[AccessD] OT: OEM software bundles

Josh McFarlane darsant at gmail.com
Mon Nov 14 18:10:33 CST 2005


On 11/14/05, Kath Pelletti <KP at sdsonline.net> wrote:
> Have any of you purchased or considered purchasing OEM versions of Office or Windows?
>
> Is there any guarantee at all that it will be the full version? And how do MS handle the activation aspect of Office with these versions? Can they be re-installed? It seems to be very difficult to find a list of *all* of the limitations of the OEM's. Is it in the hands of the distributor to select what goes into the package?

Oh, and a few more notes:

Microsoft OEMs still have certificates of authenticity and Product
Keys. Any site that claims differently is trying to scam you.
Activation is handled on first boot after installation, or on each use
after installation of Office. You can reinstall, but if it's on a new
machine / different hardware you may have to call a hotline that
Microsoft runs and get an authorization code. Not that big of an issue
and takes roughly 5 minutes max.

Packages are packages, distributor does nothing but buy the product
from MS and sell it to you. Any changes they make should make you
HIGHLY suspect.

Now, XP has two flavours in OEM last I checked, Home and Pro.

Office has Pro OEM, and maybe a few others, not sure.

--
Josh McFarlane

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
-Albert Einstein



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