OEM or upgrade?

[Don]

Hello
I recently put together a new pc and installed a
OEM version of WinXP Pro. If I understand, the OEM
version cannot be upgraded. Would I have been better
off to install an upgrade version along with my old
system so that I could upgrade in the future? This would
be less expensive than buying the OEM ver.
Thank You,
Don

 

[Rich Barry]

Don, you have WinXP Pro, Upgrade to what? If the Upgrade Ver was cheaper,
then yes you would have
been better off going with it.

 

[Cerridwen]

Hello
I recently put together a new pc and installed a
OEM version of WinXP Pro. If I understand, the OEM
version cannot be upgraded. Would I have been better
off to install an upgrade version along with my old
system so that I could upgrade in the future? This would
be less expensive than buying the OEM ver.
Thank You,
Don

You've got it slightly cockeyed. An OEM version certainly can be upgraded;
it cannot, however, perform an upgrade, it's a clean install only.

 

[Opinicus]

I recently put together a new pc and installed a
OEM version of WinXP Pro. If I understand, the OEM
version cannot be upgraded. Would I have been better

You understand incorrectly. An OEM version of WinXP
qualifies for the next upgrade of Windows (whatever that may
prove to be). In fact, if you have an OEM version of WinXP
Home installed, you can use an upgrade WinXP Pro CD to "move
up" to that right now.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hello
I recently put together a new pc and installed a
OEM version of WinXP Pro. If I understand, the OEM
version cannot be upgraded. Would I have been better
off to install an upgrade version along with my old
system so that I could upgrade in the future? This would
be less expensive than buying the OEM ver.
Thank You,
Don

You have misunderstood the information.

An OEM version of XP cannot be used to *upgrade* an existing installed
copy of an earlier version of Windows (98/Me/2000) to Windows XP.

OEM versions pf XP are, however, eligible to be upgraded to then next
versions of Windows (now being developed as Longhorn).


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I recently put together a new pc and installed a
OEM version of WinXP Pro. If I understand, the OEM
version cannot be upgraded.

Sorry, you understand wrong. It cannot perform an upgrade, but it
itself can be upgraded.

Would I have been better
off to install an upgrade version along with my old
system

"Along with"? No "along with" would have been necessary. You
could have just installed the upgrade version and inserted the
old version's CD as proof of ownership when prompted to do so.

so that I could upgrade in the future? This would
be less expensive than buying the OEM ver.

If the Upgrade version was cheaper, you should have bought it for
that reason, and because it doesn't have the restrictions of the
OEM version:

1. Its license ties it permanently to the first computer it's
installed on. It can never legally be moved to another computer,
sold, or given away.

2. It can only do a clean installation, not an upgrade.

3. Microsoft provides no support for OEM versions. You can't call
them with a problem, but instead have to get any needed support
from your OEM; that support may range anywhere between good and
non-existent. Or you can get support elsewhere, such as in these
newsgroups.

 

[Don]

Thank You all for your help. I did indeed
have my information wrong and am happy to
know that I can upgrade my OEM version.
Thanks again,
Don