OEM vs Retail

[wjgollatz]

I am wondering if purchasing OEM software is a good deal anymore. Given that Microsoft has gone hell bent on piracy issues and is now back to having domestic users individually register products again - I am wondering how this will effect all the OEM software that is out. I want to buy one MS product, but to me - the difference of a $100 doesn't justify a printed manual I will never open. Specially - I am wondering if there will be any upgrade issues with OEM software - since MS is certainly tracking who registers what.

I have read that OEM OS software is tied to the hardware and that you are not allowed to uninstall it - and move it to another computer. Suppose I buy this product, and years from now, after even several product upgrades, I am installing on a new machine. Will it work - or is MS moving to stop that sort of thing.

 

[Skel]

Originally posted by: wjgollatz
I am wondering if purchasing OEM software is a good deal anymore. Given that Microsoft has gone hell bent on piracy issues and is now back to having domestic users individually register products again - I am wondering how this will effect all the OEM software that is out. I want to buy one MS product, but to me - the difference of a $100 doesn't justify a printed manual I will never open. Specially - I am wondering if there will be any upgrade issues with OEM software - since MS is certainly tracking who registers what.

I have read that OEM OS software is tied to the hardware and that you are not allowed to uninstall it - and move it to another computer. Suppose I buy this product, and years from now, after even several product upgrades, I am installing on a new machine. Will it work - or is MS moving to stop that sort of thing.

Never knew that domestic users could bulk register products... still not sure why one would want to... maybe it's me.

Skel