OEM vs. Regular Software

Hi,
Is there any real difference between OEM software (cheaper) or the own company's software release? Because I found Windows XP Pro OEM Full for 140 USD from tigerdirect..
Thanks,
Joseph

There's no difference in the software itself usually. However.....

... the terms of OEM licensing usually place restrictions on how you can sell it. It is "Original Equipment Manufacture" licensing after all; it's intended for resale as part of a manufactured product such as a computer system. For example, OEM versions of WinXP are only purchasable if you buy certain computer components (new MoBo, CPU, or Hard Drive typically) at the same time. I would have to look, but I'm 99.99% sure that a company the size of TigerDirect will require you to make a "qualifying purchase" to get the OEM product. (Little guys sometimes get away with selling OEM XP without a qualifying product purchase, but they get slammed if Microsoft catches them.)

Operation-wise, no. OEM must be sold with hardware. Usually the vendor will include a used mouse or old hard drive with it to be "technically" withing the license and prevent the MS Anti-Piracy SWAT team from showing up at the door.
For the end user, the restriction on OEM software is that it is for that one machine only. If that machine dies in a puff of smoke, you will have to but a new copy for your new machine. That previous copy of OEM software must be thrown in the garbage can/dustbin/wastbin.
IIRC OEM copied of XP still have to be activated.
No way is Tiger Direct doing this but some people (i.e. EBay vendors) may actually be selling pirated no-activation corporate versions of XP. Might work ok until the next service pack comes out or, these days, may not work long at all since MS is pushing the Genuine Advantage patch out over Windows Update.
Also remember that MS has a program where, if you buy a retail version of XP, you can buy up to 5 more licenses (no media) via the web at an "upgrade" price. The upgrade price is still, however, more expensive than the OEM price.

Take care

If they sell it to you without hardware, the reseller is in breach of their OEM redist contract with MSOEMSB, constituting a contractual breach - I've signed it.

In addition to the need to buy hardware, you don't get a boxed product, just a disk and a half dozen page quickstart (if you're lucky), you don't have any of the three free support incident calls to MS Tech Supprt, if you phone Microsoft for support, even if you're willing to pay premuim rate it's possible that they will turn around and tell you to go back to the OEM for any and all support. Technically, you're not allowed to buy an upgrade version of Windows and bolt it onto an OEM license i.e. if you wanted to upgrade to Vista on-top of the OEM release in 7 months time, you're not allowed to do so under the EULA; saying that I've never yet seen this be enforced, but Microsoft's anti-piracy measures are getting a lot tougher these days.

It also used to be the case that you were unable to perform an upgrade install with an OEM CD. I can't remember if this is true with XP.

Finally as insurgent says, you have 0 transferral rights to a different system. You do have to activate, it's only volume licenses that don't, and when that machine goes, so does the CD.

Apart from the 'illegal' practice of purchasing OEM via ebay, let me recommend an alternative. Enroll at your local community college for a night class in "Underwater bird watching for business executives" or some similar thing that interests you. Go to the campus bookstore and purchase the educational software at a discount. The educational versions are the same in most cases, but sometimes are stripped down for students, so watch yourself. Also be aware that some software may require you to be a full-time student to be eligible. Do your homework before you proceed.

Unless you already have an at-home business, one final thought is to set up a sole proprietorship or corporation as a non-profit. You can then deduct software costs as business expenses or as a non-profit, you can donate to the non-profit and then use those funds to purchase software. You can deduct the donation to the non-profit. For profitable businesses, you can only claim losses for so long before the IRS shuts you down, which is why I'd recommend a non-profit. Of course, there may be requirements for that, as well. Check with the Colorado Secretary of State's office as laws regarding business entities (including non-profits) vary from state to state. There are also regulations from the federal IRS on the tax side, but the entity is regulated by the state. You may have to solicit services (engineering, clerical, IT, etc.) to churches or other non-profits to legitimize your non-profit corporation.

I actually looked into doing this so I could upgrade from NT 4.0 and buy AutoCAD for home/personal use tax free. I didn't follow through, though--maybe someday.

erm, i don't know why go into this trouble if you just want to get software for free.

Ain't nothing for free in this world. You pay for it one way or the other. I get all those free programs through the university. Windows XP, XP office, Visual Basic, Visual C++, the whole kit'n'kaboodle! Tell me it's free when it costs me $5000 to take a couple of classes for a single semester or more....

Use a friends or pirate it and you still pay...no support, no upgrades, buggy versions, viruses, the whole mess just ain't worth it either, not when you can buy XP home version for less than $90 most anywhere. If you really need pro for remote networking and other thingies, it isn't that much more.

Remember most OEM versions require a clean install. That means you wipe out everything on your drive most of the time.

Rich

wow, xp home is 90$? i've always known the US has better prices than my country

i won't comment on the disadvantages of the pirate version. but if you use a copy that is actually your friend's thats again warezing and where are the viruses etc... nowhere.

hmm, clean install? you just need to have more than one partition.. or does it require you to delete the files on the other partitions too?? (i've never reinstalled an OEM windows, i could always avoid it on the laptops )

I have an OEM version of Windows 95 OSR2.5..

i had OEM win98 (before selling the laptop) and now XP Pro on the new laptop. that's probably OEM too
and i don't have the install cd for it

oh and the PC had something as well (win2k? it was a long time ago) but i installed xp pro on it right away

Edited by cmonex 2006-05-12 6:20 PM

At $2500 for a seat of AutoCAD, and paying roughly 30% in income taxes, it wouldn't be free, but it would "save" about $750 in the long run. However, you must be committed to the non-profit corporation or sole proprietorship that you create. This was actually where I was when I considered this. I had a couple parachurch groups in mind to help--and in return I get to tinker with expensive software at home. ;+) I don't know what OSes cost these days... ($250+?) but as a means to just save money on Windows, I agree it wouldn't be a good option.