"My rights have been violated!"

Quote:

---

Originally posted by theBeast:
Sorry, it's Gigabyte, not ABit.
Our supplier is authorized by both Asus and Gigabyte to make BIOS locks for those boards. I haven't heard of any other clone systems doing it yet.
I agree with you, and think that a lot of the systems send out a lot of junk with their systems that you can't uninstall easily. These systems, however, only come with Windows preinstalled, and any system-bundled software is left unloaded and up to the customer to install if they want.

---

I use ASUS and Gigabyte mobo's and a full OEM version of windoze. I don't need a locked copy since I'm neither going to cheat Microsoft nor the customer. I can't buy windows from ASUS or Gigabyte so why would I want a Lock. My open arc machines have a zero return rate and I spend none of my time in repairing the equipment I build. What I loose in volume I gain in peace and quiet after the sale.

_

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 3fingersalute:
Another thing that burns me, a lot of these pre-built systems are coming with the stickers for Certificate of Authenticity instead of the regular license. I think this is actually a good idea because it helps keep the user from losing it, but why do they put it on the back of the system??

That's a great place....I don't know how many people have called half way through a re-install of Windows looking for it, and when we tell them it is on the back of the machine, they get pissed because the computer's in a desk or somewhere else where you can't pull it out w/o shutting down !!

WTF were they thinking putting it on the BACK of the machine?

---

That's where I put mine. MS suggests on the side but actually doesn't care where you place the sticker as long as you do place it.

I work as a technician for Best Buy, and the majority of the computers that I work on, about 95% in fact, are manufactured computers such as HP, Compaq, IBM, etc. Most of the customers that I get complain that they couldn't use the restore disk like they could a regular Windows 98 CD, for example, adding individual components such as DUN. Another common complaint that I get is "My computer did not come with any Windows CD". When I explain the whole recovery disk thing and how it works, they for some reason think they have been cheated. I explain that it cuts down on SW piracy and helps to keep things legal. Do you wanna know what I've found out? Most customers couldn't care less whether they are doing something illegal, so long as they are not inconveinced. They don't see SW piracy as a "crime". I don't try to be the SW police or anything, but I always try to stop the spread of it when I can.

------------------
A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for...

Quote:

---

Originally posted by techs:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by theBeast:
Actually, the ME upgrade requires that you have the .CABS available, so when you do a clean install (unlike going from 95 to 98), all you need to do is pop in the recovery CD, and away it goes, and installs a clean copy of ME.

---

Not always, many of the recovery cd's will not work as a source for an upgrade of winme or wn98. you need to first install the original, then upgrade.

---

...uhhhmm... i've found that if you delete the win.com file (renameing doesn't seem to work) you can upgrade and install almost anything over anything else... win95B over win95A or win98SE over win98 ... its really awesome...

------------------
...:::Ok Terrific:::...

ok this little thing about the Ghosting Issue
I actually called 1-800-RU-Legit
Under the following conditions Micro$oft
does not care if you use a Drive Image to restore a PC.
1. You Sold them the PC and have a record of them also purchasing Windows (Whatever version your image has in it)
2. The Silly Little case sticker is on there. And the windows versions match.
3. It Had Windows (that version) on it when it came in and you exported the registy to a floppy to prove it.

The things Micro$oft said aren't good enough.

1. Customer calls back with a ProductKey
2. Customer offers sexual favors to get it put on.
3. PC has pretty Pengiun sticker on it.

Conditions under which Micro$oft said I could actually give a burned copy to the customer.

1. Customer has COA and original CD and CD is in an unusable condition. example given broken in half.

2. PC has COA sticker on it. Customer records show that customer bought windows for that PC (original sales record)


Other Strange things Micro$oft told me,

For repair work,
1. PC arrives with windows 95 OSR unknown
Can reinstall any OSR of windows 95 using the ProductKey extracted from system.dat.

2. PC is a Compaq, Dell, Micron, and similar brands and customer is not a corperate big shot. if customer cannot locate any COA or cd. Goto website determine what shipped with that model install it.

3. Customer has massive site license. Examples: EDS
Contact Corperate License administrator
ask him what to do.

actually I worked for EDS at one time
they have a massive site license.
which entitles them to install windows 95,98,98se, and NT 4 workstation. on any PC intended for use in any of their buildings in the United States.

ok this little thing about the Ghosting Issue
I actually called 1-800-RU-Legit
Under the following conditions Micro$oft
does not care if you use a Drive Image to restore a PC.
1. You Sold them the PC and have a record of them also purchasing Windows (Whatever version your image has in it)
2. The Silly Little case sticker is on there. And the windows versions match.
3. It Had Windows (that version) on it when it came in and you exported the registy to a floppy to prove it.

The things Micro$oft said aren't good enough.

1. Customer calls back with a ProductKey
2. Customer offers sexual favors to get it put on.
3. PC has pretty Pengiun sticker on it.

Conditions under which Micro$oft said I could actually give a burned copy to the customer.

1. Customer has COA and original CD and CD is in an unusable condition. example given broken in half.

2. PC has COA sticker on it. Customer records show that customer bought windows for that PC (original sales record)


Other Strange things Micro$oft told me,

For repair work,
1. PC arrives with windows 95 OSR unknown
Can reinstall any OSR of windows 95 using the ProductKey extracted from system.dat.

2. PC is a Compaq, Dell, Micron, and similar brands and customer is not a corperate big shot. if customer cannot locate any COA or cd. Goto website determine what shipped with that model install it.

3. Customer has massive site license. Examples: EDS
Contact Corperate License administrator
ask him what to do.

actually I worked for EDS at one time
they have a massive site license.
which entitles them to install windows 95,98,98se, and NT 4 workstation. on any PC intended for use in any of their buildings in the United States.

Ahh yes. I'll Agree With Microsoft on one Point. Piracy is wrong, But gimme my CD so that i may do my Clean Install. I personally Reformat My machine every 3 months or so. I personally do not like Recovery Disks because the "Disk" i recieved with my ASUS Laptop doesn't Work. It will boot the machine Fine. When you goto the part that is supposed to repartition and reinstall my Windows Files it just stares at me. I Ended up having to do a manual restore which wasn't fun becuase the "Magical" bin file had a Password on it. I won't go into how i got the password but the point is, the average computer user with this Disk is just outta luck and will have to spend time with the already stressed out TechSupport. And on top of that, there was a load of "preloaded" software that was just annoying.
CAB files on a "Special" partition. What in the world were they thinking. Were they on their happy juice or something. Come on That is about the stupidest thing i've ever heard, Of course unless you have the CD with the files on it. Besides Wouldn't it just be easier, and more cost effective *in an ideal world* for them to give me a Windows Disk?
Beast, I feel for you, those People were out of line, some people just have no mental capacity to understand simple instructions. Look at it this way. They had to pay with Blood, Sweat, and Tears for not being the brightest.

helps keep the user from losing it, but why do they put it on the back of the system??

That's a great place....I don't know how many people have called half way through a re-install of Windows looking for it, and when we tell them it is on the back of the machine, they get pissed because the computer's in a desk or somewhere else where you can't pull it out w/o shutting down !!

WTF were they thinking putting it on the BACK of the machine?

They knew most people would be stupid enough to pull the sticker off and through it away

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Faldarian:
Actually, those CD's are pretty fair since those are what you purchase when you buy the system.
When you spend the money to buy one of these OEM systems, they can cut corners on cost (which lowers the price of the PC) by providing an OS load that only works on that PC. The vendor sells these copies for say, 50 bucks a piece for a full install of Windows ME that only works on this computer. That's a pretty good deal compared to spending 180 bucks or whatever it is for a normal full version of the CD's that you can use on different computers.
So, complain all you want about not being able to duplicate or it only working on one system... but you get what you pay for in this case. It sounds bad, I realize, but that's the way it is across the industry for various software programs.

---

As an OEM i buy window for about 90 bucks if I buy them one at a time. The large assemblers save less than 10 bucks by going with the recovery cd, rather than a full copy!, and they pay a heck of a lot less than I pay for it. They do it for the 10 bucks AND the fact that they can just tell you to insert disk and get off the phone.That's where they save the real money. By the time you realize you have lost all your data they have gone on to other phone calls. Plus by giving you those cute little icons that try to sign you up to their isp, they make even more money. The truth is that for less than $100.00 they could give everyone a full licensed copy, a standard case and mobo, and quality, upgradeable parts. It is the uninformed public that buys a 750 mhz computer for only $899.00 and says to you, you paid $950.00 what a jerk!! But you don't hear from them two-three years later when they spend another 899 and you merely upgraded your processor and added ram for less than 175. Plus they can't figure out how you still have your emails, address book and important documents.

I guess I am crazy, cause I beleive what I buy is mine. No matter what somebody else said. If I buy a car and itis paid for that car is mine to do with what I want. If I want to give it away,tear it up or whatever, the car is still mine. Just like software, If I pay money out for software, that software is mine to use the way I want to! If I want to put it on all of computer's then I will. TO hell with M$ if they don't like it.

I guess you don't live in the US. I'm not really sure if you can really own anything here. I have to pay rent to the govt on all "my" cars and houses every year if I want to keep or continue to use them. Then I pay for my money when I make it and then again for the priviledge to spend it.

I read a few lines about the certificate sticker and i have come up with one way to handle that that i really like. The very first time i saw the sticker i put it on like i was supposed to. -It IS a REQUIREMENT!- It does not peel off well. The second time i noticed that the sticker was stuck to a clear sticker that was stuck to the wrapper. The clear sticker peels off just as easily!! I would just remove that and stick it to the back of the pc. But now the stickers come stuck to a piece of wax paper INSIDE the wrapper!! I take and cut a piece of clear packing tape to a size slightly larger than the sticker and put them on the back of the pc together. That way i do as M$ wants, yet the end user can move the sticker at least once themselves, depending on their IQ.

Side note-- you ALWAYS put the sticker on the back as the front is USUALLY attatched to the case sleeve and comes off if the case is opened and on the front ANYONE can see and copy your key, most people never register it! I could copy the key, install it and register it and get the on-line help i need. Then if you go on line they will say that it is not your copy!! That on top of what ever problems made you call them in the first place? I think not.

You gotta remember that when you buy a prebuilt like Compaq, Pack Bell, HP etc, the s/ware is all OEM. So you shouldn't be able to use it on other systems anyway (like we don't!). The reason that Parkard Bell have very few complaints of this respect (at least in the UK) is that a copy of all the windows CABs is in C:\Windows\Options\CABs. I guess they got very tired of griping customers, so they started telling them about it...

Research has shown that a barrel of monkeys is not funny at all. In fact it is rather horrifying.

I own a computer store, and when we build a computer - we give a copy of the actual windows 98 CD.

Why do we do this...well, for one thing if the people who bought the computer decide to buy a new computer and scrap this one, or lightening strikes and wipes their computer out (which by the way happens quite frequently) they do not have to again purchase ANOTHER copy of their operating system.

To my way of thinking, it is illegal to FORCE people to have to buy a new operating system everytime they get a new computer.

They have a legitimate gripe, they paid for that operating system and say they take that computer and put some new network cards in it or a new hard drive. When this wonderful locked CD is used to try and do a system recovery...you have to remove all items from the computer that you have put into it that were not in the original configuration. Otherwise, the recovery CD will not work.

Companies that practice this concept only do so because microsoft then lowers the price of the operating system cost to the dealer...at the expense of the consumer.

I would never purchase a computer that did not come with a complete...UNLOCKED windows system CD.

It is a ripoff of the consumer as they are not getting what they paid for and I do not blame them one darn bit for being mad. The only reason you do not get more complaints is because the majority of people do not realize the fraud that is being foisted off upon them by certain manufacturers.

I found a solution that gives the customer both an OEM copy of Windows and helps me keep my sanity. You see, I got sick and tired of people calling me to say something didn't work only to find that they installed some weird software and buckled the O/S. If they have a problem I tell them I will come out (we go on site repair for 6 months) only if they put the machine in the same condition as when it was purchased and the problem remains. 99% of all O/S issues are caused by the end user. So, hoe do they put the machine in it's original condition? Simple. I install windows and ONLY windows. Then I place an image file of MY installation on a separate partiton and I keep a copy with the customer name, phone etc. I include an OEM copy of Ghost with instructions on how to reimage the system partiton. I advise them to make TWO backups before reimaging. After reimaging the problem is gone - and I mean 100% of the time.

For me personally? Well, take a look at Microsofts' income to net profit ratio. It's about 25%. 25%! I would to make 25% NET profit (that means AFTER taxes). I do not feel sorry for them at all. For my machines, I place one copy of windows on four of my personal machines (the ones at home). So they can come and get me if they want. I personally think they should be split not into 2 companies, but 20. And Gates? He belongs in JAIL (with Bubba).