Where to buy a OEM ?

happywarmgun

I'll add myself to the above. Bought OEM windows for each of my five computers in the house. I upgrade all the time - my computers are a bit like the proverbial grandfathers broomstick (using the same broomstick for 80 years, it's had loads of new handles, and loads of new brushes but it is in his mind still the same broomstick). I've replaced motherboards, processors, memory, harddrives etc. etc. I've been doing it since windows 95. Every time I've reached the limit of hardware changes for automatic activation I have simply rung microsoft and without any hassle whatever they have given me the activation code. All legal.

Cannot understand why anyone would pay the extra! This being a money saving site and all it strikes me as sound advice to never buy the retail version for home use if you build your own machines...

JasX

happywarmgun wrote: »

Cannot understand why anyone would pay the extra! This being a money saving site and all it strikes me as sound advice to never buy the retail version for home use if you build your own machines...

yes you're quite correct, I'm clearly far too simple to understand why sending Microsoft £50 (possibly several times over) makes more moneysaving sense than a total cost of ownership for RETAIL of £15 or even making a net profit when special offers might be on.... I'll get back to my coffee as Paul suggests and not trouble myself with such things :beer:

happywarmgun

JasX. You can't read can you. You're deaf to writing. Every OEM OS I have ever bought from microsoft they have allowed me to use continually, no matter how often I have upgraded - even if the net sum of my upgrades meant an essentially new machine.

You keep paying the extra if you want.

Money_Grabber13579

Even if you do save money by using OEM, you're still breaking the terms and conditions of the agreement and this forum's not for giving out that kind of advice.

Hence why there's a banner at the top which states:

If you spot a spam, illegal, offensive, racist, libellous post or PM please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL]

JasX

happywarmgun wrote: »

JasX. You can't read can you. You're deaf to writing. Every OEM OS I have ever bought from microsoft they have allowed me to use continually, no matter how often I have upgraded - even if the net sum of my upgrades meant an essentially new machine.

You keep paying the extra if you want.

I'm not deaf, even when your OEM works exactly as you describe you have paid £50 to Microsoft I have (with the bonus of being 100% legal too) paid £15 net over the life of my machine for my RETAIL one.

Further when I take advantage of eg. vista+win7 free upgrade offers, I effectively get 2 RETAIL copies of windows for the price of one so when I've sold both I end up around £30 in profit over the life of my machine. You keep shouting at me I have the worse deal but I'll let others with a better grasp of arithmetic make their own minds up whos 'advice' to follow

happywarmgun

JasX - I'll give you that the family pack of Windows 7 IS a better deal IF you are in the market for three copies (I have that on three of my machines - and you do get both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions).

But for a single copy the OEM version is still best value. And stop scare mongering about it being 'illegal' (moneygrabber13579) - so long as you explain to microsoft you are upgrading, they are happy to give you the upgrade code keeping it legal. In the 10 or so years I've had OEM software microsoft have always given me the license key after multiple upgrades. I am probably hundreds of pounds up through buying OEM software - I've never used it illegally, always with the blessing of Microsoft. You pay your money you take your choice.

Money_Grabber13579

happywarmgun wrote: »

JasX - I'll give you that the family pack of Windows 7 IS a better deal IF you are in the market for three copies (I have that on three of my machines - and you do get both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions).

But for a single copy the OEM version is still best value. And stop scare mongering about it being 'illegal' (moneygrabber13579) - so long as you explain to microsoft you are upgrading, they are happy to give you the upgrade code keeping it legal. In the 10 or so years I've had OEM software microsoft have always given me the license key after multiple upgrades. I am probably hundreds of pounds up through buying OEM software - I've never used it illegally, always with the blessing of Microsoft. You pay your money you take your choice.

It is illegal. If you move OEM software from computer to computer as some posters have admittedly done, then the terms of use have been broken. And lying to them about what you're doing doesn't make it any more legal.

smillie-world

pault123 wrote: »

Support can be had on pc forums or even MSE forum.

Ha ha, are you kidding? There's so much in-fighting over who is right and who is wrong, the poor OP never gets the help they originally wanted.


But seeing how so much confusion has been caused over licensing, I think it's about time someone went straight to the source, and got the correct answer on OEM vs Retail.

http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?PageID=563841

Microsoft_OEM_Partner_Center wrote:

There is a growing market for "do-it-yourself" home PC hobbyists who assemble PCs from components for their own use. Microsoft retail software licenses are the appropriate licenses for the do-it-yourself market. OEM System Builder software is not intended for this use, unless the PC that is assembled is being resold to another party.

So there you have it, if you're the average home user, wanting to install Windows on your PC, buy the retail version.

Not that the OP really wanted to know which license to buy, but more so where to buy their chosen licence from, and whether computer fairs are any good.

Andy_L

"not intended for" vs "not licensed for".

Anyway, you could sell on the computer to family/friends (and back to yourself if need be) for a "shiny silver shilling" and comply if you were that worried

almillar

I'd prefer to buy the retail version, be correctly licensed, and not have to phone Microsoft and tell them a story, but that's just me. For £10 difference is it?