New
#10
It would be nice if Microsoft made a decision to target consumers instead of OEM providers. As a consumer we get hosed by OEM. What is especially troubling is that the consumer is never told or made aware of what the OEM guidelines are. In fact, go to Dell, HP, Sony, Polywell, Alien, etc., and when you go to purchase a computer and check on the "Vista Ultimate" you get the hefty price...which is fair...but you are not told the it is OEM, and what the limitations are of owning such. The consumer should have the right to choose between OEM or non-OEM software. I would prefer non-OEM...or standard retail software.
As a consumer I assume that when I pay $150 or whatever it is for "Vista Ultimate," that the software is mine. But, according to OEM it is not mine. I do not have the legal right to sell it...try to sell it on eBay and see how long it takes for MS to pull it off of the auction block. According to OEM, the purchased software is to remain on one computer only. So, if I decide to trash a box that is four years old and has been running an OEM version of Win XP, then I cannot transfer it to my new build. In my case, I wanted to sell my XP Pro to help finance a buy of Vista Ultimate for a new build. No dice. MS pulled my sell.
In all fairness, MS should start working with us consumers. We are the one's who buy and who want upgrades. What would be the advantage of some vendor offering upgrades? It is in their best interests to make a computer sale, and they have no real reason really to offer upgrades. It might sound nice, but what is the reality of it actually happening to the extent that all consumers who are elgible to participate are actually able to do so?
In the end MS will look pretty for making the offer, but it is the individual consumer who will end-up holding the original software that he started out with.
Given the hand-cuffing of the consumer that takes place with OEM software, then why doesn't MS give the consumer the opportunity to choose? Personally, I would be willing to pay more for software that I can legally sale sometime down the road and I don't think that I am alone on this. The vendor naturally will go where costs are lower, this is natural. But, if given guidance by big daddy software company then they will follow suit.
