I have been doing IT for the last 14 years, mostly desktop stuff, and am starting to get into doing repair and building on my own. I worked for a computer repair place where I live, and any time someone needed to reload an OS (viruses, hdd crash, etc) but didn't have their old OS key, they would need to buy a new license key. In the case of Home, we actually had boxes sitting on the shelf on the sales floor that we would go grab and load and activate, give the customer the license key and cd, done and done. However, any time someone wanted Windows 7 Pro on a reload (mostly for businesses that needed the joining AD capability), they would have us go grab an OEM license from the back and just load it off a Win 7 Pro cd we had laying around, and we would just give the customer the license key but no media since OEM doesn't come with media. From what I understand, OEM is supposed to be used ONLY when building a new PC since it is tied to the hardware, and Retail (which is significantly more expensive) is to be used in the above situations. Especially in business situations where they will be most likely getting a new PC within a couple years. For someone who is just starting out in the game, is it even possible for me to compete price-wise with that company when they are selling the OEM version instead of the Retail? Even with a zero mark-up on the Retail software it doesn't come close to their OEM price. Or is it actually ok for ME to purchase OEM versions and sell them in a Retail scenario?

OEM is machine locked to the machine it came with while the retail version is not. My MVP is for the Windows Desktop Experience, i.e. Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 IT Remote Assistance is available for a fee. I am best with C++ and I am learning C# using Visual Studio 2010. My page on Video Card Problems is now my most popular landing page. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

I have been doing IT for the last 14 years, mostly desktop stuff, and am starting to get into doing repair and building on my own. I worked for a computer repair place where I live, and any time someone needed to reload an OS (viruses, hdd crash, etc) but didn't have their old OS key, they would need to buy a new license key. In the case of Home, we actually had boxes sitting on the shelf on the sales floor that we would go grab and load and activate, give the customer the license key and cd, done and done. However, any time someone wanted Windows 7 Pro on a reload (mostly for businesses that needed the joining AD capability), they would have us go grab an OEM license from the back and just load it off a Win 7 Pro cd we had laying around, and we would just give the customer the license key but no media since OEM doesn't come with media. From what I understand, OEM is supposed to be used ONLY when building a new PC since it is tied to the hardware, and Retail (which is significantly more expensive) is to be used in the above situations. Especially in business situations where they will be most likely getting a new PC within a couple years. For someone who is just starting out in the game, is it even possible for me to compete price-wise with that company when they are selling the OEM version instead of the Retail? Even with a zero mark-up on the Retail software it doesn't come close to their OEM price. Or is it actually ok for ME to purchase OEM versions and sell them in a Retail scenario? http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/is-it-ok-to-use-oem-windows-on-your-own-pc-dont-ask-microsoft/1561?tag=mantle_skin;content The short answer: the System Builder (OEM) license is intended for machines to be resold. It'd be nice if you supplied media as well. In fact, you are supposed to provide some sort of means to restore Windows. The large players usually do it with a restore partition, but they permit backups disks to be created as well. (I don't know how much money this saves the manufacturers, but I'd bet that it's not much. Razor thin margins, I suppose.)