Popular soft at incredible prices!!!
Posted on May 9, 2005
Filed Under Security, Software |
Sound familiar?
There must be people sending money to spammers who advertise deep discounts on software as it seems to be one the most common spam emails out there.
I have a personal distaste of rewarding any type of spammer by purchasing their products. At worst these scams will help you to part with your money and get nothing in return. At best they will help you get pirated software that is not only illegal to use, but can easily carry viruses and not perform like the legal versions.
Many of the messages suggest that the low price for software is a result of it being OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) versions. OEM is further described as having no packaging or manual which brings the cost of the software down to such low prices.
Unfortunately lack of packaging or manuals does not make software OEM. Rather OEM software is licensed for use typically with a new computer and with restrictions. Moreover, most products made by Adobe or Symantec don’t come in OEM versions.
The deep discounts one sees advertised in spam messages is usually not realistic either and likely indicates that the software is pirated and not legal at all.
Most software vendors have very simple licensing requirements; you buy the product, you own the license to use it usually on one computer. Microsoft however has fairly complex licensing requirements.
In the Microsoft world, OEM licensing means that your software comes with a new piece of hardware. Originally that meant that you could get a copy of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, or other Microsoft products with a new computer. Over the years the hardware requirements have changed and to be eligible for OEM status, the license today must be sold with a “non-peripheral” piece of hardware.
In other words, if you buy Microsoft OEM software without new memory, a hard drive, or other hardware, you do not legally own that software.
Microsoft also offers other licensing options including Volume Licensing and Retail Licensing.
Volume Licensing is the most cost effective form of licensing and is usually purchased in the workplace. One copy of the physical media (the CD itself) is copied and any number of licenses to install the software can then be purchased.
In most cases a minimum of 5 licenses is required to subscribe to volume licensing and server licenses are the easiest way to meet that requirement.
Retail licensing is simply where software is bought “off the shelf” in a box. Retail licensing differs from OEM licensing in that OEM licenses are meant to retire with the hardware they are purchased with. If you retire a computer that came with OEM Windows 98; that copy of Windows 98 must be retired with it. Retail licenses can be installed on new hardware as long as it is not in use on more computers than licenses permit.
Be careful buying anything from a spammer and check with a reputable consultant if you are in doubt about software licensing. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
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