MS Windows Licensing Structure

David Shaw


9 January


Hi guys


been in the Philippines for a while now busy with my girl. but thought id do a quick article on Windows (types, kinda and) licences, just in case anyone was wondering


Consumer Windows.


OEMAct


OEM's are companies like Dell and HP, Lenovo and Acer, they buy bulk licences from MS (Microsoft) and as long as your laptop or desktop has OEM Bios of the respective licence (of theirs), their OEMAct key will work to activate Windows, (albeit hit and miss) these can be picked up for as little as £10 -£20 on ebay, even for Ultimate (Win7 and Vista). they are normally preinstalled by the manufacturer.


OEM


These licenses are for us system builders, they are also for computers that we build to sell. Both the OEM and OEMAct do not have a legitimate transfer ability, but MS is normally fairly relaxed in their attitude to transfer the licence to a new computer. this is not a guarantee, but if the mood strikes MS to *not* active your copy. as long as they see you bought your copy, they are *normally* fine with you.


Retail


These are the more expensive kind, note with the advent of Windows 8 some of the license types have changed, but the info is basically the same. A Retail licence has the ability to transfer guaranteed, also you are entitled to 1 month phone support from MS, but also they will support you during service pack releases. these are usually expected to be bought by small businesses, but builders buy them too for their own rigs, I have couple of these licences, and it feels good to know that i won't get nonsense from the activation system when I have to re-install. the OEM one's usually refuse and ask me to use the phone system to activate or even worse tell me to buy a new licence key.


A retail key should never give you nonsense, unless you are playing musical chairs with your rigs and licence keys.


and the final consumer licence,


Upgrade Licence


When you have a previous version of windows you can upgrade to a later version, like XP to Vista, Vista to Win7, Win 7 to Windows 8, (you can also skip versions)if you have a retail licence in an older version this 'downgrades' you to an OEM licence of the new version of windows, as all upgrade licenses are in reality OEM licences.


Upgrade licences usually force to do a clean install, and only a few times have i personally successfully upgraded and it worked without a clean install. this was for Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate only.


Business/ Server Licence


not an expert in this at all but.. here goes


a Server Licence costs anywhere around £1000 to £2000, and each user/workstation needs a licence called a CAL. CAL's cost around £20 each. but these do not have to be a personal licence, just per user. if you expect 10 users to use a workstation you buy 10 CAL's along with your server licence, and even if you replace and employee the new one can use this also.


Business licenses are not just for aforementioned OEM's who buy in bulk but also for large corporations and governments.


ok ok, I cant concentrate coz I have flys constantly landing on me. tried my best guys. maybe come back and add some more info later.


thanks for reading.


Dava