What's your take on OEM Licensing?

[doom1701]

Specifically, Microsoft OS licensing? The company we recently aquired had no licensing on their client workstations (their management didn't want to spend the money--so the money wound up coming out of what we paid them for the company). I've been working with two vendors on getting them legal. One vendor quoted me XP Pro OEM licenses; the other quoted standard (probably retail) licenses. There's a considerable price difference, so we went with OEM (made the purchase yesterday--so no, you can't turn me into the BSA after all).

Granted, OEM licensing of the OS has some limitations--no support, the license sticks with the computer you bought it for/with, you can't run an "upgrade" using OEM media (you can reinstall the OS, of course), etc. Vendor #2, though, says that my buying OEM licensing is not legal. Vendor #1 isn't a fly by night outfit--their MS expert put together the licensing package for us.

Vendor 2 sent me some links on MS's website regarding OEM licensing, but none of them really forbid what we are doing. The machines are "home built"; technically they should have bought the licensing when they bought the components, but that's the only glitch I can find here.

[JohnJr]

The purpose of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) licensing, originally, was that they were only sold by the system builder, with the system. This may have been the original tiered pricing... before Dell. ;)

I remember, distinctly, when Micro$oft changed that, what 5+ years ago now, to, well, if the OEM is sold with (forget if it was Micro$oft) hardware, of any sort, then it is fine. We sold them with power-cables. ;) Just kidding. We just sold them then, and didn't worry about whether they were on a system we OEM'd or not.

That's the state of the issue as I understand it today. OEM is just dandy, in virtually any circumstance, with, the limitations you listed. (support, stuck to the PC, can't be used to upgrade or upgraded from).

With Office 2007, Micro$oft is changing the OEM game, again. Free 90 day trial, then OEM purchase (license) rights end. There is no OEM package, so you can't just buy it. You either qualify for an OEM license, or you do not.

-John

[Gai-jin]

John -- your post is a bit confusing on the office licensing bit. Could you clarity?

[JohnJr]

OEMs can install the complete (OEM) Office System on PCs they build. The end-user can then use the package free for 60 days. After 60 days, some of the System becomes disabled. After 90 days, you only have "viewer" capability left.

Any time during that 90 days, the end-user can purchase a license "key," at the discounted OEM price, that unlocks Office Basic, Small Business Edition, or Pro. After 90 days the user can only purchase retail, if they want Office 2007.

There may be more to it than that, but that is my understanding of how it works. No physical OEM product, just a "key" that unlocks the OEM installed Office application of your choice.

-John

[logic88]

Ars had an article about Vista OEM licensing a few days ago...

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8730.html