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Where to get cheapest copy of win2k?

S

spazntwich1

Banned
Obviously, I don't want to pirate windows 2000, but I don't want to spend 300$ for a professional license either. I noticed newegg has an OEM copy for 150$ shipped. The price doesn't sound horrible, but if I'm forfeiting any and all support from Microsoft by going OEM, I think it should be a little cheaper.

Does anyone know of a good place to buy a professional copy of win2k? I don't plan on NEEDING any support from MS, but if I'm not going to get any, it might as well be fairly affordable.
 


<< Does anyone know of a good place to buy a professional copy of win2k? I don't plan on NEEDING any support from MS, but if I'm not going to get any, it might as well be fairly affordable. >>


[/]he steps up to the podium with his ethics hat on[/]

If you are trying to buy an OEM copy for $150 without purchasing any qualifying hardware at the same time, you are essentially buying an illegal copy. I understand how you feel about paying lots of money when you won't need the support from MS, because support from MS is, well, stinky. They make you call in on your dime and then keep you in a call queue which can have over 100 people in it at one time (it happened to me when I purchase Windows ME). Eventually, I just hung up. By the time MS called me back the next day, I had found my solution off of the 'Net.
 

If you have a previous copy of Windows (3.x?, 9x, NT4), you can purchase the 'upgrade package' for around $200 (us).

 
Hah, I'm trying to be ethical too. I'm waiting to buy, I dunno, some sort of hardware along with the OEM copy, to make things nice and legal. But then, my other question is "What do I need to buy with win2k to make the purchase legal?"
 
If you purchase a MS OEM license, it is not illegal for you to buy it without hardware purchases. It is the vendors responsibility to only distribuite OEM copies by the guidelines of the MS partners builders agreement. It is your responsibility to only install it on your homebuilt machine and it must stay on that machine. The license is not transferable to another machine.

Rain
 
Yes Newegg is the Best, they will require you buy a piece of hardware. Direct deals is alittle cheaper without a hardware requirement but they are very shady outfit and you never know what they will send you. You might end up with a OEM Dell or Gatway license that will do you no good.

Rain
 


<< Direct deals is alittle cheaper without a hardware requirement but they are very shady outfit and you never know what they will send you. >>


For the most part, DD is a great vendor and they are local to me so I see them at the computer shows. However, if they're "dumpster diving" for OEM copies of software from Dell or Gateway, that is not right - or, they are picking them up for cheap - probably, just cheaper than the OEM copies that are not tied a particular brand of computer.
 
All the complaints Direct Deals has had from some of the Forum members and all the complaints people have posted at Resellers Ratings would be enough for me to stray way from them. I have purchased from Direct Deals and had no problems with them but I have known people personally who have been burned by them also.

Rain
 
Is it thus illegal to resell an oem copy of a MS operating system? Or a retail for that matter.
What rights do the owners(renters?) of the software have as to its usage or resale?
 
From what I always understood, since Microsoft treats the license like a physical piece of property, you are free to resell it once you've purchased it.

In fact, I think my school may sometime be upgrading it's computer from win98 to win2k, and they are thinking about reselling all of their licenses to win98 for cut-rate prices.

Of course, microsoft doesn't like people reselling licenses AT ALL. There was a big stink a while ago at ebay where people trying to resell licenses to many different Microsoft products were having someone at microsoft win thair auctions, and not pay for it.

Definitely a weird setup. I should ask a lawyer about reselling licenses sometime.
 
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