What's the difference?

[TomWilko]

Between OEM packaged MS software and Retail box?

Apart from obviously....the extreme difference in price!!

Are both good copies of the software?

[Jonny M]

Yes, but OEM licenses cannot be transferred

[Swafe]

i never got this


i buy OEM windows XP, i cant resell it

but then if I get a OEM DVDRW Drive (just the drive with no software), surely Im allowed to sell that?

[Shogun]

You can sell OEM windows Xp if it comes with a peice of hardware. Thats why you get oem copies when you buy ready built pcs. People seem to be selling them with IDE cables and small things like that to bypass it.

[Paul Adams]

Not sure if it's a law or "recommended practice", but I tended to see signs that OEM hardware and software is supposed to be bundled with other items, which is how they can justify the cheaper price than the retail version of the same item.

However, I've often bought OEM software and hardware on its own, even with stickers on the product saying that it isn't supposed to be sold like that, lol.

I think OEM hardware still has the guarantee provided by the manufacturer, but with OEM software the support comes from the retailer first, and in almost all cases you get no manuals or box.

That's why if you try to contact Microsoft for support and your product ID has an OEM origin, you will be told to go to the person who sold it to you.

[Spunkey]

You can sell OEM windows Xp if it comes with a peice of hardware. Thats why you get oem copies when you buy ready built pcs. People seem to be selling them with IDE cables and small things like that to bypass it.

i'm pretty sure thats illegal, unless that supplier has their own deal with Microsoft, which is very unlikely.

When i worked at Maplins, we were only allowed to sell OEM copies when the sale included a CPU, Motherboard and RAM that were compatible with each other. If you were found to sell one otherwise you had a formal written warning, as happened a couple of times.

IIRC the reseller agreement states that you can only sell OEM copies with the main parts of a pc, ie those stated above. It has been a couple of years though

Dont know if this was Maplins being paranoid and trying to cover their arse, or if it actually is part of Microsoft reseller agreement??