In message , Tim Meddick
writes:
(To others who generously thought I meant something else - I didn't - sorry)

Well, I tried entering a valid key into (all non-OEM) copies of Win98,
WinME and WinNT4 and none of those ever worked!!

In what sense was it "a valid key"? For what? (Though I do remember - a
_long_ time ago - finding that a key from one Microsoft product worked
with another: I think that might have been Windows 95 and Office 95. But
as I say, that was a long time ago. Almost certainly not now.)

What makes XP so different that it will accept unique keys from any
similar XP version?
[]
I think what Ken and I mean is this: the CDs are not made individually -
they're mass-produced, much like audio CDs. (For a long time I've
wondered why they _don't_ make a CD with a tiny writable part, but they
don't.) [XP isn't different in this respect.] If you were to obtain two
CDs for the same product - two retail copies of XP, 98, Office, or
probably even Vista or 7 - then as long as they were _exactly_ the same
product (Home or Pro, retail or OEM, if OEM for the same batch of
hardware), then the same key would work with both - until you went
online to register the second one, at least. But it _would_ get you
through the installation process.
--
J. P. Gilliver. 27 years experience in the electronics industry - seeking
employment (also computer, tester, trainer ...); email for details: CV at
http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/CV2010-3.tif (2-sheet TIFF)!

War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. -Ambrose Bierce, writer
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