New
#20
I've always bought OEM's for my home built systems.....there ain't no way I'm paying twice the price for a retail copy.
Is Microsoft changing policy on System Builder licensing for Windows 8
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New #22
Depends, if you need the features and whether you want to move it to another machine. The OEM of Windows 7 Home Premium at NewEgg today is $99, and Windows 7 Ultimate is $189. So, if say you had a desktop and a laptop, you could nearly buy 2 OEM copies of 7 Home Premium for the same price as 1 Ultimate.
Previously with Windows 7, MS said they didn't want home hobbyists using the the OEM license. It was intended for sale to system builders only who were going to sell the computer to an "unrelated" 3rd party. As is the case with OEM, the reseller provides the end user with support, not Microsoft.
MS took no steps to enforce this and quietly looked the other way. If people bought an OEM rather than pirating it, it was a win for MS.
OEM licenses can be great for the type of person who builds a machine and sticks with it for a long time. However, if you like to upgrade your mobo, CPU and such at a regular pace, you may find a retail license to be a better fit as technically, in the eyes of MS, you have changed computers...and an OEM license cannot be moved.
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New #23
Yup, I know that - should never have happened, but it did and I do highly suspect it is because of some kind of a change on Microsoft's end in the 7 EULA under that section 4. It is either that or the master image for my entire system's line is botched and everyone having this specific system will all be screwed over soon enough.
But hey, at least I did learn one thing first-hand... Microsoft is virtually useless as far as mere questions are concerned when you really need to get to the bottom of something to which the answers simply are not online or in some "knowledge base"... guess they simply don't care anymore. Sure seems that's what it boils down too.
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New #24
@MagusMagnus, that's the thing with OEM versions, no live tech support from Microsoft. You only get that with Retail versions. You have to call the manufacturer of the PC. My guess is there was something in the Boot sector of the original hard drive that the recovery disks looked for. That or the recovery procedure was poorly implemented.
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New #25
I realize that. But when you can't talk to MS OR the system's manufacturer, there's a huge problem there. Point of fact, the system manufacturers wouldn't even know the first damn thing about Microsoft's programming or what the problem is with THEIR software in the first place. So I suppose those of us lucky enough to encounter this are just SOL and shafted. Beautiful.
I'm just saying, that's crap. There should at LEAST be some form of open line of communication with the actual software maker to inform them of the problem so they can maybe give two squirts to address it for one and all at some point, if not personally 1-to-1 as with the RTM goody-goodies. Because right now, the only solution is to just run out and spend more money on something you'd already bought (OEM, RTM - don't care, bought it with the system, same system, same OS, it should bloody well continue to work despite the most common hardware replacement being done on it. It's bordering on if not totally outright theft on somebody's behalf that this is happening. I want my $100 back or an equivalent OEM; fat chance, but in a perfect world... I'd not have been robbed by such means and that's exactly how I feel about it: I was robbed. <$100 and nothing for it).
Regardless, I stand by what I've said for the benefit of all: beware of the OEM.
Also, I hope you were not implying that anyone could possibly botch the process of feeding the optical drive the recovery disks and waiting for the setup to finish... I'd say that's an impossibility, myself. Especially seeing as I did it three times with my own sets (confirmed working previously to the hardware change), twice again with the ones directly from the manufacturer. But again, wasn't the point - the whole point of me mentioning all of that, was:
Beware of the OEM. Not a great loss if the claims in this article are true as far as I am concerned.
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Posts : 21,004 Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10 Thread StarterNew #26
I can't understand why all the difference in pricing except that the outlets are putting different mark ups on the OEM and the US prices are outrageous compared to here and as I mentioned before the hardware side of things US prices are flogging th crap out of what we pay.
Plus in my mind those system builders should at least supply a rescue disk or even a copy of the OEM that came with the machine instead of all that hassle getting it fixed.
Well you know what they say absolute power corrupts but I reckon money is a nose length behind. I just feel for those who just would like a computer and are pulled up by ridiculous and greedy pricing.
As for the legalities well if you have a couple of years to work through them then you are a better man than me Gunga Din!
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New #27
My "or the recovery procedure was poorly implemented." comment was meant to imply that the OEM botched the original procedure, not the user.
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New #28
This has been discussed a number of times on this forum. According to the last EULA I read you need to build a machine and install the OEM OS in a prescribed way then on sell it.
I think you can legally get around these silly/unfair restrictions. I understand MS introduced the restrictions with W7 (or was it VISTA?). The OEM OS is tied to the Motherboard and in Australia the seller of the OEM OS has to acknowledge that you have purchased sufficient components to prove it is a new build. Around ~$100 is a fair price given the non portable restrictions.
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New #29
Ah, it is so hard to discern some things through text lol. Thanks for clarifying, and perhaps. Something is definitely amiss, big time. Oh well, spilled milk now I guess. But I'm probably just going to start dual-booting after I build my own systems from now on. Windows for gaming, Linux for everything else. Should work, no great loss to lose a few game files you already have saved elsewhere. Its another thing entirely to lose the whole dang OS, manufacturer drivers and applications -things they don't totally provide for download for just such event as I had- and everything else with it (I'm just thankful I had the sense to make a complete backup of JUST the data instead of another restore image otherwise I'd have been totally screwed, 10 years of data by and large would have been gone {I now make very frequent backups, learned my lesson}).
Good talk.
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