Updated: July 11, 2020 (September 18, 2000)
Analyst ReportSelect Customers May Clone PCs
A recent policy change allows customers who have Select volume license agreements to re-image or “clone” PC configurations. The change affects the practice of copying a drive image of a completely configured machine to new machines. Previously, Microsoft required companies who cloned an operating system from a source to a target machine to buy upgrade rights for the target (e.g., by purchasing an Upgrade Advantage license)even if the target were already licensed (by the OEM) for the same operating system version. Microsoft has now lifted that requirement for customers in the Select and Enterprise Agreement volume license programs, which cover companies with 1,000 or more PCs.
Customers still may not use retail or OEM CD-ROMs for reimagingthe new policy allows reimaging only with the media that large customers get with their volume licensing agreement. In addition, customers who overwrite an OEM version of the operating system could lose the OEM’s support, Microsoft warns. Gartner Group’s Neil MacDonald, who publicized the earlier policy, has called the change a “positive step forward,” but he urges customers to get written amendments to their Select agreements documenting their new rights.
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