Microsoft: Switching Your OS Is Illegal

OSNews reader David S. MacLachlan wrote in to tell us about an editorial at OSOpinion: “Seems that there’s a bit more to the End User License Agreement that Microsoft has in force… if you purchase a computer that has Windows pre-installed, you’re legally required to not install any other OS on it… even if the computer has been donated to you or sold to you as used.” Update: As many readers have already stated, the claims do not seem to hold. There is a clause in the XP OEM license saying that the software is “attached” to the specific hardware, can only be used with that specific hardware, and must be transfered with that specific hardware, but that’s a normal OEM clause.

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