Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Modas on May 30, 2003, 08:57:40 AM
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What up with that?
Pricewatch has places selling it for $120 and compusa has it for $300. Can someone tell me why there is a huge price difference (other than markup).
Does the compusa version have something the online versions don't? A lot of the online shops say OEM. Doesn't this mean there are no manuals or things of that nature?
No way am I paying $300 for this... Mr. Gates can kiss my bald a** :D
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You sure your not looking at Upgrade versions Vs Full release?
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No, said full OEM versions....
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ok, I think I got it.
the cheaper priced version are the CD with an install book. The 300 dollar versions are retail box (which I assume has the full manual)
For those who have XP pro, is there anything in the retail version manual that I would need to set this thing up or is it pretty much plug-n-play....
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All I know is that win95 has domain services... it cost $99 retail back in the day...
Now domain services costs 1/3 of the total product cost hence 300.00 for XP Pro... Thats pathetic... the same damn code with little modification yet a 100.00 premium for it.... (thats like selling a new car and then telling the customer that if he wants his altenator then he can pay another 10 grand for it...) hey consumer pay more money (winxp home 200.00) and get less value (win95/98 100.00 but has domain services)
Microsloth is on its last leg, there is no way they can be doing well if their passing this type of surcharge onto the consumer.
My opinion this that they are trying to gouge all they can while they still have the monopoly over the pc market...
My advice is start learning Linux or Unix now... and not be at the mercy of these gougers....
2 cents
DoctorYo
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The price of electricity has gone up sharply here in California over the past few years. Obviously this means that electricity must be on the way out, and the electric companies are trying to get as much out of their monopoly as possible before everyone switches to something else.
My advice, start learning how to use a manual sewing pedal and how to make your own soap.
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Modas i use the XP PRO OEM i dones have Word or any office type stuff. its just the core operating system and all the basics!
if you look around you can even find it cheaper than that!
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retail box comes with some free support (I'm not sure if it's a certain number of issues they will help you with or a certain time frame before free suport expires)
oem you are on your own. or you can payed suport line. AFAIK thats the only real difference
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Originally posted by Chairboy
The price of electricity has gone up sharply here in California over the past few years. Obviously this means that electricity must be on the way out, and the electric companies are trying to get as much out of their monopoly as possible before everyone switches to something else.
My advice, start learning how to use a manual sewing pedal and how to make your own soap.
LOL! :D Come on guys, fite nice
hehehehe. Acutally, growing up all I had was homemade soap. I didn't see a store bought bar of soap until I was about 10. Parents would buy 1/2 beef, butcher it up, take the fat from the butchering and make soap from that. All to save a little money....
Not to hijack my own thread here, is the manual something I'm gonna need or can I just wing it. I know NOTHING about XP.....
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Originally posted by boxboy28
Modas i use the XP PRO OEM i dones have Word or any office type stuff. its just the core operating system and all the basics!
if you look around you can even find it cheaper than that!
Does the retail version come with all that stuff (word/office) or is that separate. I don't need that crap either. Sounds like OEM is the way to go....
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I wouldn't install XP even if I had it for free.
Actually I just formatted my new laptop - it had XP preinstalled and there's no way in hell I'm using that POS OS.
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It works just like any other Windows OS (thought it's stable unlike some earlier OS microsoft made.)
Installation works just like in any other new Windows; select "boot from disk", put the CD-ROM on the machine and follow instructions.
WIth some very old motherboards you may need to built installation diskettes (4iirc) and for this you'll find a program in the installation CD.
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i think you at least get WORD and maybe a little more **** but OEM is the way to go. If you want you can even buy a COA with is a Certificate Of Authenticity(that lil case sticker with your code on it) but then you need to get a copy of XP pro to use (from a friend) all the cert does, is give you your own license to use the software!
I was gonna do that but i said what the heck for under 150 i got the full OEM disk and my COA i think i paid like 130 total with shipping, thats whay i said look around alittle more!:D
I went to ION tech. on the web (just tell the you buiold sustems for friends) its a Reseller/wholesaler
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Chairboy while your point is noted... Electricity isn't free... Cali got hosed by ENron... (I know short term memory loss is common in LA, please try to remember)
;)
Now Linux Unix are free.... (SCO doesn't think so but they got romped yesterday by Novell)
How do you compete with a free product that can do 95% of what a 300.00 product can do... simply you cant.... the 5% is the gamming market... and that will change soon when more companies like Id software keep using the Open source....
Go invest in MS if you think their postion on the market is so strong... Balmer dumped 10% of his stock the other day and then says he 100% behind his company.... Thats the type of stuff that makes me want to invest..
:rolleyes:
Only thing MS has going for it is that they got deep pockets and they make good applications , those deep pcokets may facilitate a revival but my opinion is that is unlikely. Hence the recent gouge tactics....
enjoy...
DoctorYO
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XP Pro RETAIL does not come with anything other than the operating system and manuals. No way Microsoft would package WORD with an operating system that is why they sell OFFICE XP Pro for $500ish dollars, you can buy WORD seperatley but that in and of itself will run upwards of $150. It does as someone mentioned earlier come with telephone support.
XP OEM, is just the cd itself and a key.
As far as using XP it works just like any other M$ OS, with the big exception that it uses a bootable CD and is 100% plug and play. It detects all your hardware automatically no loading drivers etc like in Win98. As far as stability goes I dont know why people say its a POS operating system because it is far from that. In the 2 years I have been using XP Pro I have yet to have a single system crash or blue screen of death that happened ALL the time under Win98. Now I think even $100+ is a ripoff for an operating system, BUT if you are familiar with MIRC at all you can easily get a copy of XP Pro Corporate edition, it even comes with a nifty little software package that has over 100+ cdkeys.
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I have both Pro and Home OEM versions. Bought both online for $135/$85 but you have to buy some hardware to get OEM price. They really mean like hard drive but most anything qualifies. I got Norton Utilities OEM for $30 and Roxio CD Creator OEM for $10 at the same time. It makes buying a little hardware a better deal. Did you actually read your Microsoft Win 95 or 98 manual? Everything is online now anyway.
In spite of all the Microsoft bashing, I have never had a more stable OS but I never used 2K. Both systems have been extemely stable for me and my AH frame rates went up when I switched from ME to XP Home. I have had maybe 2 or 3 BSOD in 18 months between two systems before getting everything tweaked. EDIT: XP is rather bloated and has security issues. I would suggest Service Pack 1, all critical updates and turning off what you don't need or want using:
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
BTW Pfunk is correct, you don't get any other apps even if you buy the retail version. OEM version does come with Free installation support. I actually used it on my first install ofthe Home version but it turned out to be a memory issue. No Charge.
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Common user doesn't need M$ Word, Wordpad (comes with Windows) is usually enough.
If you need more you should download Sun's OpenOffice which has similar programs like M$ Office's Word and Excel.
And it's free.
http://www.staroffice.com/