Windows 8.1 System Builder Licensing: Microsoft is Misleading Consumers Microsoft is misleading consumers with its Windows 8.1 System Builder licensing scheme, which charges for a full version of the operating system, even if users only want to use certain features of it. The company is also charging for updates and support, even though these services are not included in the system builder license. This leaves users with a perpetual license that they may not need or want. ..
Microsoft is misleading consumers here. This was a problem in the past, so Microsoft fixed the licensing problem in Windows 8. But — surprise! — they’re back to their usual tricks with Windows 8.1.
Editor’s Note: We contacted Microsoft Public Relations for clarification of the licensing issues here, but they didn’t respond. Considering the Windows 10 announcement happening tomorrow, we have to assume they will be making licensing changes in the future. But this licensing issue matters right now to anybody building a computer, so keep reading for all the details.
OEM Licenses Were Okay Up Until Windows 7, But Then…
But you actually weren’t allowed to purchase the System Builder copy! The fine print in the license said that you couldn’t use it for your own personal use. Instead, the OEM System Builder copy was only for people who would build computers and then sell them.
Prior to Windows 7, purchasing an OEM System Builder license for your own PC was perfectly fine. In fact, there are legitimate drawbacks to this cheaper license — no support direct from Microsoft and the copy of Windows being tied to a single PC, for example.
With Windows 7, Microsoft changed the popular System Builder/OEM license of Windows. Normal people were no longer allowed to use it to build their own PCs, but Microsoft continued selling them like hotcakes to those same people. This problem was chronicled excellently by Ed Bott over at ZDNet in 2009. Read “Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don’t ask Microsoft” for more background.
Windows 8 Had a “Personal Use License”
Sure, Windows 8 had its problems. But Microsoft did licensing right with Windows 8 — they saw that the Windows 7 OEM System Builder licensing situation was crazy. To fix it, they added a “Personal Use License” allowance to the Windows 8 System Builder license. This means that you could purchase a Windows 8 System Builder license and install it on a new PC you were building. This was good, because people were doing this anyway. Really, they were just undoing a ridiculous licensing change they made for Windows 7.
As Microsoft’s Windows 8 licensing guide puts it:
Windows 8’s license changes were widely reported on at the time. And, for a time, everything was fixed.
Windows 8.1 Changed Everything Back
Windows 8.1 is considered a completely new operating system, and it has a new license agreement. The personal use allowance was removed from the Windows 8.1 System Builder license. You may have purchased a System Builder copy of Windows 8.1 after hearing this problem was solved in Windows 8, but sorry! You’re using a non-genuine copy of Windows in Microsoft’s eyes. This is spelled out very clearly on Microsoft’s “Windows system builder licensing for personal use” page:
Yikes! Who can keep track of this stuff?
Want a Legitimate License? Those Cost Extra
If you actually read the licensing agreement, you have a choice. You can knowingly violate the license by buying the same copy of Windows most people are buying — one that Microsoft goes back and forth between allowing and disallowing. Or, you can try to “do the right thing” and follow the licensing agreement. Want to do the right thing? That will cost you extra — “doing the right thing” is a premium product.
It’s price segmentation — do you just want a copy of Windows that will work normally? Here you go, $130 for the Professional edition. Do you want to obey the licensing agreement and have a properly licensed copy of Windows Professional? That’ll be $46 extra; thanks for your business.
Of course, Microsoft isn’t actually enforcing this, not as far as we know. But they do perform software licensing audits on businesses. If you use Windows 8.1 for business, you better spend the extra money on the retail edition, just to be safe — and that’s what they’re counting on.
Hopefully, Microsoft didn’t respond to us because they knew this licensing fiasco is indefensible. They may have already fixed this problem for the next version of Windows. (Or that may be wishful thinking.)
Image Credit: Robert Scoble on Flickr
