What Does Windows Vista Ultimate OEM Lack?

As a starting note, I'd just like to take the time to say that Vista is not worth the money and won't be until they ship SP1. If you continue to install Vista then good luck to you.

Anyhow, OEM software is cheaper because it indeed does lack support from the OEM. In addition, purchasing the OEM version, either from Dell.com or another retailer, will still not give you support. In other words, your OEM copy of Vista will not be supported unless you buy it with a new computer.

Seeing how you've got yourself a 1710, I'm going to assume that you do gaming. And if this is true, Vista cannot deliver a true gaming experience just yet. Stick with XP, it's better from all perspectives.

for gaming i'd say wait for better driver supprt, same with 3rd party apps that currently arent compatible which you may need.
I have tried doom 3 and FEAR and ran them smoothly with a standard nvidia driver that vista picked up and installed for me as part of windows update (or..microsoft update really)

apart from that i dont see anything wrong with wanting vista.
i'm in new zealand and they wont give out OEM software such as an OS unless you buy a new computer, i thought that rule was worldwide but from the above post i get the feeling you can order OEM without purchasing a new computer.

i would think more about your current apps and whether everything you currently run or want to run is compatible or not. might be best to wait for 3rd party apps to become patched or updated drivers to work with vista.

only time will tell how safe vista really is.....i'm betting that people with malicious intent are currently finding or trying to find ways to breach vista based on perceived user base in the next 2-3 years.

no software is void of bugs 100% and i hope there arent any major holes in vista, i'm running RC2 for just under a month and havent had any problems yet.

MSFT you say Vista is not worth the money until SP1 is shipped...care to explain why?

It really annoys me to see people say things like this without giving any real reason for their statements...MS (Vista) bashing seems very common, yet most of the people doing it have little or no idea what they are talking about.

As for the original question: With a retail version the licence is transferable, if the machine dies you can install it on another. You can only have the licence running one one machine at any time (unless you purchase a multiple licence version).

OEM: the serial is tied to the motherboard and for single use only, it is not transferable - if your machine dies, or you make major changes to the hardware (ie: new motherboard) the operating system dies too, you cannot re-install it on a different machine. To buy an OEM you must purchase hardware at the same time.

And with gaming, I have had no issues...I have been running Vista for over a year (beta testing) and now that I have a full Retail copy of Ultimate, I can say that there is no reason NOT to upgrade to Vista, unless some specific piece of software/hardware is yet to be given official support by the manufacturer, which wont take long in any case.

the_scotsman, thats a good explanation of the difference between OEM and Retail. couldnt have put it any better myself.

But I disagree with scotsman in one aspect. The OEM Serial is NOT tied to the motherboard in any way. The sticker is indeed attached to the chassis in most cases, but it is a well known fact that, for example, you can install your OS on your "licensed" Dell machine and then use the key on the sticker to register another computer. No one would ever know the better, not that I would recommend doing that cause that is cheating...

It is also a known fact that you can use ANY Dell OS disk on ANY dell computer (current and within reason) and It will NEVER ask you to activate. You can buy a system with home and use the pro disk on it and Poof! No activation.

Other than that, Scot's right on with the rest. Vista runs better than XP on my machine, and games better too. And I am quite the hardcore user. (adobe, bryce, maya, etc...) Just wait until you let Vista use a 2GB or bigger flash drive/card as memory... Then you can watch your performance skyrocket!

But no one is talking about Dell OEM Operating Systems...

We are talking about VISTA OEM...Vista OEM is bound to one machine...once you install and ACTIVATE it on one machine...then try to activate it on a DIFFERENT machine...you won't be able to.

And Vista doesn't use flash/memory cards as extra RAM, it uses them for "disk caching" which is not the same thing...just wanted to clear that up.

Explanation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readyboost

It really annoys me to see people open their mouths when they do not posses the ability to take a technological viewpoint when it comes to a piece of software. And you just so happen to meet that standard. Vista, just like every Windows version before it, has had major changes to it's code (although still being based off of the NT architecture). Therefore, just like every Windows version before it, the OS has not been perfected. Take Windows XP for example. When it was first shipped, it was absolutely atrocious. It wasn't until Microsoft released SP1 that the operating system began to become stabilized on almost every computer it was installed on. But this problem isn't just limited to operating systems; it applies to every piece of software. Tell me, what benefits does Vista offer? Perhaps performance increase? Or maybe even a significant performance increase? I see nothing more than XP with a few useless "improvements" and "innovations" in Vista. The only difference between the two is that XP is still superior and doesn't have that silly Aero theme. Case in point: Vista has a long way to go before it is truly "superior" to XP.

OEM copies aren't missing anything from the retail except for the high price. Even the OEM copies of Vista you buy from Newegg/ZipZoomFly/ClubIT/Directron/et al will still have unlimited licence transfer. Microsoft did this to appease the enthusiast community after that whole spat over the "One time transfer" part of the EULA that was going about online. It's the OEM licences given out to OEM's like Dell and HP that are NOT Transferrable. I've been able to transfer the licences for my home built systems several times. However, it did take a call to Microsoft to get the OS activated because I had replaced the motherboard.

If I remember correctly, with an OEM version, you don't recieve any Microsoft tech support.

"Technological viewpoint", eh? We wonder what that might mean... Ah, I see, "technological viewpoint" seems to mean idle speculation without even the slightest hint of any substantiation. So, "the OS has not been perfected". Now that's scary. I don't know of any operating systems that have been "perfected", but maybe that's just me. I must have missed something then. I installed XP right after it came out, and had no problems with it. Given that experience, I wonder what "atrocious" might mean. You might want to go here. This way you would at least have a minimal idea of what you are talking about. The phrase "Case in point:" is usually taken to introduce an exhibit exemplifying a point that has been made. The above is an unsubstantiated assertion, but there is neither a point nor an example in there.

Just wanted to say that I am running Vista on my main work laptop without any issues including being on the domain and using VPN from home. One major incentive for using it is actually MS Office 2007 that is finally working as it should have for 15 odd years. For example, in MS Word, you can really have inline formulas not distorting the line interval withour ridiculous OLE integration. I'm using a tablet and it works in a really nice way being fully integrated into such things like OneNote 2007. On the whole, my experience is very positive. That said, I had to disable a few annoying features and services.

You get three calls to Microsoft with an OEM copy of XP, after that you have to pay. I'm not certain how long retail copies get support, but I know it's not unlimited either. Generally speaking though a few minutes (less than what you'd wait on hold) of Google searching will give you the same thing Microsoft would have told you over the phone.

Yes, but you can still call Dell.....

Hah, that's good to know! Thanks for the info!

Sorry, but I'm also going to ask what upgrading to Vista will buy anyone at this point? I have run "just" about every Vista beta build released since July of last year and while I like the OS, there isn't really that much that it will buy anyone right off of the bat. Major improvements as I see with Vista : 1. DX10 2. New fancy interface with cascading windows,etc 3. New searching functions similar to Mac OSXs 4. "New advanced Security features" .. you'd have to be the biggest moron to think that a newly released Microsoft OS will be Secure These are the major features, as I see it, that Vista is bringing to the table. DX10 won't be even remotely supported or useable for 6 months to a year, (and of course you'd be an idiot to "blow your wad" on the first line of video cards that support DX10.. Nvidia 8800, etc) and the new interface will run sluggish on 90% of the computers out there. Again, I like where Vista is headed, but you certainly won't see me loading it on my critical work machines the day it comes out. There is absolutely nothing, but a "fancy" windows experience, that upgrading to Vista will buy you upon initial release.

I would assume, since you spent the money on the 7900GTX upgrade for your M1710, that you are an avid gamer. Upgrading to Vista would not be in your best interest, as it WILL slow down your games rather significantly.

As for OEM vs Retail.. there is absolutely no difference but the package it comes in. Both copies can be unloaded from one machine and put on another at a different date. Hell, you can even lie your way through getting microsoft to give you the registration codes over the phone, so you can load that single copy on 10 different machines. Of course, you won't have any customer service by doing this, nor will you be able to download any updates for your operating system. (and of course I would not suggest doing this, as it is illegal)

DX10 only if you have DX10 capable hardware otherwise Vista will only operate in DX9 mode.

Aero isn't as much of a hog as some people seem to make it out as. In all honesty, what is is doing that any DirectX 9 capable card can't handle with ease? Nothing!

I've got vista on my critical work machine and she's much snappier than XP. Actually increases my productivity.


.02

regarding the OEM license:

http://apcmag.com/node/4347

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/420

http://www.apcstart.com/4347/tough_n...s_on_vista_oem

I repeat, the OEM version is NOT transferrable, although it does seem one major hardware swap is allowed.

It may still be *possible* to do it, but it will be against the EULA.