XP oem

Voodu Child

Im thinking of picking up a legit copy of XP for my Vista laptop - the cheapest ones I see on ebay are 'oem' versions, shipping with some sort of nominal piece of hardware to circumvent some sort of microsoft agreement...

Are these things legit? No problems or whatnot?

AlmightyCushion

It is tied to the motherboard it is first installed on. So legally you wouldn't be able to un-install it and then install it on a different computer. Another thing is that microsoft don't support it. If you run into problems with your windows install you'll have to deal with it yourself.

JæKæ

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It is tied to the motherboard it is first installed on. So legally you wouldn't be able to un-install it and then install it on a different computer. Another thing is that microsoft don't support it. If you run into problems with your windows install you'll have to deal with it yourself.

MS support is no loss though. You'll find more assistance in online forums, plus it's free.

yoyo

Just make sure your laptop has Windows XP drivers available prior, for example wireless drivers, sound ones aswell as hotkey utilities, some dont unfortunately

Nick

Voodu Child

Cheers for the relies, exactly the kind of info i was looking for.

Im not bothered about the support, but I might have a think about not being able to uninstall it and put it on my next machine.

Thanks:)

ViDuchie

voodoo_child wrote: »

Im thinking of picking up a legit copy of XP for my Vista laptop - the cheapest ones I see on ebay are 'oem' versions, shipping with some sort of nominal piece of hardware to circumvent some sort of microsoft agreement...

Are these things legit? No problems or whatnot?

WAIIIT

If your version of vista is Business or Ultimate then you are entitled to downgrade (ahem upgrade)it to XP for free as it is part of the licence agreement for those products.

This doesn't apply for Home editions of Vista.

Just use an oem xp cd with any key AFAIK. It may not activate but just phone them to activate it for you.


And from my knowledge as long as the piece of hardware is "qualifying" then the above is legit.

Capt'n Midnight

as posted above you can downgrade from Business / Ultimate / Eterprise to XP PRO
you can't downgrade other vista's - you have to upgrade them first :rolleyes:

you can't downgrade to XP home - it's only pro

the OEM license is bound to the motherboard and lives or dies with it, it can't be resold and eBay / Microsoft should be cracking down on this

if you don't like Vista there are plenty of free OS's to choose from , XP Home is NOT one of them. Microsoft charge plenty for retail copies of XP you can argue it's a punishment for being honest but they make the rules.

Voodu Child

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

as posted above you can downgrade from Business / Ultimate / Eterprise to XP PRO
you can't downgrade other vista's - you have to upgrade them first :rolleyes:

you can't downgrade to XP home - it's only pro

the OEM license is bound to the motherboard and lives or dies with it, it can't be resold and eBay / Microsoft should be cracking down on this

Yeah, i've Vista HP so there's no free up/down grade for me

The licence being tied to the motherboard is definitely something im glad I know. I'll have to weigh up the pro's and cons of that...it's only a new laptop but i've had my eye on a few others already

if you don't like Vista there are plenty of free OS's to choose from , XP Home is NOT one of them. Microsoft charge plenty for retail copies of XP you can argue it's a punishment for being honest but they make the rules.

Aye, i've been testing ubuntu on a trial basis since Vista started pissing me off. It's very nice, and seems a bit faster and responsive than Vista, but just a tad too hacker-ish for my liking.

Cheers for the advice.

pyramuid man

I have also been trying ubuntu and I find that it is faster, more secure, offers faster web surfing and also makes my battery last longer, I love it but I need xp for work.

AlmightyCushion

pyramuid man wrote: »

I have also been trying ubuntu and I find that it is faster, more secure, offers faster web surfing and also makes my battery last longer, I love it but I need xp for work.

You could always dual boot. Xp for work and ubuntu for pleasure.