Why Microsoft Sucks
Ideally, Microsoft would like to rent you software, and you’d write a check each month to pay your software bill, much like other utilities.
That’ll always be the dream, but they’ve had a setback on the road to nirvana. Turns out that people hate the idea of buying their own damn operating system again when they upgrade.
On Oct. 16, Microsoft issued the new user license for Vista, including terms that would have limited the ability of those who buy a boxed copy of the operating system to transfer that license. Under the proposed terms, users could have made such a switch only one time.
However, the new restriction prompted an outcry among hardware enthusiasts and others. Microsoft is returning the licensing terms to basically what they were in Windows XP–users can transfer their license to a new PC an unlimited number of times, provided they uninstall and stop using it on the prior machine.
The software maker said it paid attention to the response both directly to the company and on blogs and decided to reverse course. Microsoft had hoped to use the change to aid its ongoing efforts to thwart piracy.
