Subj : Re: About To Blow A Gaske
To   : ANGUS MCLEOD
From : ROB MCCART
Date : Wed Jun 01 2005 05:57 pm

AM> > Microsoft has admitted that Windows is the most stolen software in
  > > history and, were it not for that pirating, they would not be where
  > > they are today.

AM>That is Microsoft's interpretation of the facts.

AM>In actual fact, Microsoft defines "stolen" to suit themselves.  If you buy
  >a machine with Windows "preloaded" and six months later decide to replace
  >the hard disk, you are supposed to buy another copy of Windows.  If,
  >instead, you load up from someones CD, that is considered to be a "stolen"
  >copy of Windows.

They were really talking about back in the years of Win 3.1 and
early Win 95 when those rules didn't apply. If you had the disks
and the licence then it was yours to do with as you pleased, as
long as you only used it on one machine.   More copies were
stolen (used illegally) back then than now because it's so
cheap now to get a legal copy ($50 - $75) with a new system
and most complete systems are sold with it and with no option
to refuse it.

MS May WANT you to buy a new copy for a new drive but I doubt
there's anything to stop you from legally cloning your old
drive to a new one and then wiping the old drive or making
a full backup of your drive for emergency purposes.

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