Windows Vista - OEM Vs Retail Licensing
Part 2
The License
Retail
As with most Microsoft licenses, you are entitled to install the
OS on a single computer.
Registration is optional, activation however is not and after 30
days of use you will be asked to activate your software,
initially online and should this fail over the phone.
If you purchased Vista Ultimate or a different version of Vista
and sent off for the 64bit version of the OS you will now have
two sets of media, however you still only have the one license.
So you can only install the 32bit OR 64bit version on any one
machine, not both.
One of the most important features of the Retail license and
what makes it a lot more flexible than the OEM version is that
you can transfer your license from one machine to another.
In real terms this means that once you have purchased the retail
version of the OS you can continue to use it for the lifetime of
the OS no matter how many upgrades you make on your PC.
You can also scrap your current PC, build a new one and as long
as you remove your installation of the OS from your old machine
you can legally install it on your new one.
This can be done any number of times.
You will however have to go through the activation process after
most major upgrades – this process may or may not work online.
Just because you’ve purchased the retail version doesn’t mean
activation is no longer required.
A retail license will also give you access to Microsoft
technical support.
Usually a purchase of a retail version will allow you to raise
“two incidents” with MS technical support within the first 12
months of ownership.
OEM
The bulk of the license for the OEM version of the OS is
extremely similar to the retail version.
The areas covering just who the software belongs to, piracy,
copying and the loaning of the software is more or less the
same.
The biggest restriction of the OEM Windows license is the
inability to transfer the license from one machine to another.
Microsoft define the PC as the machine the OEM OS was installed
on when supplied, so if you purchase a Dell with an OEM OS
license that OS license is good only for the machine it arrived
pre-installed on.
With the increasing number of people who build their own
machines, Microsoft have gone further with their definition of
PC and the basics are:
The OEM license is tied to the motherboard that was inside the
PC when the OS was first installed.
There is of course provision for if your motherboard fails due
to a manufacturing fault – it wouldn’t be fair that your
motherboard becomes faulty and because of this you are forced
into buying a new copy of the OS.
So a faulty Motherboard can be replaced with a warranty
replacement – but that is the only time that you can replace the
motherboard without invalidating your license and needing to
purchase a new one.
You can upgrade any other components you like on a machine
containing an OEM license.
These upgrade may or may not prompt you to reactivate the OS,
however so long as the motherboard is the same this
re-activation process should be quick and easy, even if you are
required to do this over the phone.
Your OEM license will however die with the motherboard.
So in the future if you purchase a new motherboard to perform a
major upgrade to your system you will also need to purchase a
new copy of the OS as your old OEM license is no longer valid.
You can see that even if the OEM license is half the price of
the retail one, all it will take is two motherboard upgrades
within the lifetime of the OS and you are already saving money
by virtue of the fact you don’t need to buy a new license each
time.
Guide Parts
1, 2,
3,
4
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