Vista - ugrade or retail

whats the diffrence between the upgrade or the retail when you buy vista

The upgrade is like half the price and is put on top of an XP OS, the
'retail' is the full OS which is more expensive but required if you don't
have XP

"Stanley" wrote:

> whats the diffrence between the upgrade or the retail when you buy vista

"Stanley" <Stanley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:351D658E-4A2C-4E88-9B5A-E67A1DC23517@microsoft.com...
> whats the diffrence between the upgrade or the retail when you buy vista


1) ALL install media for Vista is "Retail", since it is produced and
distributed by Microsoft itself.
2) This means that "upgrade media" is no different than "retail media".

If by "retail", you mean "what's the difference between "Retail Upgrade
media, and "Full Retail media", here are the differences:
1) Retail Upgrade" media cannot be used unless you have a previous valid
license to Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista.
2) Full "retail" media can do an "in-place upgrade of an existing valid
license of Windows, or can be installed on a computer which has no Microsoft
operating system installed on it (or no operating system of any kind
installed on it).
3) The "upgrade" media is usually a minimum of $100US cheaper than the
"full" media.

NOTE: MANY unprincipled retailers will call OEM media "upgrade" media. This
is just not so. "OEM" media cannot do an in-place upgrade of an existing
Microsoft license. And unlike "Full Retail" media, OEM media can ONLY do a
clean install, either on a computer with no operating system on it, or no
Microsoft operating system on it. In addition, OEM media has no support
from Microsoft at all, except two free calls to Microsoft support for
installation support. Any support for OEM software must be supplied with
either the company which sold your computer to you, or the company which
sold the software to you, or (in the case of home-built computers) yourself.
Microsoft DOES supply "peer support" for OEM software through its newsgroups
such as these. Additionally, OEM licenses cannot be moved from computer to
computer, as Retail licenses can.

--

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original newsgroup and thread.
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