Legal version of Win?

[Shah Lynn]

In market, there are varities of OEM and retail box of Windows CD.
Which version or what kind of Windows is legal for commercial software
development?

 

[Chuck]

OEM software purchased with a PC.
Retail software purchased without a PC
OEM software purchased by a computer OEM or directly from MS.
MSDN Subscription software. (Limited rights)
Various special build windows versions intended for software development and
debug.
Legality is more how the ops system is obtained than a particular "flavor"
of the ops system.

There is this to also consider.
If I develop software, I need to make sure that the software runs on
commonly available versions of windows.
Pre and post service pack, retail or OEM versions.
There may also be hardware dependencies to deal with.
..

 

[D.R.]

In market, there are varities of OEM and retail box of Windows CD.
Which version or what kind of Windows is legal for commercial software
development?

If you buy OEM, you have to buy it with new harddrive. If you sell the OEM CD
and key, you need to sell it with hardware eg: a single case screw if that's all
thats left of your pc. ;-)

 

[Shah Lynn]

Thanks for your detailed reply, Chuck. That's really helpful. It seems that
the OEM or Retail software are all suitable for software development.

Even though, there are still some issues vague.

In the case that I purchase from or sell to my friend a copy of software,
say windows os, then obviously we all have one copy. Who own the legal one?
Or, in another word, what is the evident?

Aother case is that, MSDN Subscription software, to be specific, DDK, is
previously free and downloadable on MSFT website and now only available by
MSDN Subscription. Does this mean that use the previous downloaded DDK is
illegal?

Any opinion is welcome.

 

[Shah Lynn]

You can not clarify the difference between OEM and Retail ever more.
BTW, my previous computer only left an empty position and some dust

 

[D.R.]

You can not clarify the difference between OEM and Retail ever more.
BTW, my previous computer only left an empty position and some dust

Just buy an OEM XP Pro cd on ebay and make sure the seller includes a case screw
with it.