Looking through new egg.com there is a significant price difference between the full retail version of windows vista (I’m looking at ultimate) and the OEM “system builders” version.
Why the huge price difference? If I get the OEM package what am I giving up?
With the OEM version, you can’t ring Microsoft for support.
I don’t think that’s the case. At least, I’ve never heard of any lack of support for OEM copies of Windows. The OEM version is to be sold only with a new computer, and is to be installed only on that one machine. The retail version can be installed on any machine, so long as it isn’t installed on more than one machine at a time. What you’re giving up with the OEM version is that if you buy or build a new computer, you can’t install your OEM copy of Vista on the new machine (legally…you can of course install it, though I expect “Windows Genuine Advantage” and the like will balk if you try to download updates for it)
newegg.com may balk if you try to buy an OEM copy without “qualifying hardware”. Distributors that specialize in OEM distributions sometimes bend this rule to absurd lengths by shipping your software with something like a $5 cable.
From pricegrabber.com, it looks like the upgrade packaging splits the difference between the full product and an OEM distribution. If you have a legal copy of Win2K or XP you are replacing, you may prefer that choice. The price competitive OEM distributions seem to be 32 bit only, with a separate 64 bit OEM copy (makes sense). I believe the retail box copy of Vista either contains both the 32 and 64 bit versions, or directions for obtaining a 64 bit distribution at shipping cost (same license). descriptions don’t seem to agree on that point.
Quartz is right. With the OEM version, Microsoft does not provide support and you have to contact the OEM manufacturer. Phrases to that effect are printed on the OEM package and the little booklet included with the CD. Which means, if you build the machine yourself, and use an OEM copy, you’re on your own.
You also, as you mention, cannot (legally) transfer the copy from an old computer to a new one.
Right you are.
Consider my ignorance fought. I obviously didn’t read the entire booklet very carefully. 
So with an OEM version if I upgrade my computer significantly (CPU/mobo) or buy a new one entirely, I’ll need to buy a whole new copy?
Hmmm, that would be giving up a bit too much. I guess it’s retail copy for me.
I don’t think that’s entirely correct. If I purchase a new computer from a local store, with Vista pre-installed, presumably I can upgrade it by replacing the motherboard or CPU. Now, buying a new computer is a different matter entirely.
I suppose there are two separate issues. What’s the legal detail and what will the software itself allow?
In other words, what does microsoft consider a new computer, and what will Vista recognize as a new computer (I suppose the two might turn out to be the same).
I always build my own PC’s. I also usually upgrade my PC’s every 6 months or so.
Right now I have an AMD2 SLI motherboard with an X2 5000 CPU, 2 Gigs of RAM, 3 hardrives and a Geforce 8800 GTX.
What will happen if I want to replace my old hardrive? Will the software balk at me trying to reinstall it?
What happens in 6 months when I want to replace the X2 5000 with a better CPU? What happens in a year when I switch out my mobo for the new 600 Nvidia chipset ones?
Anyone have the details?
If you are buying new hardware that often, why does springing for a full retail copy of an OS every five years or so bother you, even if an upgrade package isn’t feasible for some reason?
If you have a retail copy, you can install and use that on as many systems as you want, as long as you want, provided that copy resides on only one system at any given time. If you make significant changes to a system’s hardware, you may have to reactivate by calling Microsoft.
With an OEM copy, you can upgrade the hardware as much as you want, as long as it’s the “same” computer. This is defined as having the same motherboard. If your mobo dies or you upgrade it, the license requires the purchase of a new copy. Again, significant changes may require reactivation.
Windows Product Activation (WPA) has more info on how XP Product Activation works.
Usually if you call Microsoft during an activation failure and tell them that it’s the same computer, they’ll give you another registration key that works. They pretty much have to, after all what’s the definition of a computer? If I replace every single component in the case, but use the same keyboard and monitor and mouse, then is it the same of a different computer? What if I keep all of the same components, but have to replace the $99 motherboard the fried? Would that mean “new computer” and so I have to pay $99 for another mobo plus $400 for another Vista license?
Hell, I dumped my PC clones when I got my Intel Macs – what’s the computer now? My physical hardware, or the virtual machine that resides on my FireWire hard drive?
Interesting. It looks like my installation might not be fully kosher, as it were. When I built my current computer, I just transferred the hard drive over from my old Dell. Of course, Windows cried foul and told me to call the reactivation people. I did, and some Indian dude gave me a new activation code. It looks like maybe he shouldn’t have; I’m not prepared to argue that a computer that is totally different (save for the hard drive and sound card) is the “same computer” as the one the OEM copy came with.
Oh well. I’ll be upgrading again when my tax check comes, and I’m planning on buying Vista. Hopefully, everything will be square then. There wouldn’t be any problem using an upgrade version of Vista on an OEM version of XP, would there?
According to Microsoft’s mind-set, if you change anything in your computer, you are a criminal because you haven’t paid them enough money.
Athough they see (barely) the illogic behind this, the burden of proof is up to you to prove that you haven’t built a new computer and copied their software 1000 times without paying for them. Lots of luck.
Hint: define your computer as a laptop. Word on the street is MS recognizes that laptops might change configurations more often than desktops, and they allow a little more leaway.
But be prepared to be treated like a criminal by Microsoft. If you thought Dr. Johnny Fever was paranoid, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Was your machine purchased new in the last year? Then all you need to do is upgrade your hardware – double everything. Otherwise, forget it, and plan on buying a new computer. Your RAM isn’t big enough, your hard drive is too small and too slow, your video is hopeless, and all your drivers are out of date.
If you want to check whether your system is compatible with Windows Vista, you can download and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.
Motherboard failures are allowed, I have done activations of dozens of OEM machines after mobo failures.
Is this sort of hyperbole really necessary in GQ? Just two posts before yours comes first-hand evidence from someone who replaced almost everything in his computer and was given a new key without hassle, despite the fact that he may not even be entitled to one under the OEM licence terms. The activation algorithm has a degree of tolerance for system changes, and if too many changes are made, all you need to do is make a phonecall. It’s hardly the police state.
Also, do you have a cite for the laptop claim you make? For starters, given the latitude Diceman has described, it seems hard to imagine a more lax approach could be applied to laptops. And more importantly, the logic that laptops change configuration more frequently seems completely counter-intuitive. About the only upgrade I’ve ever known any of my friends apply to theirs is memory, and that on its own doesn’t trigger WPA.
Diceman, be aware that in a change this time around, upgrade versions will apparently only work when actually used to upgrade, i.e. applied to an existing install of XP. Previously you were able use the upgrade version to make a clean install if you entered your old key. So you’ll be fine for the first time, but if you ever want a clean install at some point in the future, you’ll need to splat the disk, reinstall XP, and then reinstall Vista on top. Which sounds like a pain in the butt to me.
YMMV. “Making a phonecall” is only the start; you then have to convince them that you are legit. Some people may be able to make significant upgrades without a hassle; some may not. Microsoft isn’t about to tell us what changes are allowed and which are not any more than the IRS tells you what triggers an audit.
Ed Foster’s The Gripe Line is full of tales of users who had legal copies but couldn’t get MS to recognize them as legal users without jumping thru hoops.
Cite? No, that’s why I said “the word on the street”. I read many technical pubs and correspond with other nerds, and I’ve found much useful info from those sources. In some versions of Windows, I believe there was an internal table of changes allowed, and you could tweak that to ignore some. Designating your computer as one which is likely to have frequent changes, i.e., a laptop with a docking station or USB drive, makes the software more forgiving. Hey, it’s worth a try.
I work in the biz, and I have done literally hundreds of xp reinstalls and or repair installs, I have had more than make/model/place purchased/#machines installed on exactly once and that was with a machine that was purchased used from a third party and probably was a pirated install.
Also many people think because they bought it from a shop, its a legit install when in plenty of cases it is not. In that instance its not Microsoft that deserves the bitching, its the shop the machine was purchased from.
on edit, correction, twice, but that guy knew he had a pirated install and he purchased a new licence.
In addition IIRC windows does not “know” its on a laptop, the fact that its components are connected by internal cables rather than external ones is pretty much transparent. It just sees a bunch of drivers which see components, laptop or desktop are pretty much irrelevant.