Vista OEM versions

Smiler

Smiler

Smiler

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Looking at the oem versions of Vista Home Edition as advertised on this site. What is OEM? Is it Original Equipment Manufacturer and designed to be preinstalled into machines for general sale? What drawbcaks are there? Are there any known bugs or compatability problems?

I'm looking to get the 64 bit version as I'm looking to get a 64 bit athalon CPU. This will only be a cheaper £50 version though (can't remeber which one) Will it struggle?

Cheers,

Smiler
 
There is plenty of info on this, look in the Licencing sticky, it's the same as XP or just a have a search for my posts in Windows.

There are also plenty of post on whether 32 or 64bit is better.

If you have any specific questions not answered before, feel free to ask.

Burnsy
 
Microsoft normally permit reinsalls over & over if you tell them you fitted new parts but apparently with Vista they are to crack down & you may have a fight
on your hands .
Why would the retail version be 3 times the price if the OEM version could be used indefinately is the question
if you change your mobo for instance & want to reactivate then the system scan will show different hardware which could also indicate a different machine as far as Microsift are concerned. Lots of info re this on the net so beware if you frequently update your kit
 
If you stop to think that Bill gates has announced personally that Vista is the
end of the road for windows versions as there is nothing more that can be done to improve it apart from updates & possible add-ons then the answer is right before you.
What happens when we've all got Vista installed in the near future & income is falling for MS ? The answer is to stop reactivating OEM & forcing you to buy another. If this was announced today by MS then OEM sales would plummit & a lot of us would stick to XP rather than fork out for the retail version. Give it a year & the ' included hardware ' loophole will be closed
 
Usher said:
What happens when we've all got Vista installed in the near future & income is falling for MS? The answer is to stop reactivating OEM & forcing you to buy another.
Click to expand...

The can't and won't do this. In the hugely unlikely event this happens, I'll envisage a lot of court action.
Usher said:
Give it a year & the ' included hardware ' loophole will be closed
Click to expand...

Eh? What loophole?

There is a lot more that can happen to Windows, innovation doesn't just dry up.

Burnsy
 
burnsy2023 said:
The can't and won't do this. In the hugely unlikely event this happens, I'll envisage a lot of court action.


Eh? What loophole?

.
Click to expand...

Court action , loophole ? OEM is only supposed to be supplied & fitted by a
PC retailer & is only meant to last the life of that machine, why does anybody ever need to buy the retail version if the OEM lasts forever





Last week, IT PRO's sister publication PC Pro revealed how angry PC owners are turning on Microsoft after their upgrade vouchers for Windows Vista were deemed ineligible. Customers who bought OEM versions of Windows XP, complete with an upgrade voucher for Vista, are being told they don't qualify for the upgrade unless the operating system was installed on a brand new machine by a system builder.

Microsoft claims the OEM versions should only be sold to system builders and not the general public, but online retailers such as Amazon have been making the OEM software freely available to consumers.
 
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more info here

The tech community has breathed a collective sigh of relief this week as Microsoft announced it was backflipping on a nasty clause in its EULA that prevented users from reinstalling Vista more than once on a new or modified PC.

However don't settle down for a bedtime story just yet: Microsoft hasn't done the full circus trick. The relaxed rules around transferring Vista to new PCs only apply if you purchase the expensive full retail edition of Vista -- which, frankly, few people will.

Sure, if you do bite the bullet and buy the boxed version at Harvey Norman, you'll be free to upgrade your machine or install Vista on another machine as many times as you like.

You won't be forced to plead with some out-sourced help-desk jockey to convince them that you just upgraded your CPU and video card.

Unfortunately OEM copies won't get the same liberties. These installations of Vista will still be restricted to only one transferal or one major upgrade to your machine.

This marks the death of the popular once-off 'I'll take one hard drive and an OEM copy of Windows with that, thanks' flavour of OS-sundae.

Microsoft has also tightened up the specific rules around what hardware an OEM copy of Windows can be sold with.

Straight from the horse's mouth -- "spokesperson" at Microsoft said:

"OEM versions of Windows Vista must be distributed to end-users with a fully assembled computer system and must be pre-installed."
 
Usher said:
more info here

The tech community has breathed a collective sigh of relief this week as Microsoft announced it was backflipping on a nasty clause in its EULA that prevented users from reinstalling Vista more than once on a new or modified PC.

However don't settle down for a bedtime story just yet: Microsoft hasn't done the full circus trick. The relaxed rules around transferring Vista to new PCs only apply if you purchase the expensive full retail edition of Vista -- which, frankly, few people will.

Sure, if you do bite the bullet and buy the boxed version at Harvey Norman, you'll be free to upgrade your machine or install Vista on another machine as many times as you like.

You won't be forced to plead with some out-sourced help-desk jockey to convince them that you just upgraded your CPU and video card.

Unfortunately OEM copies won't get the same liberties. These installations of Vista will still be restricted to only one transferal or one major upgrade to your machine.

This marks the death of the popular once-off 'I'll take one hard drive and an OEM copy of Windows with that, thanks' flavour of OS-sundae.

Microsoft has also tightened up the specific rules around what hardware an OEM copy of Windows can be sold with.

Straight from the horse's mouth -- "spokesperson" at Microsoft said:

"OEM versions of Windows Vista must be distributed to end-users with a fully assembled computer system and must be pre-installed."
Click to expand...

Where did you dig this up from - because it's certainly an old post.
Mainly because OEM versions of the OS can be sold without any hardware - they are simply tied to the first machine they are installed on to.

The way this article has been written I'm guessing the source as "The Register" or other equally anti-MS site.
 
Usher said:
Court action , loophole ? OEM is only supposed to be supplied & fitted by a
PC retailer & is only meant to last the life of that machine, why does anybody ever need to buy the retail version if the OEM lasts forever
Click to expand...

Correct, it does last the life of the machine, but that could easily be 5 to 7 years in some cases. And no, it's not just meant to be installed by a PC retailer. It's meant to be installed by a System Builder who shoul have the expertise to install and support the software.

MS are required to let you activate unless you break the licence agreement, and it doesn't matter if you have the OEM licence 5 or 15 years.

Usher said:
Last week, IT PRO's sister publication PC Pro revealed how angry PC owners are turning on Microsoft after their upgrade vouchers for Windows Vista were deemed ineligible. Customers who bought OEM versions of Windows XP, complete with an upgrade voucher for Vista, are being told they don't qualify for the upgrade unless the operating system was installed on a brand new machine by a system builder.
Click to expand...

This is not MS' fault. They advised all OEM distributors of the restrictions of the upgrade voucher as soon as the scheme started.


Usher said:
Microsoft claims the OEM versions should only be sold to system builders and not the general public, but online retailers such as Amazon have been making the OEM software freely available to consumers.
Click to expand...

Very true, but pretty much everyone here is a system builder and not the general public per se.

Burnsy
 
stoofa said:
Going to explain yourself further or another random post from a "cool to MS bash" person?
Click to expand...

Yes. I have potentialy paid a lot of money for that product and I should be able to use it as much as I want on my machine and not have to ask permission or purchase another one each time I upgrade my machine. If I bought a rathchet handle for my tool box and then bought some shiny new sockets to replace the old ones I wouldn't expect to have to buy another ratchet.

I can see the piracy problem microsoft have but I am also sure that through the registration system that there are ways of tying a serial numbered copy of windows to a serial numbered machine. If a poarticular machine can be identified over the internet by it's serial number then surely they can key the windows copy no. to that machine.

If I am talking gibberish with this I appologise as I am not all that into computers but I also don't like getting taken advantage of.

So no, I'm not a "cool MS basher".
 
ok listen ive talked to MS when i called to reactivate my vista because i added a hdd.. they told me they are not as strict as the news and sites are saying...
 
Smiler said:
Yes. I have potentialy paid a lot of money for that product and I should be able to use it as much as I want on my machine and not have to ask permission or purchase another one each time I upgrade my machine. If I bought a rathchet handle for my tool box and then bought some shiny new sockets to replace the old ones I wouldn't expect to have to buy another ratchet.

I can see the piracy problem microsoft have but I am also sure that through the registration system that there are ways of tying a serial numbered copy of windows to a serial numbered machine. If a poarticular machine can be identified over the internet by it's serial number then surely they can key the windows copy no. to that machine.

If I am talking gibberish with this I appologise as I am not all that into computers but I also don't like getting taken advantage of.

So no, I'm not a "cool MS basher".
Click to expand...

You lack the product knowledge - this is not a good idea if you are going to make a purchase.
It is your responsability to make sure you know exactly what you are buying before you make your purchase.
It is also your responsability to make sure you read the license agreement BEFORE you agree to it.

Let me ask you - if you went out and bought a piece of software that said "For use on your Apple MAC" and then got it home and tried to install it on your PC and it failed - who exactly would you blame for this?

When you bought your OEM version of the software you agreed to the license agreement that came with it.
This license agreement was displayed BEFORE you installed the software and before you were asked to agree to it.
Just because you don't agree with it, yet decided to install it anyway doesn't make Microsoft "Thieving *****" as you put it.
Microsoft have released two versions of their software.
OEM, which is a single purchase, one copy locked to a machine or Retail which allows you to move it from one machine to another.
You've made it clear that you feel you need the ability to move your purchased OS from one machine to another.
So, the right purchase for you was the Retail version - you purchased the wrong one.

Microsoft are not thieving ***** - they made it quite clear which license you require and what the restrictions of your purchase was.
Microsoft didn't force you to make any purchase or even to buy Vista at all.
It doesn't matter if you "feel" it is fair or not, that was the license you were offered - take it or leave it.

So it was just a random rant and bash against Microsoft because you made the wrong purchase choice.
 
stoofa,

It was a very coherent post, and the logic is unanswerable, but...

Smiler's perspective is also valid IMHO when taken in a different, less legalistic, light. The way I read the thieving ***** comment is that having to pay £190 or so for their most useful, cheapest product that really works on a long term basis is extortionate. Now that brings it down to a value judgement which is subjective. I happen to agree with Smiler (though perhaps without the *****) :).

I too am not a "cool MS basher", I happen to think that some MS software is absolutely, astonishingly brilliant.

Kirth
 
stoofa said:
Let me ask you - if you went out and bought a piece of software that said "For use on your Apple MAC" and then got it home and tried to install it on your PC and it failed - who exactly would you blame for this?
Click to expand...

That is not a like for like comparison. And the they EULA is written in legalese and is hardly transparent or accessible to most people. Also you have to buy the product to actually read the EULA.

Just because you don't agree with his opinion does not mean his opinion is unjustified or that he is not entitled to it. Labelling anyone who dares to criticise MS for whatever reason "MS-bashers" demonstrates a nothing more than fanboy attitude.

stoofa said:
You lack the product knowledge - this is not a good idea if you are going to make a purchase.
Click to expand...

We cannot be experts in all fields for every single product we purchase. That's not how the world works stoofa so don't be so patronising. We are all fallible and liable to make mistakes because we have failed to read past all the hype and blurb (and the 10 pages of small print)
 
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The most annoying thing of the whole MS windows product is that you cannot use even your full retail purchased licence on more than one PC at any given time on your premises

How would we all react if we had to buy a TV licence for every set we have on our premises? :(
 
the-void said:
We cannot be experts in all fields for every single product we purchase. That's not how the world works stoofa so don't be so patronising. We are all fallible and liable to make mistakes because we have failed to read past all the hype and blurb (and the 10 pages of small print)
Click to expand...

Whilst I agree with your statement, the simple fact is, if you don't sufficient knowledge to support OEM Windows, you should not be buying it. Part of the System Builder licence stats that you are responsible for provision of end user support. In short you must be able to support yourself. And if you can't you don't qualify as a system builder.

As for viewing the EULA, you have the right to get a refund if you havn't activated Windows and don't accept the EULA. You'll probably have to get the refund via MS, but you do have that right.

The value of Windows is subjective, but I think it's comparable to another high value (and high cost product), somethign like Adobe Photoshop or Premiere. Both cost a lot of money but give so much in return. I think to say Vista is a rip off, is to not appriciate exactly what it does for you. Maybe your just getting complacent?
 
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