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Windows 7 Licensing a "Disaster" For XP Shops
snydeq writes "Enterprise licensing for Windows 7 could cause major headaches and add more cost to the Windows 7 migration effort, InfoWorld reports. Under the proposed license, businesses that purchase PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed within six months of the Oct. 23 launch date will be able to downgrade those systems to XP, and later upgrade back to Windows 7 when ready to migrate users. PCs bought after April 22, 2010, however, can only be downgraded to Vista — no help for XP-based organizations, which would be wise to wait 12 to 18 months before adopting Windows 7, so that they can test hardware and software compatibility and ensure their vendors' Windows 7 support meets their needs. XP shops that chose not to install Vista will have to either rush their migration process or spend extra to enroll in Microsoft's Software Assurance program, which allows them to install any OS version — for about $90 per year per PC."
Is this number right? For $90/yr/pc, I can install any MSFT operating system?
Why isn't this program publicized? I am a small business and I have to tell you...the entire Windows licensing system is very very difficult to navigate. And I am 100% certain that is "by design". The more confused they can make me, the more money they can extract out of me and my company (or so they think).
In actual practice, I don't mind spending money where needed and $90/yr/pc seems about fair for a Windows OS.
Bonus points if someone can point me to a vendor who will sell it to me.
M$ has finally came clean and declare that their users don't 'own' a piece of software, or for that matter, a perpetual license on a per system basis. Instead it's a rental license that must be renewed yearly. Failure to do so will result in deactivation and data loss.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
I really don't get it...how will Microsoft even know you downgraded to XP if you just boot the machine up for the first time using a WinXP install CD, and then later reinstall Windows 7 with the OS disk (you do insist on OS install disks being shipped with your new PCs, right?) at a later date? They would only be activating the Windows 7 installation one time, and MS would likely never know or care.
Why does the phrase "Lost Generation" keep coming to mind? Microsoft is setting themselves up to fail (again). Skip over Vista, skip over Win 7.0, eventually the learning curve from jumping from XP to Win 7 SP1 becomes no worse than jumping from XP to Ubuntu. Me, I swore that Win2K would be my last Microsoft OS, and it was. I'll dabble with supporting friends and relatives XP machines, because it's similar enough to 2K. I tried to configure a cow-orkers laptop a few times, now I just routinely refuse.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
They are closing the only way people currently have to purchase a brand new OEM license of Windows XP. The only way to install XP on any computer you don't currently have licensed is to purchase an incredibly expensive software assurance plan from Microsoft. SA isn't always a bad thing, but considering most people have been using the same OS for 7-8 years and have no intention of changing...It's not a good deal to get SA. If you bought XP in 2002, purchased the open license for $200 (guesstimate), and then paid the $66 a year for SA (assumes SA at 1/3rd price of the product)...You would have paid $662 for what you could have gotten for $200. SA only makes sense if you upgrade every 3 years or less, but the truth is, even if your new OS didn't suck, businesses don't like massive change, and changing OS version is exactly that, massive change.