OEM software

[Jo-Anne]

I'm about to buy an external DVD burner for use with my new netbook running
WinXP. One offer I saw at Newegg was for the burner combined with Acronis
True Image Home 2009 OEM for an extra $8. Since I use Acronis in my two
other computers and would want to use it in this one, the combo seems like a
good one.

But what makes software OEM? I looked up this program by itself at Newegg
and found the OEM version sells for $25 and the "retail" version for $29.
"OEM" and "retail" appear under Packaging. I know that OEM hardware tends to
come with little or no information about installation and use, but what
could software be missing?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[C]

I'm about to buy an external DVD burner for use with my new netbook running
WinXP. One offer I saw at Newegg was for the burner combined with Acronis
True Image Home 2009 OEM for an extra $8. Since I use Acronis in my two
other computers and would want to use it in this one, the combo seems like a
good one.

But what makes software OEM? I looked up this program by itself at Newegg
and found the OEM version sells for $25 and the "retail" version for $29.
"OEM" and "retail" appear under Packaging. I know that OEM hardware tends to
come with little or no information about installation and use, but what
could software be missing?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Nothing will be missing except support from Acronis.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Nothing will be missing except support from Acronis.

Thank you, C! That hadn't occurred to me. But since Acronis support is
pretty minimal anyway--except for the forums--that's no loss.

 

[Paul Randall]

I'm about to buy an external DVD burner for use with my new netbook
running WinXP. One offer I saw at Newegg was for the burner combined with
Acronis True Image Home 2009 OEM for an extra $8. Since I use Acronis in
my two other computers and would want to use it in this one, the combo
seems like a good one.

But what makes software OEM? I looked up this program by itself at Newegg
and found the OEM version sells for $25 and the "retail" version for $29.
"OEM" and "retail" appear under Packaging. I know that OEM hardware tends
to come with little or no information about installation and use, but what
could software be missing?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Besides less support, it may also be adware.
I thoroughly dislike the OEM video software that came with an LG internal
DVD burner a few years ago. I've gone back to an earlier version of the
same brand of video software that came with some other DVD burner about 10
years ago.

-Paul Randall

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I'm about to buy an external DVD burner for use with my new netbook
running WinXP. One offer I saw at Newegg was for the burner
combined with Acronis True Image Home 2009 OEM for an extra $8.
Since I use Acronis in my two other computers and would want to use
it in this one, the combo seems like a good one.

But what makes software OEM? I looked up this program by itself at
Newegg and found the OEM version sells for $25 and the "retail"
version for $29. "OEM" and "retail" appear under Packaging. I know
that OEM hardware tends to come with little or no information about
installation and use, but what could software be missing?

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

It's licensing. It was sold to the manufacturer of the drive with certain
terms so they could bundle it with their product. Usually one of the terms
is the support is passed on. Really - it means little-to-no-support. If
you already use it and understand it - no big deal. If you can understand
it (feel confident in that) - no big deal. Otherwise - purchase the full
version of the software.

In the end - however - most people don't contact the manufacturer for
support. They muddle through, stop using, get a friend to help or figure it
out on their own, eh?

 

[Jo-Anne]

Besides less support, it may also be adware.
I thoroughly dislike the OEM video software that came with an LG internal
DVD burner a few years ago. I've gone back to an earlier version of the
same brand of video software that came with some other DVD burner about 10
years ago.

-Paul Randall

Thank you, Paul! Maybe I'll call Newegg to find out if the OEM is adware. I
couldn't tolerate that!

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

It's licensing. It was sold to the manufacturer of the drive with certain
terms so they could bundle it with their product. Usually one of the
terms is the support is passed on. Really - it means
little-to-no-support. If you already use it and understand it - no big
deal. If you can understand it (feel confident in that) - no big deal.
Otherwise - purchase the full version of the software.

In the end - however - most people don't contact the manufacturer for
support. They muddle through, stop using, get a friend to help or figure
it out on their own, eh?

Thank you, Shenan! You're absolutely right that most of us don't bother to
contact the manufacturer. On the rare occasions when I've done that, the
support has been worse than minimal. It has usually been downright wrong.
Since I've used Acronis on two other computers--although probably the 2008
version--I should be OK with it.

Jo-Anne