Does this look ligit? (OEM software)

Dr Pepper

Hi,

Anybody know what the deal is with these offers (and websites like this)?
http://becaibba.com/?FobebWFD5JgyrF9

My employer wanted me to check out some cheaper software options. It looks a bit dodge to me though! Any advice would be appreciated...
Thanks,
Brian

padlad

looks v dodgy to me, v cheap, no contact information, unsecure credit card entry :eek:

lomb

story here is that u will get the software, with all documentation (licenses) and will look legit and will work fine. however it is counterfeit. adobe dont do oem versions of the software on that page.
u will get the software though so ur choice and your bosses......

astrofool

its just warez. You'd be better off downloading them off a file share prog for free if you're that way inclined.

Creamy Goodness

the golden rule is, if something looks dodgey then it most likely will be

lomb

What does OEM stand for? What is the difference between OEM and full retail packaging ?
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer. A retail version comes in a fancy box, OEM does not. A retail version contains a printed manual. The customers who purchase a retail version are eligible for tech support and different rebates. With our offer this is not possible - hence cheap prices.
Be aware that you will not be able to register the software with the manufacturer. Some of these products cannot be updated on-line.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12568887~mode=flat

Capt'n Midnight

lomb wrote:

What does OEM stand for? What is the difference between OEM and full retail packaging ?
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer. A retail version comes in a fancy box, OEM does not. A retail version contains a printed manual. The customers who purchase a retail version are eligible for tech support and different rebates. With our offer this is not possible - hence cheap prices.
Be aware that you will not be able to register the software with the manufacturer. Some of these products cannot be updated on-line.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12568887~mode=flat

quasi legal worthless words.

Microsoft OEM licenses are Bound to the suplied Hardware.
the only loophole is that M$ haven't stated explicitly which HW the OEM license is bound to , some people reckon it's the CPU, but several hundred million licenses later it's still unclear and many legit resellers will sell it with other transferrable HW like mice etc..

Windows Xp and office XP have to be activated so anything that says "cannot be updated on-line." must be illegal ..

For cheaper software use the word "gnu" in google , for many microsoft products that are backwardly compatible with previous versions there are open source replacements, many aren't as 100% compatible, but most people don't 90% of the features in most products so it doesn't matter.

also watch out for sites selling backup copies or not including a Cert of authentication with the sw, 'cos even if the CD is legit, it's worthless without the license.

What software were you trying to replace ?
other options are buying secondhand licenses on ebay..

dubdvd

almost sure i seen something before about this site and from what i seen it was as crooked as my accountant

Dr Pepper

Hey,

Thanks a lot to all for the advice! It has shed a lot of light on the subject for me. I would certainly be a believer in the theory that if something is so cheap and doesn't look ligit, then it isn't!

We were looking for a few copies of 'MS Office 2003 Pro' and possibly 'Windows XP'. We've decidied it would make more sense to cough up so I've just put in an order for a few real copies.

Thanks again,
Brian

Blub2k4

Dr Pepper wrote:

Hey,

Thanks a lot to all for the advice! It has shed a lot of light on the subject for me. I would certainly be a believer in the theory that if something is so cheap and doesn't look ligit, then it isn't!

We were looking for a few copies of 'MS Office 2003 Pro' and possibly 'Windows XP'. We've decidied it would make more sense to cough up so I've just put in an order for a few real copies.

Thanks again,
Brian

Good idea, cos no matter what they say you would not be legally entitled to use the software if you were audited.

Gosh

Dr Pepper wrote:

We've decidied it would make more sense to cough up so I've just put in an order for a few real copies.

Although you have already made the right decision you should still read this

http://www.bsa.org/ireland/antipiracy/Ireland-FAQ.cfm#Law1

and particularly this part of the page

http://www.bsa.org/ireland/antipiracy/Piracy-and-the-Law.cfm

daymobrew

Dr Pepper wrote:

We were looking for a few copies of 'MS Office 2003 Pro'

What about OpenOffice ?
Only downside I know in the current version (1.1.4) is that it cannot open password protected MS Office documents, but this is being fixed for 2.0 which is in beta at the moment.
And it's free. Worth evaluating at least, seeing if it coexists with your few copies of MS Office 2003 Pro.

Capt'n Midnight

OO can of course password docs when they are saved in OO format, it just can't use the propitery microsoft password format for copyright reasons rather than technical ones

Maybe you could use word viewer to open the passworded word doc and then print to pdfcreator and then cut/paste the text from the PDF into OO.
Also word has a read-only password, IICR all you do to bypass this is edit - select all - cut/paste into a new doc of the same name.

OO doesn't have access and buying access on it's own is not much cheaper than office pro - or look at buying microsoft works and upgrading it to office pro - microsoft licencing is a real-head wrecker and the best option is not clear.

OO doesn't have outlook , but if you are using a microsoft exchange server you need outlook to benefit from the features and then outlook is licensed off the exchange CAL's - if you aren't using a microsoft exchange server there are plenty of decent smtp clients out there. If you have microsoft exchange and are only using it for email then it's a waste of money MDaemon is about 1/10th the price and about as idiot proof as you can get.

DrEvil

Hi,

Anybody know what the deal is with these offers (and websites like this)?
http://becaibba.com/?FobebWFD5JgyrF9

My employer wanted me to check out some cheaper software options. It looks a bit dodge to me though! Any advice would be appreciated...
Thanks,
Brian

These guys aren't just selling warez they are bigtime spammers. Keep well away.
http://www.spamhaus.org/SBL/sbl.lasso?query=SBL22876
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=becaibba.com

pickarooney

OpenOffice isn't anywhere near fully compatible with MS Office documents unfortunately. Try opening a Word XP doc with a TOC, index and bookmarks, they simply don't work.
Then again, the same can be said of opening a Word 2003 doc in Word 2000 etc.
I don't reckon any of the plugins for Word can be used with OO either.

halenger

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Microsoft OEM licenses are Bound to the suplied Hardware.
the only loophole is that M$ haven't stated explicitly which HW the OEM license is bound to , some people reckon it's the CPU, but several hundred million licenses later it's still unclear and many legit resellers will sell it with other transferrable HW like mice etc.

You can buy Microsoft OEM with a number of PC upgrades. What you cannot buy it with are peripheral purchase or RAM purchases. This is quite explicitly stated in OEM software Terms and Conditions, or on Microsoft's website... Probably both. I sell it and have looked it up for that reason.

As for transferability. That's where your point comes in. These licences are non-transferable. Whether that means if you're moving the hard drive it must go with it or the CPU etc. I don't quite know. I'm quite sure Microsoft would have an answer if they were asked though.

Capt'n Midnight

I've looked for definitive* definitions on the micrsoft site before - if you have a link please.

*though having seen the number of files left behind by the remove all option I doubt they are aware of the meaning of the word "all" [/quote]

Also upgrades to OEM licenses are still bound to the same HW the original OEM was bound to.

Where the vagueness of the OEM license gets messy is if you buy a PC with OEM office and windows and then get a PC upgrade with windows can you still use the OEM office seeing as how you haven't thrown out the rest of the original PC.