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fordomatic69 · 09-19-03, 07:45 PM

I would say that is not entirely accurate. True, she is fully licensed for WM2003 but if she were to downgrade to PPC2002, then her WM2003 license is no longer in use on her AXIM. I worked for a software company which was a premier MS business partner for many years and in many conversations with MicroSoft folks and our corporate lawyer, this would be considered a "grey area". It is illegal to UPGRADE software without a license but downgrading is a relatively new concept that most software companies didn't consider when designing their license agreements (they assumed that everyone would want to upgrade only..... never downgrade.....the morons...LOL). My new company is currently upgrading MS-Office from 97 to 2000 but you cannot buy Office 2000 anymore so we checked with Microsoft and we were able to buy Office-XP licenses but install Office 2000. As long as the number of XP licenses we buy is equal to or more than the number of PC's we install Office 2000 on.

I would say to do the downgrade. You can't make an AXIM dual boot and as long as you have one valid licence for an upgrade product, what is the harm? Once WM2003 is fixed, then you can upgrade again, no harm ever done.

FYI.....Also, if you check the MS license agreement closely for the Windows OS, you can buy one copy of say Windows XP and install it on both a laptop and a desktop that you own because the license agreement talks about a stationary copy and a mobile copy from a single license purchase. (I spent many days on the phone clarifying this one too). Sometimes you will see a sticker on the bottom of a laptop that has 2 License keys for Windows, the first is for the laptop and the 2nd is for a desktop for the same user.

Sorry to go on and on.

09-19-03, 07:45 PM	#40 (permalink)
fordomatic69 Aximsite Prospect Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 17 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I would say that is not entirely accurate. True, she is fully licensed for WM2003 but if she were to downgrade to PPC2002, then her WM2003 license is no longer in use on her AXIM. I worked for a software company which was a premier MS business partner for many years and in many conversations with MicroSoft folks and our corporate lawyer, this would be considered a "grey area". It is illegal to UPGRADE software without a license but downgrading is a relatively new concept that most software companies didn't consider when designing their license agreements (they assumed that everyone would want to upgrade only..... never downgrade.....the morons...LOL). My new company is currently upgrading MS-Office from 97 to 2000 but you cannot buy Office 2000 anymore so we checked with Microsoft and we were able to buy Office-XP licenses but install Office 2000. As long as the number of XP licenses we buy is equal to or more than the number of PC's we install Office 2000 on. I would say to do the downgrade. You can't make an AXIM dual boot and as long as you have one valid licence for an upgrade product, what is the harm? Once WM2003 is fixed, then you can upgrade again, no harm ever done. FYI.....Also, if you check the MS license agreement closely for the Windows OS, you can buy one copy of say Windows XP and install it on both a laptop and a desktop that you own because the license agreement talks about a stationary copy and a mobile copy from a single license purchase. (I spent many days on the phone clarifying this one too). Sometimes you will see a sticker on the bottom of a laptop that has 2 License keys for Windows, the first is for the laptop and the 2nd is for a desktop for the same user. Sorry to go on and on.