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Number 1 on the list was a request to make Windows licensing and activation simpler. I noted:

It is almost impossible for mere mortals to understand the nuances of OEM SLP activation and why the product key on the sticker on the side of your PC won’t work after you reinstall Windows. Corporations can pay people to figure this stuff out. Consumers and small business people shouldn’t have to.

Today, as I was poking around Microsoft’s OEM Partner Center (restricted to enrolled members only), I found a perfect example of how much confusion surrounds the subject of licensing.

Back in August 2005, Microsoft made some substantial changes to its license for OEM System Builder copies of Windows. Previously, the terms for these Windows versions were simply ridiculous. You could buy an OEM copy of Windows from a reseller such as Newegg or Mwave, but only if you purchased a “qualifying non-peripheral computer hardware component” with it. As a result, resellers had to go through the charade of bundling a 99-cent power cable to make the purchase legal, and then they had to keep a record of the bundled purchase in case Microsoft did an audit of their sales.

As I noted back then, the new license terms were considerably saner. Microsoft introduced a single-pack edition of its OEM System Builder software and allowed resellers to distribute unopened packages to another “system builder” without requiring a trivial hardware purchase. In the documentation announcing the change in license terms, Microsoft specifically noted that end users could take advantage of this option as well, as long as they were building a system for their own use. The following language was included in a web page at the OEM Partner Center and in a PDF handout made available for OEM partners:

OEM system builder software packs are intended for PC and server manufacturers or assemblers ONLY. They are not intended for distribution to end users. Unless the end user is actually assembling his/her own PC, in which case, that end user is considered a system builder as well. [emphasis added]

In late 2006, I downloaded that PDF file, bookmarked that web page, and took a snapshot of the page as well, thinking it might come in handy some day. I’ve referred to that language repeatedly when writing about OEM licenses over the past few years, and I’ve checked those pages as recently as December 2007.