C
cquirke (MVP Win9x)
On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 19:52:20 -0500, "Richard Urban"
No, you are missing the point. This doesn't go about retail vs. OEM
product and pricing; it goes about how YMMV within OEM product.
MS provides two license products to system builders:
DSP (Delivery Service Partner) for small-volume OEMs
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to large-volume OEMs
Both pass the support responsability from MS to the OEM - and it is on
that basis that both are cheaper; around the same price as the retail
upgrade form of the software. It's cheaper because the support value
of the OS is delivererd by the DSP or OEM, not by MS.
OEM is cheaper than DSP, and varies in terms of what it is. DSP CDs
are generic, complete, custom-installable OS installation disks, and
OEM CDs can be as well; when they are, the price difference between
DSP and OEM is slight, and presumably a bulk discount.
So far, so good. MS gets effortless sales (i.e. sales without the
per-user support obligation), the system builder gets a discount, the
system builder either adds the missing value by fulfilling the support
obligation to the user, by passing the discount to the user, or both.
Small-volume DSPs generally install the OS the way end-users do;
interactively, from the installation CD. Large-volume builders
generally don't; instead, they roll out a standard disk image that
gets splatted onto the HDs of the identical PCs they mass-produce.
It is partly to address these different needs that MS differentiates
between DSPs and OEMs. As large volume customers, MS assists large
OEMs in preparing and using the automated system preperation tools
that are used for bulk disk imaging, e.g. so that MS's licensing
requirements regarding user consent to EULA are met, etc.
Again; so far, so good. Where the rot sets in is where large OEMs are
allowed to not only differentiate the OS installation CD in various
ways (e.g. tailoring it for a particular model), but go further in
goiuging user value as I've described.
This process is not transparent; we don't know what further discounts
"special" OEMs get (beyond the volume-related discount on generic OEM
vs. DSP product). And that, of course, is part of the problem.
No, you are missing the point. This doesn't go about retail vs. OEM
product and pricing; it goes about how YMMV within OEM product.
MS provides two license products to system builders:
DSP (Delivery Service Partner) for small-volume OEMs
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to large-volume OEMs
Both pass the support responsability from MS to the OEM - and it is on
that basis that both are cheaper; around the same price as the retail
upgrade form of the software. It's cheaper because the support value
of the OS is delivererd by the DSP or OEM, not by MS.
OEM is cheaper than DSP, and varies in terms of what it is. DSP CDs
are generic, complete, custom-installable OS installation disks, and
OEM CDs can be as well; when they are, the price difference between
DSP and OEM is slight, and presumably a bulk discount.
So far, so good. MS gets effortless sales (i.e. sales without the
per-user support obligation), the system builder gets a discount, the
system builder either adds the missing value by fulfilling the support
obligation to the user, by passing the discount to the user, or both.
Small-volume DSPs generally install the OS the way end-users do;
interactively, from the installation CD. Large-volume builders
generally don't; instead, they roll out a standard disk image that
gets splatted onto the HDs of the identical PCs they mass-produce.
It is partly to address these different needs that MS differentiates
between DSPs and OEMs. As large volume customers, MS assists large
OEMs in preparing and using the automated system preperation tools
that are used for bulk disk imaging, e.g. so that MS's licensing
requirements regarding user consent to EULA are met, etc.
Again; so far, so good. Where the rot sets in is where large OEMs are
allowed to not only differentiate the OS installation CD in various
ways (e.g. tailoring it for a particular model), but go further in
goiuging user value as I've described.
This process is not transparent; we don't know what further discounts
"special" OEMs get (beyond the volume-related discount on generic OEM
vs. DSP product). And that, of course, is part of the problem.
Dreams are stack dumps of the soul