Windows 8 gets Personal Use License for anyone building their own PC

[p2p rules]

Microsoft has never really acknowledged or supported those among us who choose to build their own PCs. Windows licensing is usually offered in three forms: full retail product license, retail upgrade license, and OEM license. If you want to build your own machine at the moment, Microsoft expects you to buy a full retail copy of Windows, and states clearly that using the OEM licensed version is prohibited by individuals. The price difference made the OEM version the one to get, though.

With Windows 8 that all changes and Microsoft has decided to actively support individuals who want to build their own machines or run Windows 8 as a virtual machine. That support comes in the form of a new license option called the Personal Use License for System Builder (PULSB).

With PULSB, Microsoft is dumping the full retail license used in previous versions. Instead it is offering a version of Windows 8 to be installed as the main operating system on a single system meant for personal use, or in a virtual machine running on an existing PC (running any legal OS such as Windows 7, Mac OS X, or your favorite flavor of Linux).

Although final pricing for Windows 8 hasn’t been announced yet, the PULSB license will definitely be cheaper than purchasing a full retail license and probably on a par with OEM pricing. It is also expected that pricing in general for the new OS will be lower than what we currently pay for copies of Windows 7.

One other surprising change with Windows 8 is the complete re-write Microsoft has carried out on the EULA. It is now written in plain English and split in two, with the first half presented in a Q&A format to help answer the most common questions. It means that if you do want to sit and read the EULA, or have a question that needs answering, it may actually be quite pleasant to load up the license and start reading.
Read more at ZDNet

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