DM said:
I want to purchase XP Pro w/ SP2 from someone on eBay.
Getting a legitimate license of any kind from eBay is something of a
crap shoot. One should be very careful buying any software on eBay,
as eBay makes no prior effort to ensure that such sales are legitimate.
The problems stem from two completely different sources, but have the
same results: the buyer gets ripped off. A great many people don't fully
understand the terms of the license they own, and don't understand that
they cannot legitimately resell it, and - worse still - there are a
great many sellers who do know that they're selling bogus licenses. eBay
reacts only when someone files a complaint, and then all that really
happens, especially in the case of the many deliberate fraudsters, is
the seller of the pirated software returns using a different alias, to
continue selling illegitimate licenses.
They claim it is
"Brand New! Genuine from Microsoft! w/ TECH Support"
The only thing is it is an OEM version.
Microsoft does *not* provide any support for OEM licenses, and has
never done so. You now know that the seller is a liar. Do you still
wish to trust him/her with your money?
I've never bought an operating system by it's self without being
preinstalled before. Will this OEM version work for me? What are the
limitations on OEM versions?
There are some very important reasons that an OEM license costs so
much less than a retail license. OEM licenses are very limited:
1) OEM versions must be sold with a piece of non-peripheral
hardware (normally a motherboard or hard drive, if not an entire PC,
although Microsoft has greatly relaxed the hardware criteria for WinXP)
and are _permanently_ bound to the first PC on which they are installed.
An OEM license, once installed, is not legally transferable to another
computer under any circumstances. This is the main reason some people
avoid OEM versions; if the PC dies or is otherwise disposed of (even
stolen), you cannot re-use your OEM license on a new PC. The only
legitimate way to transfer the ownership of an OEM license is to
transfer ownership of the entire PC.
2) Microsoft provides no free support for OEM versions. If you
have any problems that require outside assistance, your only recourse is
to contact the manufacturer/builder of the PC or the vendor of the OEM
license. This would include such issues as lost a Product Key or
replacing damaged installation media. (Microsoft does make allowances
for those instances when you can prove that the OEM has gone out of
business.) This doesn't mean that you can't download patches and
service packs from Microsoft -- just no free telephone or email support
for problems with the OS.
3) An OEM CD cannot be used to perform an upgrade of an earlier
OS, as it was designed to be installed _only_ upon an empty hard drive.
It can still be used to perform a repair installation (a.k.a. an
in-place upgrade) of an existing WinXP installation.
4) If the OEM CD was designed by a specific manufacturer, such as
eMachines, Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc., it will most likely only install
on the same brand of PC, as an additional anti-piracy feature. Further,
such CDs are severely customized to contain only the minimum of device
drivers, and a lot of extra nonsense, that the manufacturer feels
necessary for the specific model of PC for which the CD was designed. To
be honest, such CDs should _not_ be available on the open market; but,
if you're shopping someplace on-line like eBay, swap meets, or computer
fairs, there's often no telling what you're buying until it's too late.
The "generic" OEM CDs, such as are manufactured by Microsoft and sold
to small systems builders, don't have this particular problem, though,
and are pretty much the same as their retail counterparts, apart from
the licensing, support, and upgrading restrictions.
I am replacing my current XP Pro operating system with a new one because
I locked the system up by playing with the security policy.
That's no reason to have to purchase a new license. At the very worst,
you'd simply have to reinstall your current license.
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin
Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
