Feb 21 2006

Thinking of upgrading your Motherboard?

Posted by J. Angelo as Computer Peripherals

Better think twice if you’re using Windows, because Microsoft wants you to get a new Windows license with every motherboard upgrade. This is one of the latest revisions to the Windows end-user license agreement (which nobody bothers to read, anyway): it says installing a new motherboard is tantamount to your getting a new computer, which means you have to purchase a new Windows license.

An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a â€œnew personal computerâ€? to which MicrosoftÂ® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required.

According to Microsoft, the motherboard is the only base component that defines a PC. So you can change changing everything else on your system–your hard drive, optical drives, monitor, casing, power supply, RAM, input devices–and it’s still essentially the same machine for Microsoft.

I think this is ridiculous.

(via Aviran’s Place)

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Comments (2)

2 Responses

Joel
07|Mar|2006

Ridiculous? Yes. Practically speaking, if you are changing your motherboard most likely you aren’t going to use the old one (all my years of upgrading, I’ve never looked back to an old motherboard), thus the defect. If you are trashing the old board anyways simply fry your board and you are good to go. Microsoft is really just wasting ink with this latest revision.
J. Angelo
07|Mar|2006

Microsoft is really just wasting ink with this latest revision.

That’s unless they get to sic their legal teams at offending parties. But really, the problem is with authenticating via the Genuine advantage programme. With a motherboard change, Windows won’t let you update. True, this can be bypassed–but not unless you’re a techie who knows what he’s doing. Most Windows users aren’t really aware of how to do this stuff.

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