Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

[Omniblast]

Well to all the EULA lovers out there, and others, what is the main difference between getting a OEM version vs. the retail version? Besides the fact that the OEM is for system builders.

I found a Link for the OEM on newegg.com (sorry for shameless plug)
Ultimate DVD

Can anyone explain to me? the $199.99 is pretty cheap imo, considering I got xp for $140 with a purchase of a DVD-ROM drive.

I know yada yada, about all the regular pc games breaking and so forth, I've been following http://www.hardocp.com

[neighbortaru]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

oem is "linked" to only the hardware you install it on. that means you can't move it to another machine like if, for instance, you upgrade. retail, as i recall, does not have this limitation.

another thing is oem cannot be upgraded with a new OS down the line.

[Haggai]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

another thing is oem cannot be upgraded with a new OS down the line.

I don't think this is correct, as Newegg is selling OEM XP Home CDs with an "upgrade to Vista" coupon. Linkie

[Mhurron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

another thing is oem cannot be upgraded with a new OS down the line.

So you're saying that people who bought a machine from Dell can never buy an upgrade for Windows?

[neighbortaru]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

well there used to be an XP version called Upgrade and those would not work on OEM win98se. The full version of XP would though. i don't know if they sell such a version anymore or if they'll do the same with Vista

[Mhurron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

To the best of my knowledge, there was no upgrade of XP that wouldn't work on 98(SE) because it was an OEM version. That sounds more like a problem with the 98 install so that XP couldn't verify it was an eligible upgrade source.

[Kiryn]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

well it will be a long time for the next windows os to come out. So OEM is not a problem. I will always buy the full version before an upgraded version. But whats the difference though really? Cause if there isn't. I'mma buy the OEM instead

[Sabaron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

Don't buy it unless your machine is top end. All it will do is hog even more resources than XP and be a rip-off of Apple's stuff as has generally been the case with Microsoft for the last 2 decades. Here is the chain of rip-offs:

0. IBM rips off some miscellaneous Unix (badly...) to create PC-DOS.
1. Gates rips off IBM's PC-DOS to create MS-DOS.
2. Xerox creates a neat little GUI operating system and decides to chuck it.
2. Jobs/Wozniak rip off Xerox to create MacOS.
3. Gates rips off Xerox/Apple to create Windows.
4. Apple "integrates" Linux into "Tiger" creating a "new" MacOS.
5. Apple puts new and interesting (actually innovative) features into MacOS.
6. Gates rips off Apple yet again to create Windows Vista.

So... as is much of the computer industry including games, innovation is not worth putting money into because you can just rip off someone else's innovation and let them do the work. Computer Science today is merely stealing ideas from others. Not that most ideas aren't always based on someone else's work... It just seems more crystalline when you look at it in the scope of computer programs. How many Wolfenstein clones have you played? Seen any Grand Theft Auto clones recently? How about movies--have you seen any that resemble say... Star Wars except with a fantasy caste to them?

[Jarre]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

So you're saying that people who bought a machine from Dell can never buy an upgrade for Windows?

correct thats the scam....

[Mhurron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

0. IBM rips off some miscellaneous Unix (badly...) to create PC-DOS.

IBM Licensed MS-DOS creating PC-DOS. Also, IBM is an original UNIX licenser so they would have the right to use that technology anywhere. However, use a real UNIX and DOS and you'll see that nothing from UNIX made its way into DOS.

1. Gates rips off IBM's PC-DOS to create MS-DOS.

MS bought an OS that mimicked CP/M and called it MS-DOS. MS-DOS pre-dated PC-DOS

2. Xerox creates a neat little GUI operating system and decides to chuck it.

Like most things PARC did, the GUI was licensed.

2. Jobs/Wozniak rip off Xerox to create MacOS.

Apple was one of the licencees of the Alto in return for Apple stock

3. Gates rips off Xerox/Apple to create Windows.

The windowing system by this time was well described, MS did not have to rip anything off.

4. Apple "integrates" Linux into "Tiger" creating a "new" MacOS.

Apple bought NeXT and used NeXTstep/OpenStep as the basis for OS X

5. Apple puts new and interesting (actually innovative) features into MacOS.

There is actually very little new or innovative in OS X

6. Gates rips off Apple yet again to create Windows Vista.

As there is very little new stuff in OS X, this would be difficult.

I don't think there was anything accurate in that post.

[Malevolent]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

IBM Licensed MS-DOS creating PC-DOS. Also, IBM is an original UNIX licenser so they would have the right to use that technology anywhere. However, use a real UNIX and DOS and you'll see that nothing from UNIX made its way into DOS.

MS bought an OS that mimicked CP/M and called it MS-DOS. MS-DOS pre-dated PC-DOS

Like most things PARC did, the GUI was licensed.

Apple was one of the licencees of the Alto in return for Apple stock

The windowing system by this time was well described, MS did not have to rip anything off.

Apple bought NeXT and used NeXTstep/OpenStep as the basis for OS X

There is actually very little new or innovative in OS X

As there is very little new stuff in OS X, this would be difficult.

I don't think there was anything accurate in that post.

man someone got servered...

[Ghostraven]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

come on vista ripped off the whole GUI of OS X....

They added some nice features which should ave already been included in XP but the GUI and effects are totally ripped off...

[Mhurron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

Have you actually used both?

Most people point to Vistas desktop widgets as ripped off from OS X. That wasn't something Apple created for OS X, it was implemented in a lot of other products before.

I doubt you can really point to anything that OS X did first or new that MS obviously 'ripped off' from Apple.

[Sabaron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

If you could they could actually sue for it Regardless of my gross incorrectitude (due to not actually researching it but just vaguely remembering w/e crap happened over the past 20 years), much of the software industry is just copies of that which already exists with a new bell or whistle that justifies people continually shelling out hundreds of dollars on it.

I don't think there was anything accurate in that post.

Basic point #1 which is accurate:

Don't buy it unless your machine is top end. All it will do is hog even more resources than XP.

You didn't address this either:

How many Wolfenstein clones have you played? Seen any Grand Theft Auto clones recently? How about movies--have you seen any that resemble say... Star Wars except with a fantasy caste to them?

A good deal of the basic concepts and ideas are permutated ad nauseam in the computer industry and in much of our media. True innovation is relatively infrequent and when it does occur, as many people as possible try to crowd around the pie and gobble up as much as they can regardless of who's idea it was in the first place. Since you can't patent an idea and all software is essentially ideas, there is a lot of theft even though it may all be quite legal. Microsoft competes by making their product look exactly like their competition's and then doing "something" to make it just a bit better which in turn forces others to do the same.

The basic idea behind my post is accurate. People in software take ideas from others and sell it as their own. If it were print media it would be plaigerism albeit with a handy license and a fee payed to the originator. I wonder if Stephen King would like to license his stories to be redressed and resold as new? He'd make a buttload of money without doing anything, I'd suspect. It's just a convenient way to get you to shell out more dough on the same old thing.

[Mhurron]

Re: Windows Vista Ultimate OEM vs. Retail

If you could they could actually sue for it Regardless of my gross incorrectitude (due to not actually researching it but just vaguely remembering w/e crap happened over the past 20 years), much of the software industry is just copies of that which already exists with a new bell or whistle that justifies people continually shelling out hundreds of dollars on it.

Everything on the planet is like that.