Vista - licence diferences.....

i want to get vista, probably home premium.... and the full version, not the
upgrade.

i upgrade my pc hardware about every 8 - 12 months, somethimes replacing my
whole pc, i keep hearing about vista's oem version being tied to the
motherboard, and once you change it, thats it, you need a new copy of vista,
but if you have the retail version you can reinstall on a new machine (one at
any given time) as many times as you want.

also, i currently have xp, and find that i have to re install fairly often,
due to several factors, i sometimes have to phone microsoft to re-validate
the code i am using after i re-install, thing that wories me is that someone
has just told me that you can only install vista one time.... surely thats
not right? can someone clear these up for me please, as untill i know about
these two things i dont want to go and buy say the oem if the above is the
case.

thanks.

What "someone" told you is old news and no longer valid.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper@gmail.com
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"karl" <karl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:195E5F8B-140F-4F15-B83F-B9FE97763C67@microsoft.com...
>
> i want to get vista, probably home premium.... and the full version, not
> the
> upgrade.
>
> i upgrade my pc hardware about every 8 - 12 months, somethimes replacing
> my
> whole pc, i keep hearing about vista's oem version being tied to the
> motherboard, and once you change it, thats it, you need a new copy of
> vista,
> but if you have the retail version you can reinstall on a new machine (one
> at
> any given time) as many times as you want.
>
> also, i currently have xp, and find that i have to re install fairly
> often,
> due to several factors, i sometimes have to phone microsoft to re-validate
> the code i am using after i re-install, thing that wories me is that
> someone
> has just told me that you can only install vista one time.... surely thats
> not right? can someone clear these up for me please, as untill i know
> about
> these two things i dont want to go and buy say the oem if the above is the
> case.
>
> thanks.

so, for instance, i buy the full version of vista premium (or ultimate) and
after a while i either upgrade something in my pc or need to re-install then
it asks me to call microsoft to validate the code, they will re-activate my
existing code the same way i have been doing with xp? i just dont want to
have bought the oem, then find out i need to buy a new one.

thanks for the help


"Richard G. Harper" wrote:

> What "someone" told you is old news and no longer valid.
>
> --
> Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper@gmail.com
> * NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
> * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
> * The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
> * HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
> "karl" <karl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:195E5F8B-140F-4F15-B83F-B9FE97763C67@microsoft.com...
> >
> > i want to get vista, probably home premium.... and the full version, not
> > the
> > upgrade.
> >
> > i upgrade my pc hardware about every 8 - 12 months, somethimes replacing
> > my
> > whole pc, i keep hearing about vista's oem version being tied to the
> > motherboard, and once you change it, thats it, you need a new copy of
> > vista,
> > but if you have the retail version you can reinstall on a new machine (one
> > at
> > any given time) as many times as you want.
> >
> > also, i currently have xp, and find that i have to re install fairly
> > often,
> > due to several factors, i sometimes have to phone microsoft to re-validate
> > the code i am using after i re-install, thing that wories me is that
> > someone
> > has just told me that you can only install vista one time.... surely thats
> > not right? can someone clear these up for me please, as untill i know
> > about
> > these two things i dont want to go and buy say the oem if the above is the
> > case.
> >
> > thanks.
>
>
>

OEM copies are not licensed as retail copies are. In theory they live, or
die, with the PC you install them on. But a reinstall on the same hardware
should cause no problems, same as with Windows XP works now.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper@gmail.com
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"karl" <karl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6741F7B9-BD2A-4769-99D0-58651CD2DCA9@microsoft.com...
> so, for instance, i buy the full version of vista premium (or ultimate)
> and
> after a while i either upgrade something in my pc or need to re-install
> then
> it asks me to call microsoft to validate the code, they will re-activate
> my
> existing code the same way i have been doing with xp? i just dont want to
> have bought the oem, then find out i need to buy a new one.
>
> thanks for the help