This article tries to claim that this isn't so, then seeks to reassure the average reader by saying in effect, "Don't worry, this only hurts hardware enthusiasts, and who cares about them?"
Wow, that made me feel a whole lot better!!! How about you?
Three Scenarios
Taking the terms of the Vista licenses and the clarifications found in the abovementioned article, this is what appears to be the situation:
Situation #1: You are a very honest person who buys an OEM copy of Vista for your system. In the due course of events, you decide you need a new motherboard, maybe a new CPU, too. You do the deed, and behold, you can't automatically reactivate again.
You call up Redmond, and you can do one of two things. You can be honest, or you can lie.
If you are honest, and tell Redmond, "There's nothing wrong with the mobo, I just wanted a new one, and I'm going to sell the old one to my cousin," Redmond's going to tell you, "You're buying a new copy of Vista, Charlie."
If you lie and tell Redmond, "My dog ate my mobo," then they'll reactivate you. Moral of the story: It pays to lie to Redmond.
Situation #2: You are a very honest person, and you buy a retail copy of Vista. You do the same thing, and reactivation doesn't work here, either.
You call up Redmond, and you can do one of two things. You can be honest, or you can lie.
If you are honest, Redmond will activate you, but you've eaten your one transfer. Your honesty has earned you a downgrade from retail to OEM license.
If you lie and tell Redmond, "My dog ate my mobo," you don't (apparently) eat your one transfer. Once again, dishonesty is better.
Situation #3: You write for a hardware site. Your job is to test motherboards. In the past with XP, well, you "found" a copy that doesn't require activation, naturally, and that's what you used to test, because you didn't want to call Redmond more often than Bill Gates does while on the road.
With Vista, there isn't such an activation-free beast any longer. What happens to you? God only knows. You really can't lie and tell them "my mobo broke," that gets a little stale after the tenth or twentieth try. Maybe the person in Redmond knows who you are and reactivates you; maybe that person doesn't, and won't.
What is a hardware site supposed to do? Buy umpteen copies of Vista a year? Just what are they supposed to do?
Yes, in all three scenarios, one could always sell the OS along with the mobo and/or hard drive, but it's none too clear what happens when the buyer tries to activate, or what his exact rights are after you've sold it.
A Better Idea
It is incompetent for MS or any apologists for MS to say in effect, "Spelling out the rules for people like you is just too tough for us, so we won't. Go buy another copy."
It is certainly masochistic unethical, not to mention stupendously stupid, to essentially reward people for lying to you AND make it much easier for people pursuing legitimate activities to do so illegally rather than legally.
It seems to me that a much, much better way to handle activation is to adapt what MS essentially is already doing for OEM copies of the OS: the motherboard is the machine, and to adapt their policies around that.
www.overclockers.com
Don't you hate M$?