Argh! *$!% Microsoft!

[starbase1]

Well, I had been planning to upgrade my PC, sticking in a nice new motherboard to take an Athlon 64 bit CPU, and give Lightwave a nice performance boost. Not very expensive, really looking forward to it.

Nagging worry strikes, will XP object to this? Tried calling MS who were less use than a chocolate teapot, repeatedly trying to refer me to the company that made the PC originally.
When I insisted, pointing out that:
a) It was a question about their operating system.
b) It was about new hardware, not old

I was eventually referred to their web site and told to enter some search terms, which returned nothing of any relevance.

This is not customer service so much as customer defilement...

Anyway, did what I probably should have done in the first place, and googled it. Turns out that they expect me to buy a new copy of windows if I upgrade the current box.

Every other company without exception when I have upgraded, including moving to a new computer entirely, has been extremely helpful in assisting me to transfer my licences or whatever else was required to get everything working. This includes LW plugins, (though these are primarily tied to the dongle of course).

And now I read that MS are claiming that buying a PC without their OS installed will result in a visit from the piracy police:
http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39261699,00.htm

Argh!

Will someone at Apple, (the computer company, not the Beatles label) PLEASE start looking at making the Mac OS run on my Wintel hardware? (I'm assuming it's not practical to get LW running under Linux...)

Nick

[gjjackson]

Since it's the 'OS' you only are upgrading when going from Win2K to XP. THAT would be an upgrade. If you getting a 'different' PC then it requires an OS of it's own. It's not the same as an 'Application' that can be moved. Plus, there's software out there that is tied to the PC and can't be 'moved' to a different one without a NEW license. If you're going with LW64 then old plugins mostly won't work, such as FPrime etc. You CAN use XP on a 64bit machine though.

[hunter]

I feel your pain. That and the fact it is way cheaper is why I build my own PC's. I just did a huge upgrade and activated xp pro again. edit: I activated it again but certainly didn't have to pay for a new license. I guess you get to 2 or three times and after that you have to call India and ask permission to use the software you bought.:bangwall:

[starbase1]

Hunter, was that with a motherboard switch?

The web searching I did suggested strongly that this is the part that triggers a demand for a new copy...

Nick

[hunter]

Yes. It was MB, Cpu (from athlon xp to pentium 4 D) video card, hard drive, all of it except the case. My Xp disc is an upgrade disc so I had to put my win 2000 disc in during installation just to prove I had something to upgrade and then xp installed and I installed all my other software to make sure everything is working before I actually activated xp. I think it gives you 30 days to activate. I had made the mistake on another computer of activating it right away and the computer kept failing so we reformatted and did it again and again that's when we had to call India to activate it again.
I do understand that if you by a computer with xp preinstalled your license dies with that computer. And that's just bad business. Could be wrong though.

[starbase1]

Yeah, mine is an OEM one to start with...

A quick rummage suggests that a new OEM copy is not hard to get hold of, but right now I'm not inclined to give Mr Gates ANY of my mony right now.

Nick

[Lamont]

I think it's the frequency of the installs, not total number (at first). I had problems with hardware and I had to install WinXP Pro like 4 times in 3 days. Then it was flagged and I had to call MS. It was fixed, but just a pain in the butt.

When I had an OEM computer to deal with I used Magic Jelly Bean to get the number before I hosed the machine. Then I got an OEM install disk and used that number.

[dgon64]

Yep-that's what just happened to me. My 3 year old computer with XP pre-installed just died and the replacement OS cd ( that I had to call India for ) didn't come with any serial numbers so now that I'm fixed the computer I have to buy a new copy of XP to get this box up and running again. You can imagine how happy this makes me since copies of '98, NT 3.5 and 4.0 gather dust on my shelf. I understand I've gotten my use out of this software but when upgrading or fixing a computer, I would think you should be able to reinstall software you've already paid for but I guess that would hurt MS profits. Just had to vent a little as I get ready to fork over some more cash to Big Bill.

[mattclary]

I have reinstalled OEM copies of XP for customers, and swear to god some of them never require activation anyway.

Starbase, don't sweat it, just install what you have and deal with it if and when it becomes an issue, I predict it won't. My understanding is activation will work several times before a red flag goes up.

[androidmaker]

if you want to try out the windows 64 operating system try here. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/trial.mspx
it allows you to use it for 120 days free.

[Silkrooster]

Someplace on Microsofts knowledge base it will tell you how to backup the activation code, so you do not need to reactivate it the next time you install windows.
Silk

[starbase1]

Matt (and others) - I don;t doubt that it MIGHT work, or even that it might probably work, or that there are tricks and tools around that will improve the odds...

But there is plenty of evidence out there that OEM copies won't accept a new motherboard, and I am also not confident that XP would spring back into life if I put the old hardware back.

If it does come down to getting another copy of windows and installing over the top it's money I would sooner spend elsewhere, a lot of time wasted, (and the objective here is to get more done with lightwave, not spend time fighting Mr Gates sacred cash cow), and overlaying a new windows could easily result in a lot of time wasted getting things back the way I want. (And of course it would be silly not to back up my system in full before I started... More time and effort).

The games not worth the candle.

I've thought about it before, but I think it really is time I started to investigate Linux seriously. And now there are also free virtualisation products out there, I don't even nood to reboot to do it...

Nick

[zapper1998]

I bought a new Laptop, dual cpu, Tosiba, for traveling, it has WinXPPro.

I called and asked for replacment OS cd, Because I have a Serial # on the bottom of the laptop, and the cd that came with the laptop was scracthed up pretty bad.

It took me a YEAR to get the replacement cd from MS....

Argh! *$!% Microsoft! I agree

[zapper1998]

if you want to try out the windows 64 operating system try here. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/trial.mspx
it allows you to use it for 120 days free.

then what ??????

[starbase1]

Then you are hooked and reeled in. Unless you want to throw away 6 months and start again...

[starbase1]

Well, I got a formal email reply from micro shaft - this confirms that as far as tthey are concerned, new motherboard = new machine, = new copy of windows.

[Lamont]

Screw that. Then that would mean I have to buy a new version of Windows every time? Like I would anyways. If the software was installed by some OEM company, then you gotta go there and get the key and buy a disk. But if it's over 50 bucks, just buy an OEM version of the software (with key) and that should be it.

[Silkrooster]

I knew that authorization process would come back and bite us in the arse. and I see more and more companies starting to use that process.:thumbsdow
Silk

[zapper1998]

I wish they [micro shaft] would remind me of how much time I have left with the WinXP64Pro I have left.

I guess it would either be format, reload or buy the OEM disk.
Heck a couple of hours and I would have it all Formated and reloaded.

[ShawnStovall]

I had to send my computer in for repair because of incompatibility between the motherboard and the CPU. The place that did the fixing had to format my hard drive and install Windows back on it. The cool thing was was that they did it(the Windows thing)for free! I think that if you took it into a repair shop that they would reinstall Windows for free.:thumbsup: