I hesitate to reply, feel a little squeamish about the inevitable abuse I
feel I am inviting but here goes anyway. I am one of those people--the ones
who bought from a huge vendor without prior research. I had no idea (until I
started reading this newsgroup) what the heck an OEM was. I have no problem
at all with the concept that I got what I paid for; however, it would have
been nice to have been advised by my retailer either verbally or in writing,
that I was not getting a "complete" OS and that I would have to go somewhere
other than MS for support. That would have given me the option to say, no
problem, let me pay you for a full copy whatever or would have let me try to
negotiate for a full copy. Whatever. And yes, I know I can still go out and
buy one. But that is after the fact and after I learned all about it. In my
(stupid one of those people) opinion, to use a car analogy which everyone
hates, everyone knows that you have to get a car serviced and seen to from
time to time and that is just fine and no one expects you to be a mechanic
when you buy a car. But the smelly stuff would hit the fan if you found out
after you got the car home that you could only get it repaired by taking it
to certain garages and you couldn't even talk to, say, Ford. And it didn't
come with a spare tire. But hey, you paid a couple of hundred bucks less for
it and you should have asked when you bought it. From where I am sitting, I
can't ask what I don't know about and being one of those persons, I can't
actually tell that I am paying less for it. Yes, believe it or not, you can
compare whole systems from store to store quite easily but it is not obvious
(to those people) that the price difference is because of the type of
components vs. a lightweight OS. Or because they just have a great sale
going on. Again, I have no problem with the buyer beware concept etcetera.
But I think that there should be some requirement for full disclosure with
respect to the operating system. As in "Comes with Windows XP OEM". I hope
that if I had seen that I would have asked what is OEM? Maybe not-- I am one
of those people g but at that point I could not have any complaint at all.



"Gerry Cornell" wrote in message
...
Jim

The information is there to be read but is it in Plain English or whatever
language you use?

--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...
I bought a Microsoft Windows XP Pro (OEM) from New Egg. I
also bought a motherboard and CPU...I am my own tech
support. The OEM XP Pro was $128, the mobo and CPU was
about $200.
My XP CD says Microsoft on it and it is legal. Unless you
have a Dell, installing a Dell branded OEM CD on another
computer is not legal.

The information is available, but people don't want to read.


"D.Currie" wrote in message
...
| The problem may also be that not everyone who sells OEM
software has an OEM
| agreement with MS. Somewhere I have a document that says
what I'm supposed
| to do for the end user, and that includes providing
support. Among other
| things.
|
| OTOH if a person buys OEM software independent of a
system, he is probably
| considered the system builder, and the seller is acting as
a distributor
| (albeit not one of MSs authorized distributors; another
problem). As an OEM
| with an agreement with MS, I get support from MS, but that
individual who
| buys one copy on the 'net doesn't get support as he's not
in the program.
|
| Another thing is that some people don't know where the
line is between
| technical support and training. And they aren't clear
where they should go
| for support, so they look in all the wrong places and get
frustrated. Many
| people think the system builder should be responsible for
everything that
| goes into the computer, and are quite surprised when Dell
or whoever won't
| troubleshoot their printers or games or obscure software.
|
| "Jupiter Jones [MVP]" wrote
in message
| ...
| But is there "the rule that OEMs have to support the
software" or is
| that support if any comes from the OEM and not
Microsoft.
| The real fault may be that the customer is not informed
why the OEM is
| cheaper and what all the customer does and does not get.
| Of course the idea "You get what you pay for" escapes
many consumers
| when they think they see a bargain and a not so
informative
| salesperson.
| Microsoft may have a part in this as the packaging could
be modified
| to show it, however the package is not always seen by
the consumer.
|
| --
| Jupiter Jones [MVP]
| An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
|
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...oups/setup.asp
| Please respond to newsgroup only for everyone's benefit.
|
|
| "D.Currie" wrote in message
| ...
| Personally, I'd like to see some way to enforce the
rule that OEMs
| have to
| support the software. Or maybe lose the ability to
sell OEM. As a
| small
| system builder, my customers can come in and ask me
questions
| face-to-face,
| and that's fine. Or they'll call. But I also get
plenty of calls
| from people
| who have bought from the big guys, and they can't get
an answer.
|
| Then there are the people who sell the oem software
with trinkets,
| and have
| no intention or ability to answer questions.
|
| I don't mind answering customer's questions, and even
the not-yet
| customers -- I figure some day I will get their
business.
|
| But it does irritate me that others shirk the
responsibility to give
| the
| technical support they're supposed to. They aren't
footing the cost
| for
| proper support, so they sell their stuff cheap, which
is fine for
| the
| customer until they need help. And in the meantime,
I'm providing
| free tech
| support in the hopes that I'll get work from that
person in the
| meantime.
|
|
|
|