Charles wrote:
| What does it mean to purchase and OEM version? Does that mean it can only
| be purchased as part of a hardware bundle?
|
| My understanding is that Vista will run as either 32 or 64 bit without
| buying a specfic version. Problem is, Vista comes in many different
| flavors (Business, Eterprise, Home Premium, Ultimate and Home Basic).
| Which flavor will be most like Win XP Pro 64-bit as it is in the trial
| version?
|
|
||| Microsoft has been offering Win XP Pro 64-bit OS as a trial download
||| for some time. I finally took the bait and loaded on my Intel D920 CPU
||| based box and love it. The question is, how can I purchase a full
||| licence of this version of XP? If this version will not be offered for
||| sale in the furture, what is the most logical migration path from this
||| version to the next retail version of Microsoft 64-bit OS?
|||
||
|| XP 45bit was never destined to be a retail product. You would only be
|| able to buy it as an OEM version.
||
|| The next scheduled retail version of 64bit Windows is supposed to be
|| Windows Vista. However, I have not seen any info on the release date,
|| besides 2006, or whether or not the 64bit version will be shipping at
|| the same time as the standard 32bit version.
||
|| --
|| ---
||
|| Y.
You purchase OEM from whoever will sell it to you as the laws from country
to county differ regarding OEM software. In the United States since summer
of 05, according to Microsoft, OEM Windows must be sold with a complete
computer [mobo, cpu, harddisk]; whereas in Europe, some of the laws there
prevent Microsoft from putting such a restriction on OEM software sales.
For the consumer, it doesn't matter either way. Whatever deal you can secure
is your gain. Perhaps Bill will sell you Windows forever on all your
machines and tech support ad infinitum for a penny - just ask him.
