Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/17/microsoft_oem_shocker/
Techies in Microsoft licence reading bombshell
Motherboard = PC, says Redmond
Posted in Operating Systems, 17th February 2006 12:20 GMT
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Tech blogs are fizzing with rage at the 'revelation' that Microsoft small print says a new Windows OEM licence must be purchased if a motherboard is changed or upgraded.
The software behemoth is quoted as saying that the 'heart and soul' of a PC lies therein, and so changing it - other than in the case of a failure - amounts to creating a new machine. Other licence types do not face such restrictions.
Comments about the newly-uncovered atrocity are typically less than complimentary towards Redmond:
“They are trully [sic] evil,” fumes one.
Several others go for the succinct and to-the-point: “F**k Micro$oft.”
For Microsoft's part, it claims this has always been the case. And this document [1] seems to corroborate the assertion.
Customers reading their license agreements? Whatever next.®