xp pro oem or retail

[crazyal]

hi,
i was wondering should i get win xp pro retail or oem, is there any
pros or cons with oem
any advice would be great.
thanks

 

[Alias]

hi,
i was wondering should i get win xp pro retail or oem, is there any
pros or cons with oem
any advice would be great.
thanks

If you're rich and want to move your copy of XP from one computer to
another, retail.

If you're not rich or only want to upgrade an existing computer, save
money and buy a generic OEM.

Alias

 

[crazyal]

thanks for the quick responce,
i want to upgrade from xp home to xp pro
so oem would be fine for that.

 

[Alias]

thanks for the quick responce,
i want to upgrade from xp home to xp pro
so oem would be fine for that.

With a generic OEM, you can only do a clean install so back up your data
before proceeding.

Alias

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

thanks for the quick responce,
i want to upgrade from xp home to xp pro
so oem would be fine for that.

No, it isn't. OEM copies can only do clean installations, not upgrades.

 

[Daave]

No, it isn't. OEM copies can only do clean installations, not
upgrades.

I wish we all could use different terminology.

When some people hear the word upgrade, what they think of is altering
the existing contents of the hard drive by installing a newer or better
OS (i.e., most definitely not starting from scratch) -- the standard
definition.

When others hear the word upgrade, what they think of is a clean
install. But they understandably see it as an "upgrade" because they are
going from one OS to a better one.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

hi,
i was wondering should i get win xp pro retail or oem, is there any
pros or cons with oem
any advice would be great.
thanks

There are some very important reasons that an OEM license costs so
much less than a retail license. OEM licenses are very limited:

1) OEM versions must be sold with a piece of non-peripheral
hardware (normally a motherboard or hard drive, if not an entire PC,
although Microsoft has greatly relaxed the hardware criteria for WinXP)
and are _permanently_ bound to the first PC on which they are installed.
An OEM license, once installed, is not legally transferable to another
computer under any circumstances. This is the main reason some people
avoid OEM versions; if the PC dies or is otherwise disposed of (even
stolen), you cannot re-use your OEM license on a new PC. The only
legitimate way to transfer the ownership of an OEM license is to
transfer ownership of the entire PC.

2) Microsoft provides no free support for OEM versions. If you
have any problems that require outside assistance, your only recourse is
to contact the manufacturer/builder of the PC or the vendor of the OEM
license. This would include such issues as lost a Product Key or
replacing damaged installation media. (Microsoft does make allowances
for those instances when you can prove that the OEM has gone out of
business.) This doesn't mean that you can't download patches and
service packs from Microsoft -- just no free telephone or email support
for problems with the OS.

3) An OEM CD cannot be used to perform an upgrade of an earlier
OS, as it was designed to be installed _only_ upon an empty hard drive.
It can still be used to perform a repair installation (a.k.a. an
in-place upgrade) of an existing WinXP installation.

4) If the OEM CD was designed by a specific manufacturer, such as
eMachines, Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc., it will most likely only install
on the same brand of PC, as an additional anti-piracy feature. Further,
such CDs are severely customized to contain only the minimum of device
drivers, and a lot of extra nonsense, that the manufacturer feels
necessary for the specific model of PC for which the CD was designed. To
be honest, such CDs should _not_ be available on the open market; but,
if you're shopping someplace on-line like eBay, swap meets, or computer
fairs, there's often no telling what you're buying until it's too late.
The "generic" OEM CDs, such as are manufactured by Microsoft and sold
to small systems builders, don't have this particular problem, though,
and are pretty much the same as their retail counterparts, apart from
the licensing, support, and upgrading restrictions.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I wish we all could use different terminology.

When some people hear the word upgrade, what they think of is altering
the existing contents of the hard drive by installing a newer or
better OS (i.e., most definitely not starting from scratch) -- the
standard definition.

When others hear the word upgrade, what they think of is a clean
install. But they understandably see it as an "upgrade" because they
are going from one OS to a better one.

Granted that there are people who misuse the word in the way you state in
your last paragraph. But that doesn't change the fact that the meaning of
the word, in Microsoft's usage, and to almost every knowledgeable computer
user, is the one in your first paragraph. As you say, it's the standard
definition.

 

[jt3]

But it would seem *reasonable* to expect to be able to by an upgrade package
to 'convert' an OEM version to the Retail version. After all, there would
be no real loss to MS or anyone else in doing such a thing, so long as the
OEM package were not continued in use on the original computer, and since a
lot of all this seems to be left up to the honesty of the user, or at least
to the honesty of the resellers and assemblers, it would seem *reasonable*
to allow that. But apparently not.

Joe

There are some very important reasons that an OEM license costs so
much less than a retail license. OEM licenses are very limited:

1) OEM versions must be sold with a piece of non-peripheral
hardware (normally a motherboard or hard drive, if not an entire PC,
although Microsoft has greatly relaxed the hardware criteria for WinXP)
and are _permanently_ bound to the first PC on which they are installed.
An OEM license, once installed, is not legally transferable to another
computer under any circumstances. This is the main reason some people
avoid OEM versions; if the PC dies or is otherwise disposed of (even
stolen), you cannot re-use your OEM license on a new PC. The only
legitimate way to transfer the ownership of an OEM license is to
transfer ownership of the entire PC.

2) Microsoft provides no free support for OEM versions. If you
have any problems that require outside assistance, your only recourse is
to contact the manufacturer/builder of the PC or the vendor of the OEM
license. This would include such issues as lost a Product Key or
replacing damaged installation media. (Microsoft does make allowances
for those instances when you can prove that the OEM has gone out of
business.) This doesn't mean that you can't download patches and
service packs from Microsoft -- just no free telephone or email support
for problems with the OS.

3) An OEM CD cannot be used to perform an upgrade of an earlier
OS, as it was designed to be installed _only_ upon an empty hard drive.
It can still be used to perform a repair installation (a.k.a. an
in-place upgrade) of an existing WinXP installation.

4) If the OEM CD was designed by a specific manufacturer, such as
eMachines, Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc., it will most likely only install
on the same brand of PC, as an additional anti-piracy feature. Further,
such CDs are severely customized to contain only the minimum of device
drivers, and a lot of extra nonsense, that the manufacturer feels
necessary for the specific model of PC for which the CD was designed. To
be honest, such CDs should _not_ be available on the open market; but,
if you're shopping someplace on-line like eBay, swap meets, or computer
fairs, there's often no telling what you're buying until it's too late.
The "generic" OEM CDs, such as are manufactured by Microsoft and sold
to small systems builders, don't have this particular problem, though,
and are pretty much the same as their retail counterparts, apart from
the licensing, support, and upgrading restrictions.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand

Russell

 

[Bruce Chambers]

But it would seem *reasonable* to expect to be able to by an upgrade package
to 'convert' an OEM version to the Retail version. After all, there would
be no real loss to MS or anyone else in doing such a thing, so long as the
OEM package were not continued in use on the original computer, and since a
lot of all this seems to be left up to the honesty of the user, or at least
to the honesty of the resellers and assemblers, it would seem *reasonable*
to allow that. But apparently not.

How can it possibly be "reasonable" to expect a software product to
magically morph the type of license originally purchased from a third
party manufacturer into a product purchased through the retail chain?

To quote Charles Babbage, "I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind
of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[jt3]

In fact, *many* OEM licenses were and are sold by retail operations, along
with a motherboard, or a hard disk, and are sold as being the 'equivalent of
the retail package' . . . 'you just don't get the MS support' and although
this isn't directly MS's doing, since it has been going on for a very long
time, it strains belief that MS should be unaware of it and thereby allow a
misdirection of their intent. On this basis, it isn't at all hard to think
it reasonable that it should be possible to upgrade such a purchase. It
seems to me that the only *real* question would be what the intent of such a
transaction would be. If the OEM license were surrendered, it shouldn't
offend anyone.

Joe

How can it possibly be "reasonable" to expect a software product to
magically morph the type of license originally purchased from a third
party manufacturer into a product purchased through the retail chain?

To quote Charles Babbage, "I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind
of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand

Russell

 

[Alias]

Granted that there are people who misuse the word in the way you state in
your last paragraph. But that doesn't change the fact that the meaning of
the word, in Microsoft's usage, and to almost every knowledgeable computer
user, is the one in your first paragraph. As you say, it's the standard
definition.

If you upgrade your RAM, this definition of Microsoft would apply?

Alias