OEM disclaimer?

[Brown-Bomber]

Qualifying proof of purchase must be recent receipts showing the purchase of a mother board, hard drive, RAM and a CPU. The components can be on multiple receipts; not necessarily all on one receipt nor on the same receipt as the qualifying Windows XP/Office 2003 that you purchased.

Whats this? You have to show newegg proof that you bought system components in order to buy oem versions of software? What if you built your system 5 years ago and wish to buy a new operating system? I don't have all my receipts anymore.

 

[TheCreator]

Then you buy a retail copy of the OS or you buy an OEM copy from somewhere that doesn't require such proof.

 

[djnes]

What if you built your system 5 years ago and wish to buy a new operating system? I don't have all my receipts anymore.

That doesn't matter because you weren't purchasing the hardware at the same time. The OEM licensing has always been this way.

 

[Brown-Bomber]

That doesn't matter because you weren't purchasing the hardware at the same time. The OEM licensing has always been this way.

What does that have to do with anything? On newegg they have two separate disclaimers for OEM versions of XP and VISTA.

XP

Disclaimer: Qualifying proof of purchase must be recent receipts showing the purchase of a mother board, hard drive, RAM and a CPU. The components can be on multiple receipts; not necessarily all on one receipt nor on the same receipt as the qualifying Windows XP/Office 2003 that you purchased.

VISTA

Disclaimer: This OEM software is intended for system builders only and cannot be transferred to another PC once it is installed. The purchaser of this software is required to comply with the terms of the System Builder license, including the responsibility of providing all end user support for the software. http://www.microsoft.com/ oem/sblicense/default.mspx

If the OEM licensing has always been this way I would think the disclaimer would be the same for XP and VISTA. Obviously there are some differences between the two. If I have to buy the retail version of XP since I cant provide proof of hardware that was purchased over 5 years ago then ill just bite the bullet and buy an OEM version of vista. And if it doesn't run the way I want it to ill just stick with windows 2000 until I build a new system.

 

[djnes]

Actually, it looks like you are comparing the XP OEM version with the Vista System Builder's version. Why can't you just buy this if you want XP?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116175

 

[Catweazle]

Okay. Let's get a couple of things straight.

Firstly, Brown-Bomber, you're referring to restrictions which NewEgg put in place. NewEgg might be trying to follow laws and restrictions, but they don't set them and their vendor-specific restrictions aren't necessarily statements of legal situation! Go find another vendor if you don't like the restrictions they impose. eBay, for example, imposes a different method of 'restriction'. Other vendors differ also.


Secondly, the actual legal situation has changed. Previously, Microsoft did not allow OEM products to be sold except in accompaniment with hardware. With the release of Vista those restrictions have been eased, and Microsoft now endorses the practice of some OEM products being sold as 'standalone' items. It's not clear, though, whether or not they consider this change to apply to their back-catalogue of products.

Thus, it's quite understandable that a vendor such as NewEgg might sell OEM XP and OEM Vista under different conditions which use the different disclaimers you have quoted. They're only trying to protect their arse by doing so.

 

[BIGDADDY51]

I just got Vista Home Premium OEM from Newegg, along with a new harddrive,no problem. I think all that legaleese is a CYA thing, or to point to, durring MS promos such as the upgrade fiasco.