Spacecast Community

Is it worth spending $300 for the full Home Premium version with full support from Microsoft, or $169 (or so) for the OEM, with no support at all?

Both are legit.  The only difference between the two is MS support.  IMHO, It's always good knowing you're buying retail, and insured for any issue, 24hrs/day.

Under OEM you're on your own.

 

Still, $300 is ridiculously overpriced.  I can't see myself paying that.  And, I've never had to bug Microsoft with much in all the years I've ran XP. 

Gimme your honest opinion.

 --TT
 

 

TheTransla:

Is it worth spending $300 for the full Home Premium version with full support from Microsoft, or $169 (or so) for the OEM, with no support at all?

Both are legit.  The only difference between the two is MS support.  IMHO, It's always good knowing you're buying retail, and insured for any issue, 24hrs/day.

Under OEM you're on your own.

 

Still, $300 is ridiculously overpriced.  I can't see myself paying that.  And, I've never had to bug Microsoft with much in all the years I've ran XP. 

Gimme your honest opinion.

 --TT
 

 

 

Honestly, what's the big rush? why not let others find out how many problems the system has before rushing out to buy it?

did you read the article i posted about the 'fine print' in the Vista? you'll never 'really' own that software no matter how much you pay for it.

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Knowing Microsoft, you probably don't own your immortal soul after acquiring Vista, either.

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The owls are not what they seem.

Even leaving aside all the "fine print" issues, I'm not touching it until they fix its inevitable functionality and security problems.

(Why do I assume it's not gonna work right for a while? It's a Microsoft OS. History's on my side here.)

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did you read the article i posted about the 'fine print' in the Vista? you'll never 'really' own that software no matter how much you pay for it.

How true it is.

I'm wondering if it's worth that extra $130 for MS support.  OEM is way cheaper, but its the thought of never getting help when you need it that irks me.   You never know.

While I use Windows XP I've run into the occasional glitch during installations or whatever (my doing), called Microsoft, and it was fixed in a jiffy.  It's all about being taken care of.

But I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste $300 for full version when I already bought XP-- if those cheeseheads at Microsoft had let me do clean (formatted) installs in the first place I'd buy the upgrade version in a second. Damn Microsoft.

 

--TT 

TheTransla:

Is it worth spending $300 for the full Home Premium version with full support from Microsoft, or $169 (or so) for the OEM, with no support at all?

Both are legit.  The only difference between the two is MS support.  IMHO, It's always good knowing you're buying retail, and insured for any issue, 24hrs/day.

Under OEM you're on your own.

 

Still, $300 is ridiculously overpriced.  I can't see myself paying that.  And, I've never had to bug Microsoft with much in all the years I've ran XP. 

Gimme your honest opinion.

 --TT

 

I can't imagine what support you would need from Microsoft that you can't get from Help files, FAQs and tech Q&A web sites. I've never needed any help that I couldn't find online for free. The only thing you should need MS for is to renew your activation after major hardware changes.

 edited to add...

I just came across one other thing you might need to consider, it seems the full retail version comes with BOTH 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista while OEM is one or the other. (I don't know if the upgrade version has both or not.)

I think the only one that installs is the one that matches your motherboard, so I doubt it's a big deal. 

 

 

 

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

The other thing is besides the possible problems you might occur when putting in Vista. is if you are upgrading over XP it is my understanding that if something happens and you have to go back to XP Vista does something to it and its not that easy to back track.  Lastly and heres the biggie why go from XP you figure its got to be at least a few years before the big "M" stops supporting XP.

 

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I think the only one that installs is the one that matches your motherboard, so I doubt it's a big deal.

I've got an AM2, 64 bit, duo core machine.  Are you saying it automatically installs the 64bit version?

You can't choose?  Well, that bites.  I can't install any games or applications on the 64 bit version.  I just want 32.

 
When they fix all the bugs then I'll consider going 64bit...

--TT
 

TheTransla:

I think the only one that installs is the one that matches your motherboard, so I doubt it's a big deal.

I've got an AM2, 64 bit, duo core machine.  Are you saying it automatically installs the 64bit version?

You can't choose?  Well, that bites.  I can't install any games or applications on the 64 bit version.  I just want 32.

 
When they fix all the bugs then I'll consider going 64bit...

--TT
 

No, I'm just guessing which one gets loaded. All I know for sure is that the full retail box comes with both.

If all you want is 32, then the 32 bit OEM works for you and this 64 bit thing is not an issue, Your only decision now is if you want that support with the retail version or not.

 

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

AKalel:

The other thing is besides the possible problems you might occur when putting in Vista. is if you are upgrading over XP it is my understanding that if something happens and you have to go back to XP Vista does something to it and its not that easy to back track.  Lastly and heres the biggie why go from XP you figure its got to be at least a few years before the big "M" stops supporting XP.

Yes, I don't like the upgrading issues either. You don't know if your PC can handle Vista or not, once it's there it's hard to undo and it's hard to reload. All of these are reasons I got the full version instead.

As for waiting, well, that's fine for some people, but I've been waiting for Vista for a long time now because I want to build a new PC and I needed to know what's needed to run Vista. Once I build it, I don't want to go back to running the old OS, I want the new one. But that's just me.

YMMV as they say. 

(* YMMV = your mileage may vary) 

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

No, I'm just guessing which one gets loaded. All I know for sure is that the full retail box comes with both.

If all you want is 32, then the 32 bit OEM works for you and this 64 bit thing is not an issue, Your only decision now is if you want that support with the retail version or not.

 

I remember the free BETA and RTM offered all windows boxes, from Basic to Ultimate, 32 and 64bit,  It was up to the user to decide.

Now that I know that the full version has both 32 and 64 bit $300 doesn't seem so bad.  And, I get support.  M'eh, but that's still pricey.  But at least I won't have to go out again and buy the 64 bit when I'm ready.

 

--TT 

TheTransla:

$300 doesn't seem so bad.

--TT 

Eh, you're giving me a headache! 

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

Eh, you're giving me a headache!

You wanna know how frustrating it would be if I bought the retail upgrade box?  Ya gotta install XP, which takes 20min. or so, then call MS to activate,  read them a 42-digit Gen ID, then they give you one to enter, the whole thing takes 20min.  Then, you have to install Vista, and (possibly) call MS again to activate Vista, taking another 20 minutes playing 42-digit key-code entry.  That's horsesh*t, man!

I know a lot of gamers that format their hard drive frequently-- playing online games all the time does that you.  This'll certainly piss them off...

Why do you think I'm bouncing back and forth between retail and OEM?  I wanna get support and retail, but I don't wanna spend that kind of money-- on top of that I want no problems should I get OEM, still researching the matter finding all these "catches" MS never tells us straight-- we gotta dig for it.

Damn Miscrosoft.   The is worse than the installation.

--TT 

TheTransla:

Eh, you're giving me a headache!

You wanna know how frustrating it would be if I bought the retail upgrade box?  Ya gotta install XP, which takes 20min. or so, then call MS to activate,  read them a 42-digit Gen ID, then they give you one to enter, the whole thing takes 20min.  Then, you have to install Vista, and (possibly) call MS again to activate Vista, taking another 20 minutes playing 42-digit key-code entry.  That's horsesh*t, man!

I know a lot of gamers that format their hard drive frequently-- playing online games all the time does that you.  This'll certainly piss them off...

Why do you think I'm bouncing back and forth between retail and OEM?  I wanna get support and retail, but I don't wanna spend that kind of money-- on top of that I want no problems should I get OEM, still researching the matter finding all these "catches" MS never tells us straight-- we gotta dig for it.

Damn Miscrosoft.   The is worse than the installation.

--TT 

Yea, I hear you. My application is different than yours, so I don't have as much to worry about.

I still don't know what kind of support you'd need so I can't address that. All I know is that any time I've had any problem, I've been able to find an answer online.

If your application (games/whatever) routinely gives you problems then maybe you should bite the bullet, get the retail box and get it over with. No more headaches.

 

 

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

edited to add...

I just came across one other thing you might need to consider, it seems the full retail version comes with BOTH 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista while OEM is one or the other. (I don't know if the upgrade version has both or not.)

I think the only one that installs is the one that matches your motherboard, so I doubt it's a big deal.

 

The retail version does not come with 64 bit version, 32 bit version DVD only.  It includes the option to purchase 64 bit for a fee.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Premium-VERSION/dp/B000HCZ9AW

(quote:  PLEASE NOTE: Only the 32-bit DVD-ROM is included. Inside the box, you will find instructions on how to order a 32-bit CD-ROM or 64-bit DVD-ROM directly from Microsoft for a minimal fee, including shipping and handling.)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-047-MS 

--TT