25 clients, they can activate that server and it's responsible for activating and handling the repeated check-ins from the clients that were previously activated. The other option is a MAK key (Multiple Activation key), which they can use to activate X # of client machines without having to deploy and maintain a KMS server.

Granted that I'm still not going to buy Windows 8 even if the world were to come to a screeching halt, I still can't help but go WTF at this piece of information.

Well I am with you KA but wouldn't put it quite like that - I have had a go with it (8) and look 7 is so easy to use why the fuss?