completely confused about windows versions

[pmv]

I'm contemplating an upgrade. Was thinking of upgrading my amd cpu, hence thread in cpu forum, but now leaning towards building a new machine/swapping to Intel 8400. Because, sadly, it does seem that Intel are kicking AMD's arse at the moment.

But occurs to me my windows xp is oem, and will probably have trouble validating it if I change motherboard.

So another expense would be buying a new OS licence.

(Leaving aside the fact I think its an outrageous abuse of market power that MS can force people to buy the same product again like this...)

What version of Windows should I go for? (I'd be happy to switch to Linux, used to use Unix in dim and distant past, but, well, you know...games, that's the problem).

I'm tempted to just stick with XP, but it feels even more of a waste to pay again to buy exactly the same thing I already have.

Is Vista still a driver nightmare? And why are there so many different versions of it? Is there any real reason to get the more costly ones?

And what's the score with 32 bit vs 64 bit these days, is it worth going 64 bit for 'future proofing' or are there lots of incompatibility issues there?

Cheers.

 

[bsobel]

(Leaving aside the fact I think its an outrageous abuse of market power that MS can force people to buy the same product again like this...)

:roll: You received XP at a highly discounted price when you purchased the OEM version, if you dont like the restrictions, simply purcahse a retail version (then again, usually the cost of 2 oem licenses is still less than retail, so I have trouble seeing how this is abuse).

 

[ViRGE]

XP vs Vista has been beaten to death here. If you're building a new computer go with Vista 64, the only people having problems are those on older hardware or using very specific very old applications.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Unless you're trying to cheat, validating the OS (if you even have to do it) is as hard as making a simple phone call and tactfully answering the questions they ask you. If you have an OEM copy of Windows that is good for one machine, make sure you're just using it on one machine and tell them that you had to replace parts.

 

[pmv]

@bsobel

OK, true OEM version is cheaper than retail, so 'abuse' was too strong a word. I guess my complaint really boils down to the very high cost of the retail version, which gets into arguments about imperfect markets. The OS market is not a very competitive one. I don't agree with those libertarian types who think that all is for the best in the most perfect of all possible markets. There may, perhaps, be no way to prevent MS taking maximum advantage of its dominant position without wrecking the market (clearly the communist countries didn't produce much of a computing industry) but it doesn't mean we all have to _like_ them for it. All corporations are sociopaths by definition.

Incidentally, was it officially the case with pre-XP versions of windows that you couldn't legally migrate OEM versions when upgrading?

I think what I really wanted to know was whether there was any downside to going 64 bit. I guess not. Still unclear on the different versions of Vista, but I guess I can just google it.

@bunnyfubbles us that likely to work? I will certainly only be using it on one machine, as the old one will be cannibalised for the new one. I don't object to MS not letting me use one copy on multiple machines, but don't like the OEM restriction on upgrading. I'll probably give up and go vista anyway, as going 64 bit seems a good enough justification.

 

[KeypoX]

64 bit is perfect, and you are right there is no competition in the OS market unless you wanna use linux but yeah... if you buy the right mobo you can use osx, take a look in the apple forum here http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2163518&enterthread=y

google vista and you can see the difference in the versions but 64 bit is the way to go. We need to do away with 32...

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: pmv
Incidentally, was it officially the case with pre-XP versions of windows that you couldn't legally migrate OEM versions when upgrading?

That's been the case for a long time. But with XP and it's Activation system, Microsoft could finally enforce their rule.