what wil XP cost when vista is released?

[wmmk]

hey-
I have lots of old-ish games that I'd like to run in bootcamp on my MBP. I was just wondering how much XP would cost after vista comes out to the general public. it looks like you can home OEM for $90 on newegg, but will this drop soon?
thanks,
wmmk

 

[clevin]

$90 isnt bad at all. it wont be available until Jan. so wait and see...

 

[dops7107]

Purely as a matter of interest - are OEM copies strictly legal? Surely the whole point is that you can't just buy them without new equipment. In which case, why buy a non-legit piece of software? Might as well go the whole hog and save $90.

 

[Queso]

Purely as a matter of interest - are OEM copies strictly legal? Surely the whole point is that you can't just buy them without new equipment. In which case, why buy a non-legit piece of software? Might as well go the whole hog and save $90.

The OEM licenses will normally ship with some nominal piece of hardware to get round the legal issues (a Zune maybe? )

To be honest though, I can't see XP dropping in price straight away. Vista isn't going to pick up an immediate head of steam whilst business updates their internal applications, so new PCs are going to come with dual-licensing like they used to with Windows 2000 & XP. So the XP licenses will be included in the downgrade clause of the OEM Vista licence.

Retail copies of XP probably haven't sold well for a long time so there won't be a significant dropoff there. If price cuts do come, they're probably still 6-12 months away.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

I think it will drop pretty fast myself, allready makers of new machines are giving Xp & Vista. Once Vista hits the streets the market is going to drop out for XP if it hasnt allready this is why Microsoft agreed to give new machine buyers the free Vista upgrade because folks were just waiting instead of buying.

 

[dmw007]

I would imagine that the price would drop, but it is hard to say with M$.

 

[LeviG]

basically all oem (in the t&C's) does is restrict the copy of xp to that single pc/mac. The retail allows it to be uninstalled and then reinstalled on another system. As to purchasing, you may need to buy a piece of hardware too but it depends on the reseller

 

[IJ Reilly]

Microsoft will not lower the price of XP when Vista comes out. They will stop manufacturing new copies. XP will go the way of all other versions of Windows, when a new one is released -- when existing retail stocks are sold, it will vanish.

 

[hulugu]

Purely as a matter of interest - are OEM copies strictly legal? Surely the whole point is that you can't just buy them without new equipment. In which case, why buy a non-legit piece of software? Might as well go the whole hog and save $90.

It's enough of a grey-area that most people feel comfortable with buying OEM copies, however they're not all created equally, some OEM copies can't do certain installations for example, which is a huge pain.

I don't believe Microsoft lowered the prices for 98 or 2000, so I don't think the prices will change much.

 

[NATO]

Don't forget that 'technically' an OEM copy, once activated on a particular computer, can't be transferred to another - The licence lives and dies with that computer (unlike a Retail Copy). However, its been shown that this is hard to enforce, especially given the PC enthusiast crowd who upgrade components from time to time (how many parts does it take before the PC stops being the original PC and starts being a 'new' PC?).

I don't think Microsoft has really made a big deal of OEM licences, so it's unlikely you'll have a problem, but as mentioned above, Microsoft won't cut the price of XP, they'll simply stop manufacturing it, whilst trying all the while to push you towards Vista.

 

[wmmk]

Don't forget that 'technically' an OEM copy, once activated on a particular computer, can't be transferred to another - The licence lives and dies with that computer (unlike a Retail Copy). However, its been shown that this is hard to enforce, especially given the PC enthusiast crowd who upgrade components from time to time (how many parts does it take before the PC stops being the original PC and starts being a 'new' PC?).

I don't think Microsoft has really made a big deal of OEM licences, so it's unlikely you'll have a problem, but as mentioned above, Microsoft won't cut the price of XP, they'll simply stop manufacturing it, whilst trying all the while to push you towards Vista.

ah, so the copy of OEM windows that came with gateway i turned into a macbook pro with my magical computer transforming skills (and erased from the gateway's hard drive) could be ethically/legally used on the gateway, which happens to have had a case upgrade to a MacBook pro case?
thanks

 

[balamw]

they'll simply stop manufacturing it, whilst trying all the while to push you towards Vista.

And thus, since the supply is dried up the price will just as likely go UP rather than DOWN for legit copies, who knows about the grey market...

B

 

[NATO]

ah, so the copy of OEM windows that came with gateway i turned into a macbook pro with my magical computer transforming skills (and erased from the gateway's hard drive) could be ethically/legally used on the gateway, which happens to have had a case upgrade to a MacBook pro case?
thanks

Hehe, pretty much Microsoft doesn't seem to bother enforcing the whole OEM licence thing, so you're grand

 

[IJ Reilly]

And thus, since the supply is dried up the price will just as likely go UP rather than DOWN for legit copies, who knows about the grey market...

That would be my guess. I remember after XP was released, copies of 2000 were still in demand and I would suspect they fetched something of a premium.

 

[Macky-Mac]

And thus, since the supply is dried up the price will just as likely go UP rather than DOWN for legit copies, who knows about the grey market...

B

but more likely, the demand will drop faster than the drying up supply....as an example; it's possible to buy legal older versions of OS X or OS 9 and at prices that are lower than the original price. It might take a year or so, but I suspect XP prices will drop as demand for it drops