I'm going to buy Vista.....well.....almost.......

[beanbag]

I'm pretty keen to upgrade to Vista as I've run it on my PC and with the exception of my TV card not working, everything else runs a treat with RC2.

So, I've been looking at prices for Vista Home Premium and the upgrade price was over £150+!!!!!

However, I found out if you buy a copy of Windows XP MCE OEM from Aria or somewhere similar, you get a free upgrade voucher to Vista Home Premium. All you pay is postage and you end up with two very good OS's that are totally legal for a sum of just £71.15 inc.VAT+P&P. That's half the price.

Although I'm wondering, who else is doing the same and will I have to return my MCE license to MS in exchange for my Vista license and DVD or will I be able to continue using both OS's?

BB

[beanbag]

plasticpig said:

beanbag said:

However, I found out if you buy a copy of Windows XP MCE OEM from Aria or somewhere similar, you get a free upgrade voucher to Vista Home Premium. All you pay is postage and you end up with two very good OS's that are totally legal for a sum of just £71.15 inc.VAT+P&P. That's half the price.

Er no. You don't have a legal copy of XP or for that matter Vista. OEM is for distribution with new PC's (or in some instances second hand PC's) or other qualifying hardware. If you buy XP OEM on its own as an end user you do not have a legal copy of the software and you are breaking the terms of the Microsoft license agreement.

So how can Aria sell this on their website? Are you then telling me Aria are breaking the law by selling this?

I just want to have my own legit and personal Vista key that I can use. And it seems to be a darn sight cheaper than paying out full whack for a normal upgrade.

[beanbag]

How about a 2.99 floppy disk drive?!

[beanbag]

OK, so lets say if I don't get any hardware and I get this OEM license. Can anyone check or is it just a bit of legal crap?

Because if it's not possible for Microsoft to check, I'm placing my order now.

[beanbag]

plasticpig said:

beanbag said:

OK, so lets say if I don't get any hardware and I get this OEM license. Can anyone check or is it just a bit of legal crap?

Because if it's not possible for Microsoft to check, I'm placing my order now.

You might as well go out and get a totally pirate/cracked copy. Microsft will treat it in a simmilar way. Remeber if the software does not work on your machine you are not entitled to your money back and you will be unable to get support for it. Why don't you just go and buy a legitamte full blown copy of Vista when it is released?

Well why wouldn't it work? And really, how would Microsoft know any different? Surely I can just say I am a PC builder and this is a machine I'd like an OEM license for?!

Either Aria are being totally illegal and misleading customers or Microsoft need to clarify their OEM terms and conditions.

[beanbag]

mr_yogi said:

Just one thing... this free Vista upgrade, how free is it?

Have you read the small print? It's just that My Dad was recently looking at Dell PC's, which now allow you to select a free Vista upgrade voucher. However my Brother said you had to pay something like £40 for P&P or something like that? I didn't bothger looking into it any further as my Father decided to upgrade his old PC. Anyone know about this?

You pay for postage which Microsoft says is ~£14.99

[beanbag]

plasticpig said:

beanbag said:

Well why wouldn't it work? And really, how would Microsoft know any different? Surely I can just say I am a PC builder and this is a machine I'd like an OEM license for?!

Either Aria are being totally illegal and misleading customers or Microsoft need to clarify their OEM terms and conditions.

Microsoft have clarified the terms and conditions its very simple. To buy OEM software without hardware you have to be a registered Microsoft OEM System builder. A system builder can distribute a Windows desktop operating system license(s) in the following ways:

Pre-installed on a new PC.
Unopened OEM System Builder packs (1, 3, or 30-packs) can be distributed to other System Builders by themselves. Note that they must remain unopened so the receiving system builder can accept and be bound by the break-the-seal license agreement that is affixed to the pack.

The last bit is straight from the Microsofts OEM system Builder website.

So it's Aria being misleading then? Either way, I'm not exactly loaded and to save 50% on the cost of a license making it more or less legit (if I buy a piece of hardware), makes financial and obvious sense to me.

[beanbag]

jamieboy said:

beanbag said:

Either way, I'm not exactly loaded and to save 50% on the cost of a license making it more or less legit (if I buy a piece of hardware), makes financial and obvious sense to me.

Not having a go, but if you genuinely can't afford to upgrade to Vista (which is perhaps going to cost the same as two or three tanks of unleaded) then do you really need to?

Depends which country you live in, but yes I do really need Vista. I use my PC as a media centre too, and I'd very much like to have Windows Media Centre (hence how this all started when looking at prices for XP MCE).

Plus I've been beta testing Vista from Beta 1 and I like the security and stability of the platform.

It's not like I'm poor or anything, but with Christmas coming up and my skiing holiday planned etc, etc, I don't have money pouring off me just now and this seemed like a good cheap way of getting Vista.

However, with all this defensive in favour of Microsoft, it's making me wonder how many people here work for them!?!?!?

Anyhow, it's too late, I've ordered my XP MCE with the upgrade coupon to Vista Home Premium. And just to keep some of you happy, I got me a new motherboard for my Media PC as the current one I have doesn't work with my GPU.