That may be true theoretically, but since the PID is created using a
logarithm of various components of a computer, saying that the license moves
with the hard drive would almost always require reactivation, even as an OEM
license and could possibly raise activation issues. Unless the computers
were identical in other respects, the logarithm would be different.
That's why I said that it's tied to the computer to which it's first
installed.
Now that that's said, although I've often had to reactivate XP, I've never
been refused, but then, my licenses are all retail. I don't have any real
life experience with OEM versions, although I've never seen a report in any
of the newsgroups I cover that showed that a new activation had been
refused.
--
Terri Stratton
Microsoft Featured Community
http://thetabletpc.net
Windows MVP - Tablet PC
http://writepc.com - a site for UMPCs
"Grant Robertson" <BOGUS@BOGUS.com> wrote in message
news:Ov0dhhw$GHA.204@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> In article <26A6B985-77F4-4350-9BD2-4B076111EA4A@microsoft.com>,
> terri@no.spam.mvps.org says...
>> OEMs are tied to the
>> machine on which they are first installed.
>
>
> That is true. (Not that I would doubt you.) But I think it is important
> for people to know that this has always been the case. As cynical as I am
> about Microsoft, I agree that this is only fair. An OEM license usually
> only costs the consumer about 35 - 50 bucks on top of the cost of the
> hardware depending on the volume of sales of the manufacturer. Most
> people who buy brand name computers keep them for 3-5 years. That's a
> pretty good price for that long of a use. So it is fair to say you can
> only use an OEM license on the one computer.
>
> P.S. For those who don't know: OEM stands for Original Equipment
> Manufacturer. The license can only be sold with new hardware and it has
> to stay with whatever hardware you bought it with. While it is legal to
> sell it with a hard drive, technically, if you move the hard drive to a
> different computer then the license has to go too.