Re: Vista OEM or... ?

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Hi,

I'd like to upgrade PCs from my family to Vista (2 PC).

There are at least two different concepts of what constitutes an upgrade:

(1) In-place upgrade: One attempts to install a newer OS (e.g. Vista) over
an older OS (e.g. XP). In this case, you would need an upgrade or a retail
full version.

(2) Fresh install: For a hardware component, one will consider an upgrade as
by removing an older component and replacing with a newer and *better*
component, and in the case of an operating system, that will be equivalent
to reformatting the HDD and performing a fresh install. In this case, I
don't see why an OEM license cannot do the job.

Regarding the use of OEM, the following are two separate issues:

(1) The right to purchase and use an OEM version;

(2) Who will perform support if the end user is having problems.

Let's start with (2) with a simple example since this has been discussed so
many times.

Who will you turn to for support if one of the hardware components failed
(e.g. CPU) in the system that your purchased from a system builder?

Will you call Intel or AMD or the system builder for support? I guess the
answer is obvious and it should be the system builder.

It is exactly the same for the operating system as it is nothing more but a
bundled component of the system. The one who sold you the system should
perform the support as they would for the hardware component.

The disclaimer provided by NewEgg (and many other retailers) as well as some
MS documents are nothing more than just to ensure that purchasers and users
understand who should perform the support, and it will not be Microsoft, in
this case.

With (2) in mind, there is no limitation on who can be a system builder.
You can be your own system builder or delegate to Dell, HP or your brother,
sister and so on and so on. In this case, any of them can purchase and
install the OEM version and you can use it without any problems. But then
again, it will not be Microsoft who will perform the support and it will be
the one who assembles the system for you.

Finally, for the limitation, as far as I know (which of course can be wrong
and appreciate if anyone corrects me), the only one is that you cannot move
it *to* another system, but there are no limitations on what components can
or cannot be replaced and for how many times one can replace.

Whether you replace a component or not, it will not be the responsibility of
Microsoft for performing support. But it will be its responsibility to
activate if the OS has not been moved to another system.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience, also provided some
information about the myth of replacing a motherboard which the company has
clarified.

Therefore, it is NOT at the discretion of the activation staffs because
there simply has NO restriction has ever been written in the EULA.


"Vswildcat" <Vswildcat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8D901142-EAC3-4E7A-B4F3-B06970CEBF75@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all,

I'd like to upgrade PCs from my family to Vista (2 PC).

I also have to precise I regularly change PCs configuration : ex. I
rebuilt
completly one of the PC to put a big graphic card (for Games): the mother
board and connectic were so old I had to change almost everything (box,
mother board, new wireless PCI card...). The only things that didn't
changed
were the screen, the keyboard and the mouse :-)

Knowing this, what do you recommend : Vista OEM or the DVD pack?

And to be complete, is there somewhere reliable information with
differences
and possiblities of all Vista version (number of installation, what can be
changed, what can't be changed in PC in order to reinstal, etc...)

Thx for help


.

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