System Builders Sell Bare Licenses

System Builders can now resell OS packages containing copies of Windows XP independently from hardware, as the result of recent changes to the System Builders license agreement. This change and a related decision to provide System Builder packages that include only a single copy of Windows XP eliminate restrictions that many vendors worked around and may also aid volume licensing customers who have purchased bare PCs without OSs and want to make them compliant with Microsoft’s volume licensing rules.

Hardware Requirement

System Builders are generally smaller PC manufacturers who purchase packages from Microsoft that contain from one to 30 copies of the Windows OS. Each copy includes an installation CD-ROM, an End User License Agreement (EULA), and a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). The System Builder uses the disk to load the OS on a new computer, sticks the COA on the PC, and includes the disk and EULA when the computer is sold to customers. (For an illustration of the COA, see “Certificate of Authenticity“.)