I just had a very interesting conversation with a Microsoft representative about OEM licensing. This may be preaching to the choir, but it made me decide to be a lot more careful when I sell a system that I put Windows in.

The thing that concerns me most is that I found out that there are kinds of OEM licenses that totally tie Windows to one particular machine. Oh, I know you’re all familiar with the fact that large OEMs are able to tie Windows not only to one machine, but to one motherboard in particular.

I won’t begin to tell you how I feel about that, except to say that I’m about as opposed to that as can be. It’s the same way I feel about Apple as a single source for all its hardware. What bothers me most, I think, is that I was told that there are varying degrees of OEM licensing that could tie users to one company just as thoroughly, but in a much sneakier way.

I wasn’t aware of this subtle grade of coercion. I guess I just missed it somewhere along the way. The way it works is this: You build someone a system and they say “I want Windows on it.” You install an OEM copy of Windows and time passes. The customer gets a number of minor upgrades until there comes a point where the customer either changes the motherboard or just starts fresh. What would you do? You’d install the OEM copy of Windows that you “own.” Which is where you’d get in a lot of hot water. The OEM license, if it’s not the ‘right’ kind, would leave that customer totally without Microsoft support. Period.

Look at it like ‘the next step’ in its Genuine Windows program. Not only can it keep you from things like phone support, but in the future, who’s to say that it won’t mean being locked out of patches and other downloads?

So when you install OEM Windows, please be sure that you’re buying and installing the right flavor. No one wants a mob of angry customers with torches and axes at their door.