Get Windows Vista for Free
I have a great idea for how you can get a free copy of Windows Vista. Just visit your nearest branch of PC World, pick up a copy off the shelf and walk out without paying for it!
At this point, you are either considering doing something illegal (in which case you're on your own - go get yourself arrested) or you think I'm a blithering idiot. I hope it is the latter, because I was being ironic. You wouldn't seriously consider stealing software from PC World, would you?
So it is quite worrying that someone can write an article like this in The Register:
Microsoft is running an unadvertised sale on Windows Vista. For the price of an upgrade edition requiring an existing copy of Windows, anyone can have a stand-alone version of Vista that will run on any PC.
Apparently, the author is advocating the notion that you can avoid paying the full price for Windows Vista by using an upgrade license to do a full clean install.
There are a few things wrong with that article that I want to point out.
- Just because something is possible does not mean it is ethical or legal. If you paid for an upgrade license, then that is all you are licensed to do. Note that does not prevent you from doing a clean install, but you have to start the clean install from your previously installed operating system.
- You can do a clean install of Windows Vista even from upgrade media, by choosing to do an "advanced" install.
- Getting a full install by using the vista-on-vista trick doesn't really leave you in a substantially different position from doing the "advanced" install starting from Windows XP. This rather dubious workaround has no real value and might just leave you failing the Windows Genuine Advantage verification. Then you'll look really smart, won't you? It's true that you could defraud Microsoft by using an upgrade license to perform a clean install, but most computers these days come with the OS preinstalled so the number of people who genuinely need to purchase a full install license is probably vanishingly small.
- Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Home Premium is not an upgrade - it is a downgrade. That's why Windows Vista will not allow you to do an upgrade install in that situation. Windows XP Professional can join a domain, has remote desktop and IIS built in. Windows Vista Home editions do not. It is nothing to do with whether you get media center - you can upgrade from Windows XP to any Windows Vista edition by choosing the advanced install option. Many people think that XP Pro -> Vista Home Premium is an upgrade because they get media center. That's fine, but you must use the "advanced" installation to do a clean install.
So, like my compadre Vijay from iQubed, I was quite shocked to see that article in The Register which I felt was really quite misleading. The acceptable upgrade paths are documented on the Microsoft web site and also by the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. If your options are not clear, talk to a professional who will be able to give you good advice - someone who holds the Microsoft Small Business Specialist qualification would be a good choice.
Remember: a lock only keeps honest people honest. It has always been possible to work around Microsoft's upgrade compliance verification - but that has never made it ethical or legal. If you are in doubt, read your EULA (that thing where you always click "I Agree" without reading it) and you will discover that it clearly documents what you are allowed to do.