Windows XP forum: Lending XP Home disk and Product Code?

Are likely to be none, but there is always the potential for penalties like described by the other poster. I think there's also the possibility of some prison time. Up to five years if I'm not mistaken. And the entertainment industry has been buying up Congressional support on the left and the right to try and shove through increasingly draconian legislation which would apply to software.

The most likely scenario you'll run into, is the copy won't activate, or it will but then your friend will need to reactivate his copy for some reason and won't be able to.

There are ways around activation, but pretty much all the activation "cracks" you might find are loaded down with some sort of nasty hidden payload in the form of a virus or trojan.

Ultimately, it's just better to save your money and buy a copy. Retail copies of XP Home go for $100, and OEM copies can go on ebay for close to half of that. Or it might be a good time to give Linux a try instead. You might even consider just getting a Mac, saving yourself a lot of the hassle related with Windows like virus scanners and malware, even if only for a time.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/oem.html

states that purchase of OEM software must be accompanied with the hardware it was bundled with. Unless you're willing to buy a whole PC as well, you may be going against ebay's policy there.

Either way... kick-ass!! An elegant loophole if I do say so myself

Actually you will find that the law states it must be purchased with a piece of computer hardware and so does the ebay system. This means any piece of computer hardware, so if you do buy oem software of ebay you get the most unusual bits and pieces from odd pretty much useless cables to chips that have been ripped off ancient motherboards.

Maybe we should hold a poll to see whether MSN should be found guilty of abusing their monopoly - antitrust status or whatever they call it in the US and should be smashed into smitherines or at least split in two like the baby bells

1. Get a relation or friend to buy your computer system
2. Get your friend or relation to purchase an illegal OEM copy of Windows XP (the ones from ebay with a piece of hardware), but don't install it on the system
3. Get your friend or relation to sell you your computer system back to you, with the Windows XP OEM.
4. Install Windows XP OEM on your system
5. You're friend hasn't broke the law 'cos if you buy XP OEM with just a piece of hardware it just means that you can't use it (and they haven't), and you haven't broke the law either 'cos you've bought Windows XP with a complete system, and can now proceed to install it!

And you can get windows xp, and most other Micro$oft products (as a student at a univerity) for incredibly cheap. I used to use pirated versions of windows etc... but I ended up buying the student versions of windows and office for 30 dollars. And the chance of you getting caught is next to nothing, as long as you aren't a moron and make it obvious to the feds that you are stealing software. I don't have to worry about it because I have LEGAL copies of M$ products, but even if they did catch you, they probably wouldn't do anything. They just say crap to scare people.

will get either you or her. When you want to get updates from the Microsoft website it will ask you to run a program that generates a code. You feed that code on the website. If it matches the profile determined by the OS when it was first installed and activated it will allow downloads.

Microsoft's anti-piracy programs are getting ever tighter. And they are starting to track down illegal copies through this validation process. First they deny the service and then they GET YOU! Look for a nasty letter in your mailbox.

You violate it by giving it to her. She violates it by installing it. Do you really want to risk it?

and life goes on...

Jack

It was burnt by a person who had no conscience. I thought he was reputable!
When I got a legal WIN98SE, I replaced the other. I kept thinking, what if anoter person or persons went on the internet as the same time as me with the same registration code??

Now, that is something that anyone should really think about, I was paranoid for a while. Was it worth it?? Nope. Darrell L.

I have to agree, even as a rather newbie to Linux. With the mutltitude of distros available, and all of them free , plus the number of open source programs available it's just nuts to mess with Microsoft. While we still run one XP pro based system, all our other systems are Linux based, including my 6 year old sons' computer. We can easily do more with the free programing available, and save big bucks on upgrades and security issues.
Try It!

I know a couple of people who set up Linux boxes for their elderly parents, and they've been working just fine for years now.

Also, most people don't care about using all the latest stuff, they just want something that can function as a word processor and internet terminal. Linux can do that exceedingly well.

And for the record, Ubuntu is a heavily modified Debian, which itself is probably the most "out there" distribution of the major players. It's the least compatible with ANY of the other distributions, even if you're using the testing branches. Ubuntu has already progressed to a point where it's largely incompatible with Debian now. If you use some of the more mainstream distributions like Fedora Core or Mandriva, you should be able to use nVidia's chipset drivers just like their video drivers.

OS X is kind of nice in that it's largely a black and white scenario with hardware. It either works or it doesn't for the most part. If you've ever dealt with "sort of working" hardware on Windows and the multitude of problems it often brings, it's a nice change.

Aside from gaming, there's no real need to have all the latest fancy hardware in your system, and this is exactly why I went back to consoles for gaming. Even if I went out and got an Xbox 360 Premium now, I'd get a complete gaming system for less than I could spend on just a video card for a PC. Games are all written to that specific hardware spec, so there's no risk of my going out and setting down $50 for some new game and it not working because my system is underpowered in some way. I don't need to worry about other programs conflicting in some way, bad video driver releases, or anything else. I buy a game, pop the disc in the unit, and away I go. I'll be a good half hour into a game by the time you get your PC copy installed. So I don't get all the latest graphics... How often do you stop to admire the scenery in a game?

Running Linux or OS X doesn't mean you have to give up gaming, it just requires a different strategy. One that can ultimately save a bundle of money. I have an Xbox, PS2, and GameCube... Even if I bought them all brand new at full retail, and the same with all the games I have for each (around 35 between them all), I'd probably still come out spending less than most people do on their SLI setups and I pretty much guarantee I'll get a lot more life out of my setup.

Anyway, that's my rant on the issue.

It never occurred to you to do a little research beforehand to find out what sorts of hardware works and what doesn't presently?

I can't count the number of DIY PVR guides I've seen, and I'm sure you can find dozens more with a simple Google search. I've looked at the MythTV site in the past, and seem to recall them having a hardware compatibility list.

Seems to me, that your impetuousness is what did you in. Linux requires a little planning, just like most things worth doing.

I just finished weeping for Bill Gates. How moral is monopoly achieved by lobbying (bribing) Congress?