General Questions Thread

[felix]

A sort of old school flying shouter game. The type where you fly a little ship in a 2D world and kills flying objects that come your way.



Touhou Threads: [1] [2]

As far as I know...

[monster]

Originally Posted by Frailty

someone sent me this trick question.. it goes like this
"If John is the son of Joe, then Joe is the ____ of John's Father"

am still trying to figure out what to put in the blank XD

Spoiler for alternative alternative alternative answer:

The first thing I could think of is: name

[Sephi]

Question:

I got a legal Home XP OEM Key with my notebook. I use it on this notebook, it verifies and i can update. BUT!

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer? Would i still be able to update? I can't imagine Microsoft having a method of finding out this isn't the same computer, or do they?

I also have a legal Vista Home Premium OEM Key. I installed it on VMware and it works. I could update vista. But from what i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom. So that could be the reason that it works

[escimo]

Originally Posted by Sephi

Question:

I got a legal Home XP OEM Key with my notebook. I use it on this notebook, it verifies and i can update. BUT!

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer? Would i still be able to update? I can't imagine Microsoft having a method of finding out this isn't the same computer, or do they?

It's possible, on-line activation probably won't work and it's a violation of Microsoft's OEM license. OEM-licenses are hardware locked. More specifically motherboard, which you're allowed to change only if it's broken.

I also have a legal Vista Home Premium OEM Key. I installed it on VMware and it works. I could update vista. But from what i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom. So that could be the reason that it works

Many manufacturers use volume OEM-licenses which are pre-activated and thus use a different license number when pre-installed. The licence number in the sticker is the actual licence but it's locked to the motherboard in question as well. Using it in other computers or virtual machines is once again license violation.

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Sephi

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer?

You would be in breach of the end user license agreement.

Originally Posted by Sephi

Would i still be able to update?

I imagine you would be prevented from even activating the key... so no.

Originally Posted by Sephi

i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom.

No idea if that is true or not. They normally use pre-prepared hard-disk images to mass produce the systems, which are probably pre-activated and you only need to activate the key on reinstall, i.e. key had spare activations. I thought I had to activate the last laptop I bought though, after entering a few details to set up a local account. It is a long time since I've been through the process though, so I could be remembering incorrectly, and vista might be completely different from XP...

Edit: Ah, confirmation from escimo.

[Sephi]

Ok thanks both.

So "breach of the end user license agreement" is the only thing to it...
Guess i'll have to test it out to see if i can still update after

[TinyRedLeaf]

How did people brush their teeth, before toothbrushes were invented?

[NightWish]

Your question is somewhat nonsensical. Surely, if they brushed their teeth at all it would be with, by definition, a toothbrush. The device could not have been used before its invention/discovery so people wouldn't have brushed their teeth until they had toothbrushes. I believe the earliest device, found in Egypt, was a simple wooden stick with the ends all frayed. Though granted it is probably a far cry from what you might normally call a toothbrush... Apparently the Chinese were the first to create something similar to the sort of thing we use today, around the 1400s.

[Kyuusai]

Originally Posted by Sephi

Question:

I got a legal Home XP OEM Key with my notebook. I use it on this notebook, it verifies and i can update. BUT!

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer? Would i still be able to update? I can't imagine Microsoft having a method of finding out this isn't the same computer, or do they?

I also have a legal Vista Home Premium OEM Key. I installed it on VMware and it works. I could update vista. But from what i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom. So that could be the reason that it works

If you are simply moving your license to another computer, you won't have a problem. The worst that will happen is you'll have to call Microsoft for an activation key probably after answering a few questions to explain that you aren't pirating or using simultaneous installs, but you probably won't even have to do that.

If you are using simultaneous installs... Don't expect it to keep working.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

How did people brush their teeth, before toothbrushes were invented?

Many ancient people chewed on or rubbed their teeth with frayed twigs, which we have evidence of up to about 3000 BC in Egypt.

The Chinese are known to have actual toothbrushes as far back as the 1400s AD, made out of bamboo and boars' hair.

Edit: Darn it, beat to it by Nightwish.

[mangalowres]

Originally Posted by Kyuusai

If you are simply moving your license to another computer, you won't have a problem. The worst that will happen is you'll have to call Microsoft for an activation key probably after answering a few questions to explain that you aren't pirating or using simultaneous installs, but you probably won't even have to do that.

You can't switsch OEM Keys that easyly.

[TinyRedLeaf]

But... but... it is the silly question thread, is it not?

I would have thought a finger would suffice. I sometimes had to do that out in the field during military missions. Too lazy and tired to pull the damned brush out of the backpack.

[WanderingKnight]

But... but... it is the silly question thread, is it not?

Originally Posted by First post

1. Only purposeful questions may be posted here. If anyone posts a pointless silly question I will banish your post to the dark side.

Be thankful

[Kyuusai]

Originally Posted by mangalowres

You can't switsch OEM Keys that easyly.

It is a breach of their license, but that is not a legally binding contract on the customer. (When the courts say otherwise, I'll change my tune.)

It isn't hard, though. You re-activate by phone. Upon failing to activate, Windows will generate a special key, you call the number and input the key, explain the reasoning ("upgrade", for instance), and they give you an activation key.

[mangalowres]

Yup be thankful, if it would be me I would have got a message from an admin .... they don't seem to like me.

Originally Posted by Kyuusai

It is a breach of their license, but that is not a legally binding contract on the customer. (When the courts say otherwise, I'll change my tune.)

It isn't hard, though. You re-activate by phone. Upon failing to activate, Windows will generate a special key, you call the number and input the key, explain the reasoning ("upgrade", for instance), and they give you an activation key.

And then the nice woman on the other side of the telephone line will say "NO"

Switching OEM license from one computer to another can be very difficult maybe impossible but Microsoft is getting more and more liberal.
Ten years ago it was an impossiblie mission

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Sephi

Question:

I got a legal Home XP OEM Key with my notebook. I use it on this notebook, it verifies and i can update. BUT!

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer? Would i still be able to update? I can't imagine Microsoft having a method of finding out this isn't the same computer, or do they?

I also have a legal Vista Home Premium OEM Key. I installed it on VMware and it works. I could update vista. But from what i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom. So that could be the reason that it works

I've done something similar to your question. I was in the process of switching my girlfriend over to a Macbook. So that she wouldn't lose productivity, I used VMWare's converter tool to turn her old laptop into a virtual machine file. (Side note: that utility is free and awesome, and it will save you tons of time in setting up a Windows VM if someone already had a Windows environment that they were using.)

I'm pretty sure that her install was using the OEM key that came with her laptop. Upon booting the virtual machine I was brought to an activation screen, and much to my surprise it activated successfully. Some WGA-like technology was in use on that install so that she could update her copy of Office, and it didn't throw any issues. What I don't remember is whether her PC laptop still has the same key as the VM. If it does, there are no issues (although she doesn't use the VM anymore, really). If it doesn't, then there were no issues during the time that the two did share the same key.

[WanderingKnight]

Question:

I got a legal Home XP OEM Key with my notebook. I use it on this notebook, it verifies and i can update. BUT!

What happens if i use the same key for my other computer? Would i still be able to update? I can't imagine Microsoft having a method of finding out this isn't the same computer, or do they?

I also have a legal Vista Home Premium OEM Key. I installed it on VMware and it works. I could update vista. But from what i heard most notebook manufacturers use a key for notebook different than the one written on the bottom. So that could be the reason that it works
I've done something similar to your question. I was in the process of switching my girlfriend over to a Macbook. So that she wouldn't lose productivity, I used VMWare's converter tool to turn her old laptop into a virtual machine file. (Side note: that utility is free and awesome, and it will save you tons of time in setting up a Windows VM if someone already had a Windows environment that they were using.)

I haven't tried it with Windows, but I found VirtualBox to be a much simpler and powerful tool when dealing with VMs. VMWare seemed obtrusive, unintuitive and overall bothering.

[genryou]

Is it possible to create an emulator for the next generation console such as PS3 and Xbox360?

[escimo]

Originally Posted by genryou

Is it possible to create an emulator for the next generation console such as PS3 and Xbox360?

Yes, just not now. The architectural differences cause a huge loss of processing power when emulated thus there's no pc on the market today capable to compensate it. In few years to come, maybe. However both Xbox360 and PS3 are quite complex systems, so I doubt that no-one will bother to make an emulator. So it'll quite surely be possible just unlikely to happen.

[KiNA]

Current PC cant even handle PS2 emulator

[Narzia]

What's up with the different user tags?

・ Graphic Designer
・ IT Support
・ Artist
・ Fansubber (though that's self-explanatory, same with Site Staff and Moderator)
・ Author

How and when do you get them? No, i'm not asking for one. ^^
Couldn't find an explanation for that.