Thread: Microsoft tries to milk students for money....

Originally Posted by deathgodusmc

I disagree. He bought the product. That product as he says claims to be a full version. If it didnt say anything about not being able to use it for a full install or did not list anything regarding his issue in the terms then its not illegal. Knowing your way around something doesn't make it an illegal practice. Now if the copy wasnt his or he made a copy for someone else i would agree. However under these particular circumstances i would say its perfectly legal.

dg, keep in mind that its not a question of morality, but rather if TPG is legally liable for having such content on the board.

Now if its legal or not, I am not sure, but if someone can confirm that Mic$oft considers it illegal, then well have to remove it :<

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Corpse, you realize the registry trick is ILLEGAL right? Should probably edit your post.

It is not. As long as you hold an an existing full Windows license you can use an upgrade license no matter how you install it. So if I have an OEM win98se license from 1999 that I am not currently using (as in I am not running another machine on XP upgrade license that I applied to Win98SE back then at the same time that I want to run my Win 7 machine) I can use a Win 7 upgrade key (since it will be as if I'm applying the win7 upgrade to the xp upgrade). MS has an FAQ on the subject (specifically saying that Starter, RC, and Beta versions do not count as full licenses) as well as numerous articles addressing the "registry hack". If the registry modification doesn't work for you then yes you will need to do the "double install" method. The reason why MS doesn't like to push the registry hack publically is because of all the support costs associated with clueless people breaking their registry. Double install is verified to work, is more or less unattended, and does not have the risk associated with "I tried to change the registry to fix windows registration but now my computer won't boot!!!" problem, which would have required a reinstall anyway, so it just saves everyone extra time, effort, and trouble when they say "just do the reinstall".

It is possible that DigitalRiver has a broken windows distribution set for the student discount version, or their UI is showing you the wrong SKU (since I'm pretty sure the $69 Win 7 Professional Student version is an Upgrade license).

Originally Posted by BigHub

This happened to me when I purhased Win 7 student discount thing. I just called Microsoft, chewed some butts, and then they fixed it for me. They ended up adding my CD Key into their database or some shit and then it worked.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt

Man you got lucky then, seeing how many people got the "We can't hear you" excuse.

Originally Posted by Bunni

Whats digitalriver? SOunds like thats your problem?

I bought my mic$oft keys directly off msdn, never had any problems and they give the student discount right then and there...

All in all not much i can complain about.... though only until recently did the bastards finally give me mvs ultimate... really been needing those profiling tools and they wanted some $1000 for an upgrade from professional... like really? Shit bugs me almost as much as adobes sky high prices... Software is awsome.... but some prices are unreasonable...

Like Hub said, they help with a lot of digital distribution with Microsoft, and back when I bought my license, digital river was the exclusive for the student discounts. When they were partnered with Microsoft at the time, you were able to also buy the physical version of the disk for like $15 more + shipping.

I have two email receipts with my key in it, and the disk they sent me they printed the same key inside the envelope the disk is in, and gave me the sticker that has the SKU number, serial numbers, UPC and all that jazz that is on the top seal on the boxes for Windows 7. And on that it is the full disk kit, NOT an upgrade.

Originally Posted by [CoFR]SirMoo

It is not. As long as you hold an an existing full Windows license you can use an upgrade license no matter how you install it. So if I have an OEM win98se license from 1999 that I am not currently using (as in I am not running another machine on XP upgrade license that I applied to Win98SE back then at the same time that I want to run my Win 7 machine) I can use a Win 7 upgrade key (since it will be as if I'm applying the win7 upgrade to the xp upgrade). MS has an FAQ on the subject (specifically saying that Starter, RC, and Beta versions do not count as full licenses) as well as numerous articles addressing the "registry hack". If the registry modification doesn't work for you then yes you will need to do the "double install" method. The reason why MS doesn't like to push the registry hack publically is because of all the support costs associated with clueless people breaking their registry. Double install is verified to work, is more or less unattended, and does not have the risk associated with "I tried to change the registry to fix windows registration but now my computer won't boot!!!" problem, which would have required a reinstall anyway, so it just saves everyone extra time, effort, and trouble when they say "just do the reinstall".

It is possible that DigitalRiver has a broken windows distribution set for the student discount version, or their UI is showing you the wrong SKU (since I'm pretty sure the $69 Win 7 Professional Student version is an Upgrade license).

Everything I tried using last night was using the same license code they emailed and mailed me 2 years ago like I stated above. And when I bought it, it was the full version (I bought it for $30) that was for sale.

The term you were looking for is Deceptive Trade Practices. DTPA covers things like bait and switch and false advertising (though false advertising also has separate civil causes of action).

Microsoft would have to find their recovery in one of 3 areas: 1) The language of the terms and conditions when you bought it to bring a breach of contract claim, which would be specific to the user who bought it, 2) the Digital Mill. Copyright Act USC title 17, chap 12 or 3) in equity.

I am 100% positive that the OP has valid grounds under 2 and 3.

Regardless, there is no way TPG could have liability for anything related to this to this point.

Further, there is no way the OP could have criminal liability unless he started making a commercial gain.

Originally Posted by [CoFR]SirMoo

So this was an unused key from 2 years ago? Or did you attempt to transfer an existing registration to a new machine?

This is the same machine, I just reinstalled my entire windows. Same key I used then. You can use the key again as long as it is on only 1 computer that you own (or however many computers your license is for).