The Transfer of OEM Licenses from a dead PC to Another PC

It's not an obsession - it's the knowledge that Germany has different laws to the rest of Europe in respect of OEM Licensing.
Germany is the ONLY country where OEM licenses can be transferred legally, as I understand it.

Glad you are happy.:)

NoelDP said:

It's not an obsession - it's the knowledge that Germany has different laws to the rest of Europe in respect of OEM Licensing.
Germany is the ONLY country where OEM licenses can be transferred legally, as I understand it.

Living in Germany, reading the local IT media I have never heard of this. However, various court decisions has been made to allow resale of software, be it physical install media or legally downloaded copy, with original serial. Seller loses rights to use software, buyer gets the rights.

In case of Windows, this makes selling an OEM license legal and valid as long as it contains a "usable" valid product key. Is an already activated product key "usable" and valid is then another question.

Europe, not just Germany. Not many people know, I expect.

I would be very surprised if it isn't the same in every civilised country.

Not hard to understand.

When you buy a book, you can tear it up, give it to Aunt Mabel, or sell it on ebay. That copy is yours. That is what buying means. You do not have all rights over the content. That stays with the Author. So you cannot sell multiple copies, because you only bought one.


There is no reason why software should be different.

Now you can see what a bad idea this subscription scam is.

You never own anything. All control is in the hands of the subscription peddler.

Subscriptions are the devil. Run far, run fast.

SIW2 said:

Now you can see what a bad idea this subscription scam is.

Quite the opposite. With a subscription to for instance an OS or a software suite or application, you do not have to worry if the mobo burns or HDD dies. With a valid subscription just reinstall and that's it; no worries, no activation issues due new components.

Easy.

You don't have any activation issues with what you buy either.

LOL. I think you missed reading the previous couple of pages.

SIW2 said:

You don't have any activation issues with what you buy either.

LOL. I think you missed reading the previous couple of pages.

No, I didn't miss anything.

We have quite often activation questions, especially about OEM versions. Just yesterday I read a new thread about an Office license being activated too many times, user being unable to activate it anymore after reinstallation.

Office 365 is a good example of a subscription plan. As I can talk only for myself, I see it like this:

At the moment a single computer Office 365 Personal costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. It includes installed versions of the same Office programs than today's Office 2013 Professional: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access. Additionally, it includs extra storage space for OneDrive, mobile versions of various Office programs and 60 minutes calling time for Skype per month which can be used to calls to over 60 countries.

To get the same Office programs using non-subscription Office 2013 Professional I had to pay at the moment $499.99, a price that would give me the Office 365 subscription for over 7 years. I know myself, I know I want to have the latest versions as soon as they are published. Thinking back, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010 and now Office 2013, in past 11 years Microsoft has published 4 new versions of Office. I have used them all, always liked the new version more than its predecessor.

Simple mathematics first. As it is quite difficult to find what the price of versions 2003, 2007 and 2010 officially were the day they were published and what had been the price of Office 365 subscription back in 2003 if it had existed then, let's say that both the monthly subscription price and the non-subscription based prices had always been the same since August 2003 when Office 2003 was published. Buying all four latest Office versions had cost me calculating this way 4*499.99 = $1,996.96 (or would cost if calculating 11 years to the future with same publishing cycle), whereas an Office 365 subscription had been (August 2003 - July 2014) 11*69.99 = $769.89. Quite a big difference. Assuming Microsoft will keep the same about 3 year cycle in releasing new versions, my savings would be $290 in each three year cycle, almost hundred dollars per year.

This is even better if you have two or more computers needing Office: Office 365 Home can be used on maximum of 5 computers, total price $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

Office 365 Personal (subscription):

• Saves a lot of money for you
• Flexible, no activation issues. Remove from an old computer, install on new one
• Always the latest versions of all Office products
• Additional OneDrive storage space
• An hour worth of free calls (Skype) per month
• Mobile and iOS versions available

Office 2013 Professional (no subscription):

• Nice box and shiny DVD to hold in my hand
• When a new version is published, pay to get again a nice box and shiny DVD

Personally I am keenly waiting the time I can get my Windows in the same way. So incredibly flexible, money saving and easy.

Kari