XP OEM

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chek
  • Start date Start date
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Chek

It strikes me that a large number of people (especially those with new PC's)
have OEM
versions of Windows XP Home.
Personally, I am becoming more aware that far from having a truly workable
OS, it is in fact a working OS only until such time as XP goes belly-up (and
it will happen sooner or later judging from experience with previous MS
products). Most of the fixes for problems posted here involve the MS XP cd.
Must-have built in tools and utilities for recovery are unavailable (apart
from a lose-all-your-data type system restore disc) to OEM users.
Surely this is an intolerable system as it stands?
The Microsoft OS is used to sell the manufacturers' sytems to us the
customers, so how hard would it be to ensure a proper product and give us a
cd?
I know rather than shell out around GBP90 (local upgrade cd price) for
another OS when this one dies, I'll be seriously considering reinstalling
Win98.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this, and more pertinently (apart from
buying a voodoo doll with extra large spikes resembling Steve Ballmer)
what's to be done?
Ok ok, you Linux guys can stop laughing quite so hard now.
 
Its all in the terminology.

The OEM CD for XP installation has very little difference than the retail
version. What it primarily lacks is free support from MS in the event of
problems. This is sold in tandem with the sale of a PC without an OS, or
sold with motherboard, or sold with a hard drive. Not recommended for
newbies. Functionality of installation is identical, all files are present.

A restore CD is version of the OS installation provided by the manufacturer
of an entire PC. In some cases, may be on a hidden partition on the PC's
hard drive instead of a CD. Support is provided by the manufacturer of the
PC. Compaq and HP are examples of same. These types of PCs were meant for
those just wishing to operate same, not tweak, or reinstall over present
problems, etc. As this type user grows in knowledge of his/her system,
he/she may become dissatisfied with the default restore and want more.

Linux, to my knowledge, is not provided by any major PC manufacturer as an
operating system for that PC. So, I fail to see the analogy.

Dave
 
The OEM is only responsible for getting the PC back into its original
working order - as it was when purchased - any tweaks, data files, documents
and software installed by the user and/or purchaser is his/her
responsibility to backup and/or restore after the OEM's recovery process has
been used - how that is done is up to you. Some choices is to use the
backup utility with Windows XP (installed by default for XP Pro, a few
extract steps to install for XP Home) or purchase a 3rd party backup package
(personally I use Norton Ghost). If you need to do things using the
"Support Tools" or the "Recovery Console" you will need an actual WinXP CD
(Home or Pro based on your system) which very few OEMs supply (Dell supplies
the CD with its upper end Desktops, Laptops and Workstations) - but if these
things are the stuff you want to do, and the OEM does not supply a CD, then
you'll need to purchase one yourself or go to another OEM before purchasing
a PC - its your choice, not the OEM or Microsoft - they offer the options.
If you do the proper research, like when you buy a house or automobile,
then you'll be all set, but if you forget the homework, when the pop quiz is
given, you'll fail to have the tools and/or knowledge available when you
need it.
 
Thanks for the considered responses people.
L'il Dave - my Linux reference was referring to the no doubt scurrilous
suggestion going about that MS deliberately with-held CD distribution in
order to limit the numbers of installations from OEM with dual boot options
(to Linux, obviously).
However, having had this new system running for a month more or less
continuously I have to agree that XP is wonderfully stable, and it's happily
crunching
through six SETI units a day as opposed to my previous setup which managed
one a week, though that's probably more hardware than OS related! Also the
OEM build quality is really good.
S.A.Q, or if Q is ok for short, -if you're into that whole short thing - I
should say that I gambled that the Restore system in XP will be as good as
advertised whenever the need arises, but, nevertheless, I still wish that I
had the regular MS CD for when that day comes.
In the meantime there's always Roxio Go Back :)
best regards
Chek
 
You'll have to check with Bill G. about withholding CD distribution. Have
no idea. Doubt if many readers of this newsgroup do either.

Generally speaking, with a new PC, you're stuck with what you got at time of
purchase including the OS installation. That has been going on with PC
manufacturers for quite some time and not associated with XP specifically.

My personal preference is DriveImage for backup. Copy the entire hard drive
to a identical removable version once a week. Images are kept on another
local drive based on a weekly schedule.

There are few versions of Linux out there, and are relatively inexpensive.
Tried the Redhat version intially, then then much later, the Suse version
once myself.
Dave
 
Lil' Dave said:
You'll have to check with Bill G. about withholding CD distribution.
Have no idea. Doubt if many readers of this newsgroup do either.

Generally speaking, with a new PC, you're stuck with what you got at
time of purchase including the OS installation. That has been going
on with PC manufacturers for quite some time and not associated with
XP specifically.

My personal preference is DriveImage for backup. Copy the entire
hard drive to a identical removable version once a week. Images are
kept on another local drive based on a weekly schedule.

There are few versions of Linux out there, and are relatively
inexpensive. Tried the Redhat version intially, then then much later,
the Suse version once myself.
Dave
Click to expand...

Wellllllllll.......
My PC is a Dell and came with Win98 built in, but, I got a comple Windows 98
CD install disk, (not a Dell copy like Gateway), but the original OS; I
needed it, I had to install Windows 98 about 25 times in the 4 years it ran.
Then I went and bought Windows XP and of course I have the CD and the
product key, etc. Only installed it once so far. I have to agree....XP is
the most stable; I've used Win2000 Pro and Win NT at work and they are
stable too. I understand XP comes from that side of the family. Anyway, my
..02. ;)
 
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