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Solve : OEM vs. Retail? |
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Answer» I have been shopping the AUCTION sites in hopes to save some money on my first build. What is the differance between an OEM version of software and Retail, such as an operating system. Is buying such ITEMS from an auction site even a good idea?Mainly it's in the licence. Have a read: I have been shopping the auction sites in hopes to save some money on my first build. What is the differance between an OEM version of software and Retail, such as an operating system. Is buying such Items from an auction site even a good idea?If for example, you are SPEAKING of OEM XP v. Retail XP the nutshell difference is this : OEM was originally meant for system builders and is intended to live and die on its original box. MS doesn't supply support, the system builder is supposed to. To qualify for this version, resellers were supposed to sell a piece of "internal hardware" with the OEM copy. Savvy bargain hunters buy this version routinely and sometimes (not often) it even comes with a funky "internal part" ! Retail XP allows for the OS to be migrated to other boxes, as long as it is installed on only one box at any one given time. MS support is included...whatever that is Oh, and it comes in a PRETTY, *empty box. *Which spawned the Missing Manual series. I would without hesitation buy the OEM version, but on-line auctions require TRUST and a seller with a excellent feedback. There are other resellers that would be less risky.For hardware components, I might buy OEM unless it was something I had not previously worked with and I wanted instructions that would normally come with the Retail package. OEM parts are just that; parts only. So, if you buy, say, a Western Digital OEM hard drive, you won't get a CD with Data Lifequard Tools on it or instructions on installing the hard drive. So, for hardware components, the buyer's experience is going to be determining factor. For an OS (Windows), I'd probably buy Retail; why preclude my self from legally migrating that OS to another computer?Quote
What do you do if you should want to - off in the future - disassemble that computer and build another? And: What about if you don't actually trash that computer, but make several changes to it, such that WinXP thinks it is a different computer? What do you do then? Either of these are reasonable occurrences with hobbiests. I don't have XP, but am curious how you that do have it handle these situations. |
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