[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Tue, Oct 27 2009 12:53 bradley

Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade 

Microsoft SMB Community Blog : Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know.:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2009/10/27/regardless-of-what-any-hack-says-a-windows-7-upgrade-is-an-upgrade-what-you-need-to-know.aspx

Microsoft SMB Community Blog : No, OEM Microsoft Windows licenses cannot be transferred to another PC:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2009/10/27/no-oem-microsoft-windows-licenses-cannot-be-transferred-to-another-pc.aspx

Already there is buzz about using upgrade media to perform a clean install.  "But if Microsoft didn't want us to to it they would block it'.  
Wrong.  It's there for us that are needing upgrade paths but the upgrade media alone is not a qualifying media to perform an upgrade.
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# re: Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:27 PM by Eric Ligman

Thanks for helping spread the word, Susan.  It's too bad these folks are trying to give customers the wrong information.  I appreciate the help getting the "RIGHT" word out there.  :-)

Thanks,

Eric Ligman

# re: OEM licensing

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 4:53 PM by Joe Raby

Maybe you should point out about transfer rights with Software Assurance as an add-on to OEM software too.  

Yes, you can buy Software Assurance and add it to OEM software without buying licenses through a volume license agreement.  Software Assurance will still be set up through a volume license agreement, but the OEM-supplied licenses are the only licenses you need.  If I remember correctly, SA can only be renewed once, after which you have to buy new licenses.  SA as an add-on can run up to 3 years, and a renewal can be purchased for another 3 years.  I doubt anybody would want to upgrade a computer to an OS that is released 6 years later.  It would make more sense to acquire new PCs and just start over with a new OEM license and a new SA contract to go with it.  OEM software is always the cheapest way to buy full-license Microsoft OS software, and since most PC's will ship with it, buying upgrade licenses through a volume license agreement doesn't make a lot of sense when Software Assurance comes with upgrade rights already.

# re: Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:45 AM by Kevin

My question is this - legally, ethically, or morally, is there anyone in the world who needs to pay full retail? If a person is installing Windows 7 on a new computer that did not come with the OS installed (and how many new computers don't?), they should be able to qualify for an OEM license. If they are installing it an old computer, then that computer was running some kind of OS, and that OS was probably a previous version of Windows.

I guess there might be a few who were running linux that this would apply to, but I guess I just don't see this as a huge issue.