Windows Now

No offense meant here, but your interpretation was slightly vague. Also, it skipped the topic of licensing-scope. I look forward to seeing this official clarification.

It is unfortunate that MS is choosing to go this route.  I agree that this will not matter to 90% of the people, but the people it does matter to spend the an order of magnitude more money than 90% of the people.

And I thought the Ultimate Edition was aimed at enthusiasts, what enthusiast out there is going to keep the same motherboard/hard drive for 4 or 5 years until the next Windows version comes out.  If they simply extended the number of configurations to 5 or 6 on the non OEM Ultimate Edition it would go along way to     clearing this up.

Brian JT

Yes, this is not quite right at all. Most people that go out and buy Vista.. are likely to make hardware changes. The people that don't do much changing around are the ones that get their computers pre-installed from Dell. I think if I purchase an OS I should be allowed to use that OS on whichever machine I choose, and that I should not have to choose.

Also, I am still wondering about the idea that we can't reinstall. I hope that reinstall at least has no affect. I reinstall quite often at times, for one reason or another. Sometimes I just like to try new things, I should be able to without worrying about Vista dying on me.

It appears as though... If I build my own PC, and purchase a retail copy of Vista Ulitmate at what $399.00? I cannot replace certain parts of that PC more than once, or along with buying a new Motherboard at $200.00, I would also have to buy another copy of Vista Ultimate at $399.00?

Certainly this would be an oversight on MS's part.  If not, it would severely hamper the hardware manufacturers.  I can't believe we haven't heard more from them.  Because while I might be able to afford a new Motherboard to upgrade my system, I certainly can't afford an additional copy of Vista. (by the way making my current $400.00 copy of Vista completely useless).  Which basically means, I don't upgrade my Motherboard.... therefore... I don't buy the latest games and programs...  thereby hurting the industry as a whole.

The truth (Or my opinion):

Microsoft is now allowing just one transfer. This means that you can last through one upgrade. On average, a user would probably make such major upgrades once a year. This means, Vista would do good for around 2 years. "But..." you ask, "what do I do after the two years are up?" Well, good news! Microsoft is ready for this! They have planned ahead! They plan to release a new OS every 2 years. This means, when you are done with Vista, you can go by Fiji. After that, you can go by Vienna. That means you are set for a good 6 years. And don't worry, they plan to continue doing a new OS every 2 years, so they can hold this out forever. If they have problems.. they can just do a 98->ME style upgrade to their current OS. It may not be much, but you get a license renewal!

I hope they rethink this before they release.

I hope there is a favorable clarification soon.

I have a Dell (XP Home) that I upgraded after putting in some changes, several in fact.  It would be ridiculous if I could only do this once!

Let's home some sun pierces the redmond cloud cover!