exploits , vulnerabilities , articles , Downgrade Rights As a Backdoor to Continue to Sell XP?
| 2008-05-01 |
Downgrade Rights As a Backdoor to Continue to Sell XP?
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As you surely know by now, the latest hype on the web is stories, news, or supposedly new quotes regarding the potential availability of Windows XP after June 30th, when Microsoft will cease selling the seven year old operating system. The latest development? Big PC companies like Dell and HP have found a backdoor to keep on selling XP after 30 June. And no, it doesn't involve Windows 2003.
The Windows Vista End User License Agreement has this thing in it called "downgrade rights" - well, only the business and ultimate versions do, anyway. These rights basically mean that end-users may purchase the most recent version of Windows, but "continue to run run a previous version until they are ready to move to the new operating system version". The trick employed by HP and Dell entails that they already perform the downgrade themselves, so the customer basically gets an XP machine with an already paid for Windows Vista Business/Ultimate license. This trick only works for XP Professional, as XP Home's license does not have downgrade provisions. There's a cool new term for it too: pre-upgrade machines. The linguist in me loves that term so much.
There are quite a few catches to all this, though. The biggest one I've seen is that Microsoft states in a FAQ about downgrade rights for OEMs:
Q. Can I ship media for the downgrade software system as well as most recent version they are using to downgrade from?
A. No - downgrade media is provided by the end customer.
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