I am not a lawyer, however...
Remember that all licenses are rights to use the software under the terms of the license not ownership of the product.
Definition - a licensing audit is when an organization reviews the installation of software on a business set up to verify that all the software is installed and used with in the EULA (ie no multiple installs of a single licensed product).
There is confusion about what an OEM license is. An OEM license is issued for installation of the operating system (or any software licensed this way but I will use OS for simplicity) on a new computer. Computer builders can purchase these licenses at high volume, lower prices for installation on their computers. This same license can be purchased by individuals building their own computers. The hardware requirement is quite liberal for allowing purchase of an OEM license. If you build your own computer you are fine. Resellers are not scamming anyone, they are selling these licenses as directed by Microsoft however you, the end user, are responsible for meeting the EULA terms.
If you have a prebuilt computer then you can not install an OEM licensed software on that computer. It may work but it would not stand up to a software licensing audit.
The situation in purchasing the windows xp disks at deep discounts is suspect to me. I would not risk that on a business installation.
Another example is purchasing an academic version of XP professional to install an upgrade to XP home. Using this would work fine, activate, etc. However you would fail a licensing audit since you are using the license in a business and not academic setting.
I am not your lawyer, you need to read the EULA when you click the "I Agree" button.
Geoffrey Thomas, DO
