Windows Vista's licensing terms have raised eyebrows among PC enthusiasts. As previously reported, Windows Vista sports a
new Software Protection Platform (SPP) aimed at curbing piracy.
Among SPP's many "features" is a service that monitors PCs for evidence
of significant hardware changes. New hard drive? New motherboard?
Windows Vista will recognize and keep track of the hardware in your PC,
much like its predecessor Windows XP did, and it will use that
information to monitor licensing compliance.
What has enthusiasts concerned are language changes to the retail license for Vista that restrict the number of
times you may transfer Vista
from one device to another. The license reads: "The first user of the
software may reassign the license to another device one time. If you
reassign the license, that other device becomes the 'licensed device.'"
Putting SPP and the new license together, many have wondered if Windows
Vista would permit major hardware changes such as swapping out a
motherboard. To make matters more confusing, reports circulated last
week claiming that Microsoft's official policy allows for 10
re-activations stemming from hardware changes. We decided to contact
Microsoft to get to the facts.
3:00:16 AM 
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