Microsoft: Using Vista loophole is cheating

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Harper

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Microsoft: Using Vista loophole is cheating - Applications - CRN Australia
Microsoft: Using Vista loophole is cheating[/b]

A recent report suggests that Microsoft left a loophole in Vista that allows users to opt for a less expensive upgrade version of the OS to get the full featured version.

Microsoft is denying a recent report that suggests it deliberately included a technical loophole in Windows Vista that lets users install the OS without paying for the full priced version.

In an article that appeared earlier this week in the Windows Secrets newsletter, reporter Scott Dunn noted that the Service Pack 1 version of Windows Vista gives users the option of buying the 'upgrade edition' and installing it on any PC, which enables them to avoid paying for the more expensive 'full' edition.

In the U.S., the list price of the upgrade edition is more than $100 cheaper than the full edition, according to Dunn.

According to Dunn, the same option was available to users when Vista was first released, and Microsoft's failure to close this loophole in Vista SP1 suggests that the vendor "approved the back door as a way to make the price of Vista more appealing to sophisticated buyers."

But a Microsoft spokesperson disputed the notion that the vendor supports users taking advantage of the technical loophole in Vista.

"Just because a piece of software installs on a PC, doesn't mean that it is properly licensed. The licensing states that upgrades require a fully licensed version of Windows to be eligible to use an Upgrade license," the spokesperson said in an email to ChannelWeb.

Microsoft expects its resellers to help their customers be fully licensed for the products that they want to purchase, added the spokesperson.

Scott Rosenberg, CEO of Miro Consulting, a Fords, N.J.-based firm that specialises in licensing issues, acknowledges that technical loopholes in Microsoft software do exist, but says people who take advantage of them are clearly violating their licensing agreements.

"There's lot of audit activity out there, and people who engage in this tactic do so at their own peril," said Rosenberg.

Whoops...... I am going to investigate this one later tonight.
 
Cool. It i sjust to bad i buy my version of Vista Ultimate for $45 anyways. :p
 
I got business edition free from my school. Sold it to my roomy for $45, though. Ironic, eh? :)

This sounds like something I've heard of before, this exploit, but I don't know much about it. Worth further investigation.
 
Actually this is not thru MSDN. This is thru the MVP and the Microsoft Company Store online. Which i get access to from teh MVP. That i show i got Gears of War and Halo 2 for PC all for $30.
 
Actually this is not thru MSDN. This is thru the MVP and the Microsoft Company Store online. Which i get access to from teh MVP. That i show i got Gears of War and Halo 2 for PC all for $30.

Ah, that's right... I forgot which it was. I remember you talking about that before, I think.
 
This loop hole is also present on XP. Not sure exactly how it works out, but I know plenty of computer shops in my area that will use a upgrade cd to do a reload of the OS. Also, MSDN isn't free, there is a fee, depending on how you do it, but our school can register 500 students and give any of them free software, the only software we can't get is like Microsoft Word and Vista Ultimate, but we can get business.
 
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