Life of a Sysadmin

The occassional trials and tribulations of a jack of all tr ades sysadmin in a startup in Silicon Valley

archives

October 2008 (2)
September 2008 (3)
June 2008 (1)
April 2008 (1)
March 2008 (6)
December 2007 (6)
October 2007 (1)
September 2007 (1)
August 2007 (2)
July 2007 (1)
June 2007 (5)
May 2007 (5)
April 2007 (3)
March 2007 (7)
February 2007 (2)
January 2007 (3)
December 2006 (4)
November 2006 (3)
October 2006 (3)
August 2006 (3)
July 2006 (1)
June 2006 (2)
May 2006 (4)
April 2006 (2)
March 2006 (5)
February 2006 (5)
January 2006 (7)
December 2005 (2)
November 2005 (6)
October 2005 (4)
September 2005 (4)
August 2005 (1)
July 2005 (2)
June 2005 (3)
May 2005 (4)
April 2005 (1)
March 2005 (2)

August 2007

OEM Licenses, or Trying to make a non sysadmin understand software licensing

"I bought alaptop. I could return my company issued one if I could get a copy of Office for it." an engineer stopping by my office tells me.

"Yes, and that license wasn't for Office Professional, plus it would be for Office 2007 and not Office 2003."

"Couldn't we just move the copy installed on my company laptop?" the engineer continues hopefully.

"Nope. OEM licenses purchased from Dell and the like are tied to the machine they were purchased on. $370 gets us permission to both install older versions and the ability to move a license from one machine to another."