windows xp OEM enquiry

[Kanwar Rajan Singh]

i have bought an ACER PC with preinstalled windows xp
professional. i received the windows xp pack containing
xp cd.
but the seal was broken and the company had replaced the
original windows xp cd with their own recovery cd
containing an IMAGE file of XP.

I contacted acer about this but they say since the pack
is windows xp professional OEM edition, they are
providing the acer customized cd.

is it legal for acer to remove the original xp pro cd and
give their own cd.

interestingly, i have hp pc also with windows xp pro OEM
edition but they provided the full windows xp pro cd.

what could be the reason for this ?
can the company provide their own modified cd instead of
original windows xp cd ?
if yes , why the company does so as their doesn't seem
any undue advantage to the company in this way ?

 

[Eric]

Yes, it's legal because if you read the specification for
the PC before you bought it, it would say that a Recovery
CD is supplied. If it says that a Windows CD is supplied
then Acer would have to provide it. But it obviously
doesn't because Acer would supply it if that were the case.

There is an advantage in it for Acer. The company pays
Microsoft less for installing Windows in this form,
because no one can use the Windows CD on another computer
and a Recovery Disk only works on the PC it's meant to
work on - not any other.

If you got a Windows CD the computer would have cost you
more to make up for the additional price Acer would have
to pay Microsoft for the license.

Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/
http://www.sharedbirthday.co.uk/

 

[Bruce Chambers]

i have bought an ACER PC with preinstalled windows xp
professional. i received the windows xp pack containing
xp cd.
but the seal was broken and the company had replaced the
original windows xp cd with their own recovery cd
containing an IMAGE file of XP.

I contacted acer about this but they say since the pack
is windows xp professional OEM edition, they are
providing the acer customized cd.

is it legal for acer to remove the original xp pro cd and
give their own cd.

interestingly, i have hp pc also with windows xp pro OEM
edition but they provided the full windows xp pro cd.

what could be the reason for this ?
can the company provide their own modified cd instead of
original windows xp cd ?
if yes , why the company does so as their doesn't seem
any undue advantage to the company in this way ?

Legally, the OEM has met it's contractual obligation to Microsoft
by providing a means of returning the PC to its ex-factory state,
whether it's a Recovery CD or a Recovery Partition. They are not
legally obliged to provide a true installation CD as part of the sale.
Reputable, customer-service aware OEMs, like Dell and Gateway, do
provide a full OEM installation CD, that does permit custom
installations and repairs. Many uncaring OEMs, such as Compaq, HP,
and Sony, however, in an effort to save pennies and reduce their
support costs by having to hire support people that can only say "Boot
from the Recovery CD to return your PC to its original condition,"
provide only a CD bearing a disk image of the hard drive as it left
the factory. These Recovery/Restore CDs cannot perform normal
installations, nor can they be used to do any sort of customizations.

Essentially, it boils down to "You get what you pay for."

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever
count on having both at once. - RAH

 

[Jim Macklin]

Return the computer for a full refund unless they provide
the proper media. If they cheapo mug's had no sales without
proper support they will go out of business or change their
business practices.

Next time buy a Dell and or read the details fully before
you buy.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | Kanwar Rajan Singh wrote:
| > i have bought an ACER PC with preinstalled windows xp
| > professional. i received the windows xp pack containing
| > xp cd.
| > but the seal was broken and the company had replaced the
| > original windows xp cd with their own recovery cd
| > containing an IMAGE file of XP.
| >
| > I contacted acer about this but they say since the pack
| > is windows xp professional OEM edition, they are
| > providing the acer customized cd.
| >
| > is it legal for acer to remove the original xp pro cd
and
| > give their own cd.
| >
| > interestingly, i have hp pc also with windows xp pro OEM
| > edition but they provided the full windows xp pro cd.
| >
| > what could be the reason for this ?
| > can the company provide their own modified cd instead of
| > original windows xp cd ?
| > if yes , why the company does so as their doesn't seem
| > any undue advantage to the company in this way ?
|
|
| Legally, the OEM has met it's contractual obligation to
Microsoft
| by providing a means of returning the PC to its ex-factory
state,
| whether it's a Recovery CD or a Recovery Partition. They
are not
| legally obliged to provide a true installation CD as part
of the sale.
| Reputable, customer-service aware OEMs, like Dell and
Gateway, do
| provide a full OEM installation CD, that does permit
custom
| installations and repairs. Many uncaring OEMs, such as
Compaq, HP,
| and Sony, however, in an effort to save pennies and reduce
their
| support costs by having to hire support people that can
only say "Boot
| from the Recovery CD to return your PC to its original
condition,"
| provide only a CD bearing a disk image of the hard drive
as it left
| the factory. These Recovery/Restore CDs cannot perform
normal
| installations, nor can they be used to do any sort of
customizations.
|
| Essentially, it boils down to "You get what you pay
for."
|
| --
|
| Bruce Chambers
|
| Help us help you:
|
|
|
| You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever
| count on having both at once. - RAH
|
|
|

 

[Guest]

Hello there,
OEM stand for Original Equipment Manufacturer.. of which
Acer, IBM etc are examples, I imagine that the reason for
a "special version" is, that most of these guys put
proprietary bits into their machines and therefore have to
supply the drivers for them. The original disk wouldn't
do you much good as you'd be running aroundlooking for the
dirvers!

 

[Jim Macklin]

They add those special splash screens so you can't see the
boot process. They also may leave things out that you don't
need, for instance if they only install NVIDIA graphics
cards, they might not include any ATI drivers ( or vis
versa). Some my make no changes at all, except for the
label printed on the CD.

And Microsoft sells software they label as OEM, intended for
system builders.


| Hello there,
| OEM stand for Original Equipment Manufacturer.. of which
| Acer, IBM etc are examples, I imagine that the reason for
| a "special version" is, that most of these guys put
| proprietary bits into their machines and therefore have to
| supply the drivers for them. The original disk wouldn't
| do you much good as you'd be running aroundlooking for the
| dirvers!
| >-----Original Message-----
| >i have bought an ACER PC with preinstalled windows xp
| >professional. i received the windows xp pack containing
| >xp cd.
| >but the seal was broken and the company had replaced the
| >original windows xp cd with their own recovery cd
| >containing an IMAGE file of XP.
| >
| >I contacted acer about this but they say since the pack
| >is windows xp professional OEM edition, they are
| >providing the acer customized cd.
| >
| >is it legal for acer to remove the original xp pro cd and
| >give their own cd.
| >
| >interestingly, i have hp pc also with windows xp pro OEM
| >edition but they provided the full windows xp pro cd.
| >
| >what could be the reason for this ?
| >can the company provide their own modified cd instead of
| >original windows xp cd ?
| >if yes , why the company does so as their doesn't seem
| >any undue advantage to the company in this way ?
| >.
| >

 

[Barry Watzman]

Bruce's answer is correct as far as it goes.

BUT .....

In most cases, you can effectively "make you own" full OEM installation
CD and thus regain the ability to do what the manufacturer did not provide.

The key is to find the "I386" folder that almost all installations leave
on the hard drive. If you burn this folder to a CD, that CD, if you
know how to use it, effectively becomes an OEM installation CD for
Windows (ONLY, in most cases), from which you can do custom
installations of types not intended by the computer maker.

Within that folder will be the MS-DOS and Windows installation programs,
in most cases (WINNT.EXE and WINNT32.EXE, respectively).