Ethics question

[oldman420]

Would it be unethical to install vista ultimate vs home or basic as a way to see if I like it enough to buy the key?
no registry hacks just install it and see then uninstall and reinstall my licenced version afterword?

 

[lxskllr]

As long as you did exactly that I think it would be ethical. I'm guessing that would violate the EULA though. I wouldn't have a problem with that decision, and I bet if you asked Mr. Gates when his team of lawyers weren't around he wouldn't have a problem with it either. I'd just do what you have to do, and don't talk about it.

 

[M00T]

Originally posted by: oldman420
Would it be unethical to install vista ultimate vs home or basic as a way to see if I like it enough to buy the key?
no registry hacks just install it and see then uninstall and reinstall my licenced version afterword?

EULAs and copyrights have nothing to do with ethics.

 

[n7]

I believe you can install Vista w/o entering a key; it sets you up w/ a 30 day trial?

I could be mistaken though.

 

[nweaver]

I would guess they actually set up Vista so that you COULD try ulitmate, so that they could tempt you into buying a live update.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: n7
I believe you can install Vista w/o entering a key; it sets you up w/ a 30 day trial?

I could be mistaken though.

no...you have 30days to activate it before it locks you out. It's not necessarily a trial, but it's just giving you the time to activate it.

You are right, you can install it without a CDKey.

 

[jkresh]

Its fine (its probably part of the reason its on the same disk), and with windows anytime upgrade if you do like it you can just buy the upgraded license you don't have to buy a new disk.

 

[RebateMonger]

You can install any verison of Vista, without a Key, for a 30-day trial. Additionally, MS has provided a way to extend that "free" period for 60 or 90 more days.

There's nothing unethical about it.

 

[Netopia]

If you sniff around on http://www.langa.com, there are instructions for how to extend that 30 days for several months, for testing purposes.

Joe

 

[oldman420]

I am not interested in extending the activation or any of that, I just wanted to see the difference, so far not a lot to see. I will re-insatll this weekend with my real key.

 

[Smilin]

Get an eval version.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Get an eval version.

I thought that Vista installed without a Key WAS the evaluation version. Where else would you get an trial version? MS doesn't list one at the Microsoft Product Information Center. Only an XP Trial is shown.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Smilin
Get an eval version.

I thought that Vista installed without a Key WAS the evaluation version. Where else would you get an trial version? MS doesn't list one at the Microsoft Product Information Center. Only an XP Trial is shown.

where would you get a copy of Vista to "try" without pirating it? Borrow from a friend?

MS does not offer a legal way to try out the OS...but if you have a copy of the OS, you can evaluate it all you want.

 

[SniperWulf]

Thats what I did. And yes, I did borrow a friends disc. After about 3 weeks, I decided it was good enough a platform to justify getting a retail box. So I just ordered it off the egg, put my key in and called it a day.

 

[oldman420]

I purchased business so I have a legit key just was too lazy to put in in at the prompt and was suprised to see the list of os choices that popped up

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Smilin
Get an eval version.

I thought that Vista installed without a Key WAS the evaluation version. Where else would you get an trial version? MS doesn't list one at the Microsoft Product Information Center. Only an XP Trial is shown.

where would you get a copy of Vista to "try" without pirating it? Borrow from a friend?

MS does not offer a legal way to try out the OS...but if you have a copy of the OS, you can evaluate it all you want.

if you own the OS you may as well just activate it anyway. This doesn't even make sense to me...what people are asking. As you said there is no free way to get Vista legally.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
if you own the OS you may as well just activate it anyway. This doesn't even make sense to me...what people are asking. As you said there is no free way to get Vista legally.

I have fourteen licenses for Vista: (2) Home Premium, (10) Business, and (2) Ultimate. But I have yet to Activate one.

I'm running Vista on various spare PCs when they are available. Just to get familiarity and for performance testing. When I have to pull a hard drive for some other purpose, Vista goes away on that PC.

The PCs where my Vista licenses will finally be Activated don't exist yet. I'd like to run Vista Ultimate on my personal desktop, but there's no Vista driver for the RAID controller I use, so I'm waiting for a RAID controller to free up from one of my Servers.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
if you own the OS you may as well just activate it anyway. This doesn't even make sense to me...what people are asking. As you said there is no free way to get Vista legally.

I have fourteen licenses for Vista: (2) Home Premium, (10) Business, and (2) Ultimate. But I have yet to Activate one.

I'm running Vista on various spare PCs when they are available. Just to get familiarity and for performance testing. When I have to pull a hard drive for some other purpose, Vista goes away on that PC.

The PCs where my Vista licenses will finally be Activated don't exist yet. I'd like to run Vista Ultimate on my personal desktop, but there's no Vista driver for the RAID controller I use, so I'm waiting for a RAID controller to free up from one of my Servers.

So? This guy is obviously an individual user.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
So? This guy is obviously an individual user.

Actually, I'm an individual user too...but I was just trying to point out that there could be several reasons why somebody could own a Vista license but not want to Activate it right now. Especially if it's an OEM license and he/she plans on building a new "Vista PC" in the near future.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
So? This guy is obviously an individual user.

Actually, I'm an individual user too...but I was just trying to point out that there could be several reasons why somebody could own a Vista license but not want to Activate it right now. Especially if it's an OEM license and he/she plans on building a new "Vista PC" in the near future.

Exactly. I've got Vista temporarily installed to my F: drive while I wait to purchase a new boot drive. I don't want to activate right now, because it may be a pain later to activate after installing to the new boot drive.