Another licesing question

[austerus]

I've read here a previous post about a licensing question and now I'm posting my own separately since there's no logical connection to continue that thread.

Now I have acquired my Vista license in a rather peculiar mode, I will describe it so bear with me (there's a question at the end): I had been looking for a Vista license for a while but most IT shops didn't have any types on stock until I reached three webshops which were offering Vista Home Premium (both x32 and x64, the type that I now run). All of them were advertised on site only with the simple name at a price around 100 and something USD (about 130 I would guess with currency conversion).

I called all three asking for an update quote mentioning my interest in a purchase. Two called me back confirming the price but saying the license there was OEM, therefore it can't be sold like that, only with a system purchased from them, either on the spot or purchased from them less than three months ago. I had no idea what OEM means at the time.

The third one however accepted my order and shipped a Vista package, which contained a brief OEM manual, a sticker and the original DVD (with all those cute colorful Microsoft holograms). Of course the package was legit, I put the sticker on my PC, installed it, passed genuine validation & everything.

But I still wonder, since this package is obviously OEM and I didn't get my computer from that company anyway, is there a chance I could get in trouble for that? OR maybe the company who sold me the license will get in trouble?

 

[Barman58]

Hi austerus and welcome to the vista forums,

The OEM versions of MS operating systems are perfectly legal but different from the retail versions you would find off the the shelf of your local IT store.

They are designed for use by small computer manufacturers and are discounted a fair bit from the full retail versions.

First they are unsupported by Microsoft - support is down to the PC manufacturer - basically in your case that is now you

Second - They are non transferable - they must remain on the hardware first installed onto

Hope this explains a little

 

[austerus]

Hey barman,

Thanks for the answer, didn't know about the lack of support part.

My problem is that later I found out indeed that OEM are not supposed to be sold without a non-peripheral component. I saw such a quote claimed to be from the Microsoft license (never fully read it myself, since I started but found it more confusing) aimed at system builders. Later I also saw the same claim on several ebay stores that were selling OEM licenses individually, but always packed with a non-peripheral device (IDE cable, audio-card, old MB).

I don't doubt the package's legality, however if that stipulation exists in the Microsoft's license, isn't it possible that my license could be revoked since it falls an inch off the wording in the license? I'm not really worried about that since technically the seller should be considered in breach of license since they sold it to me outside the license's conditions.

I wonder if anyone could clarify for me this tiny detail. I do plan to take some time and read thoroughly the license act sometime, but I would be grateful to anyone who could help save me from the ordeal.

 

[Barman58]

Hi,

I doubt if you will have any issues with MS revoking the license, I have not heard of any such action. OEMs vary in size from the likes of dell and hp down to the one man company who builds a PC once or twice a year to be honest, you paid for the license,, which is something that not everyone does , so I doubt microsoft will be worried about this, in effect you are now the OEM.

The only issue you may have is if you heavily upgrade the machine and have to re-activate the license. In this case the automatic online system may fail. If this happens you simply have to ring the free phone number and explain that you had a catastrophic failure and are re-installing, and they will provide a new key.

 

[edilee012]

I have seen those OEM version on Ebay when I was building my PC and I thought they sounded a little fishy so I bought a "system builder" version from Newegg which is similar. It is tied to my motherboard and can only be activated for that motherboard so it cannot be installed on another machine and there of course is no support from MS for it.

I read on a forum about someone buying a copy of XP from Amazon and somewhere down the line after he had it installed the genuine validation found it to be an illegal copy. System builder copies are a little over half the price of the full retail copy and are the best deal if you can do without the support.