Cheapest place to get XP Pro?

Howdy all,

I've been thinking about upgrading my OS for a while, but this one doesn't come cheap! Any (legal) suggestions?
Retail would be great, but OEM is good too...

 

http://www.bluesolutions.co.uk/

these guys do oem under £100 for XPpro

 

Trade only though???????

 

Furthermore, it's £93 + VAT = ~£110.
A company called CCL offers a similar OEM price for everybody (I think).

What about eBay? What would be a *decent* price?

 

www.overclockers.co.uk

Do it for about £125.

 

Try here too- http://www.spellsoftware.com/mall/main.asp

What's different between OEM and retail software apart from a nice box? If it works, then it's identical to retail. Updates etc will all be the same.

 

There are often more restrictions placed on OEM software than retail. In the case of Windows your supposed to buy it with hardware and your only licenced to put it on one computer. Even if that computer blows up, your not legally allowed to install it on another, retail can be transfered.

Most OEM software is supposed to be bought with hardware and support is sometimes passed on to whoever sold it you.

 

Agree with the previous poster re: OEM versions.

Remember Win XP needs activation (on-line or by phone) after a reinstall.

So even upgrading some components in the future can cause problems with activation, ESPECIALLY if you've an OEM version.

It works exactly as a retail, same updates etc..., but beware if you regularly swap/upgrade components.

I'd personally recommend a "corporate" version - no activation ever, & can be installed on any amount of PCs.

Only proviso is you must own a "corporation"

 

Thanks guys,

Sorry for being quiet, I had tons of work to go through!

MonkeyDonkey, yup that's my understanding of the licence agreement as well, and I'd rather have a bit more freedom.

Hey Kramer, sounds good but I'd also like to be able to install SP1 if you know what I mean

Can't get to that spellsoftware website - is it down or something?

 

The latest version of Win XP Pro Corp. does include SP1.

Just need to begin working on that corporation I always dreamed of

 

Would it be available to a one-person ltd. company?

 

I don't think being a Corporation matters for the corporate version (the name just implies where its intended for use). I was under the impression anyone can buy the licences, but you have to buy more than five, but you'd have to check.
The only reason this version was released is to remove the need for activation for people with a lot of computers (generally large corporations) who couldn't be expected to keep details of which licence key is for which pc, and to save time when installing.

 

Corp. version costs much $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

You'd have to probably contact MS for a quote.

 

I believe MS specify that you must buy a licence for 5 or more systems in order to qualify for the corporate version.

 

I believe in order to buy a corporate version you'd have to sign in for the dreaded MS Open Licence 6.0.

For that, you have to buy a certain number of licences to apply, and then you have to upgrade regularly otherwise you don't own the licence any longer!