I know this operating system is more than 10 years old, but I heard that there are still some hard core followers. OzGameShop has just dropped the price of Windows XP SP3 Home Edition OEM to $29.99 delivered.
Besides, it can be a cheap way to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro later ($40 before 31 Jan 2013 if I remembered correctly).
Oh look, let's all click a - sign to express our internet prowess. Pathetic.
I think it's more of "why are you bringing up OS X in a windows XP post?" combined with the reputation that some mac users have.
Yes, some windows users have the same reputation - but lets not kid ourselves, the "arrogant stigma" started with some mac users from the very beginning. That's how apple have always marketed themselves.
And before you start flaming, do note that I said "some" and that some Windows users are the same too.
Your aforementioned arrogant stigma wasn't evident in PainToad's post so I can't see what's wrong with it, it's a relative response reflecting his own preference, the habitual pigeonholing of the windows users when they see the word mac/osx/ixxx puts up an equal fight with the reputable mac users we all know.
And let's face it, 90% of mac haters have an ipod, and less than 5% of them has ever had enough exposure with a mac product to distinguish between dislike and being a sheep.
I've been a windows user for 3/4 of my life and will most certainly continue to do so, I also own a JB iPhone+iPad, mac thunderbolt displays, it's ok to appreciate diversification, excellence and ingenuity where it's all due. It's genuinely sad how narrow-minded some people here are.
Yes I agree that it wasn't evident in his post, but the first part still holds true - what does OS X have to do with the $29 XP discussion?
Everyone knows how touchy Windows vs Mac can be, so bringing up the other OS for no obvious reason is sure to make some people go "huh?" - as we can see by the number of negs.
Imagine if the discussion was about how to get a cheap version of Snow Leopard, then suddenly someone brings up Windows.
With Apple, you don't need to own apple products to dislike the way the products are marketed. They product themselves may be perfectly fine, but Apple has managed to create a vocal subset of users who are arrogant in their evangelism. This naturally leads to the rise of an anti-apple group who can sometimes be just as arrogant. Now both sides have people who make either side look bad.
Oh look, let's all click a - sign to express our internet prowess. Pathetic.
Oh look, let's call everyone that doesn't agree with us an idiot, then bitch about them disagreeing with that. Pathetic.
The initial post of "Probably my favourite OS of the past 15 years" is that of a bold one (however true it is), for the most that's moved onto 7 it had/has an absolute nostalgic aura to it. I thought "Mine would be OS X 10.4" was a comment of equal calibre, like I said relative, I looked at it as "I've fond memories of working on a Nissan with my pa as a kid" and "I've fond memories of working on a Jeep with my pa as a kid".
My annoyance was triggered mainly by the number of people who would use a - button that means absolutely nothing to put someone down for having a comment.
You know I'm most probably reading too much into all this and went about it wrong, cheers for the replies mate.
"Oh look, let's call everyone that doesn't agree with us an idiot, then bitch about them disagreeing with that. Pathetic."
The idiots I refer to are not ones that disagrees, but those that disagrees and only knows how to voice their opinions via a click of a - button. Learn to read and interpret the entire sentence.
Wow…all I did was respond with my favourite OS in a non aggressive discussion form and yet you all go mental. Seriously if you are that protective of your precious OS may I once again suggest getting a life? Gez. I bet most of you idiots never even used OS X 10.4, whereas I used XP for manyyyy (painful) years. So unlike you cliched Apple haters, my view is based on experience rather than the need to be a sheep in latest crazy of mindlessly hating Apple products with no justification.
Your first reply was neutral. However this reply is like a cliche'd hater from either camp, resorting to insults like that.
Everyone shouldn't take negs so seriously. Everyone knows how touchy pc vs mac can be, so lets not post things to fan the flames shall we? There's no point - kinda like a recent muslim-hating youtube video.
I think its time to chillout…..Gangnam style!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0&feature=player_de…
I personally think XP is better than OSX. Never liked Apple products and I understand why others don't either.
their ** :)
How dare you prefer a different operating system!
It's okay pal, there just jealous that your favourite OS barely felt viruses.
I personally think Windows 7 craps on everything else.
Windows 7 was a big improvement.
Can't stand it. Deal with it everyday, yuck.
Cheap though.
C'mon it could've been worse… cough Vista cough
Its end of life.
MS can afford to make one last patch that disables the serial number and all Auth checks to make it 100% free for sub 512meg machines.
At least XP runs in hardware thats less powerful and less ram than cheap android phones.
This should be free. Well duh, just find a BT file. All OS's over 10 years should be public domain - free.
I assume you give away your property for free once it's > 10 years old too?
Windows 8 can't be upgraded from XP
Business users who want a more enterprise-oriented version of Windows 8 can soon upgrade their current machines to Windows 8 Pro for just $40, Microsoft announced today. Over at Microsoft’s Windows Blog, communications manager Brandon LeBlanc writes that the $40 upgrade will be available for download for any users whose machines run Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. Users who want the upgrade will need to use the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant that LeBlanc says will “will check to make sure your PC is ready for Windows 8” and “will provide a detailed compatibility report that lets you know of anything you may have to address before or after the upgrade and outlines actions to take.” Users who would prefer to install Windows 8 Pro onto their machines without the Upgrade Assistant can buy a packaged DVD version in stores for $70. The $40 upgrade will be available in 131 markets and the offer expires on January 31st, 2013.
Didn't know that it could be upgraded from XP. Does anyone know how much Win 8 OEM will cost?
More than $70
No idea. What's the chance of cheaper than $70?
Pretty much nill, the $40 upgrade gives you the better pro version and the media centre thing that's going to be extra if you purchase OEM or later after the upgrade option.
I heard (but can't verify) that it would actually be around $70 for a new copy that wasn't an upgrade from anything, to go along with their whole 'reasonable' pricing thing they seem to be doing with Win 8.
Their volume licence Win8 Pro upgrades are $115 inc, which is pretty much the same as Win 7.
What's this reasonable pricing thing?
Have they fixed the MCE so that it can record two channels on the same MUX, using ONE TUNER? or 4 CHANNELS, on 2 tuners, if channels use only 2 MUX.
Or in typical USA style do they ignore all non USA formats, DVB, and put 100% effort into USA DTV format.
Come on MS, you dont hire looser programmers do you? They are capable, or are the managers the road block to any DECENT software.
surely you can pick up a second hand retail version of windows xp for less than that? hell, i've picked up heaps of computers with xp from the kerbside for free.
if u got any window xp cd, even the pirate one, once you activate, you normally won't pass the validation, then find any serial number from old pc when the council pick up, then
use this to change the serial number from the old pc, then you get legitimate window xp
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/PkuInstructions.as…
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/XPPkuinst.aspx?dis…
This reminds me of ppl who copy the keys from the COA sticker on the side of pcs from schools/tafe/uni…
is it illegal? i really dunno, coz those coa are oem, 1 sticker can be use more than 10 pc
I always thought it was 1 sticker 1 comp.
And it would be illegal, considering you're passing something that's not your's off as your's (aka fraud), and not to mention taking something that isn't your's (aka stealing).
If you're talking about taking the code from a computer you picked up from the street and using it, it's more so a breech in the terms and conditions set by Microsoft than being anything illegal.
<replied at the wrong level>
Re-using the product key on 10 machines may work (although I think MS activation will fail well before you reach 10), but it certainly is not legal! Strictly 1 per PC.
question, you buy pc together with original window xp, then your pc was damage, then you need to buy a new pc, can you still use the old window xp cd? or you need to buy a new cd?
If the install/recovery cd isn't a proprietary ver. issued or self burnt by a brand name company (containing HW unique drivers/bloatware), then yes you can reuse it, but MS still req. that you to buy a new copy+cdkey/serial/licence per new pc to use legally(as stated in EULA?). Correct me if I'm wrong….
hmm, the word can be ambiguous, yes the old pc can't use anymore, then i bought the new pc. same as i pick up the coa number on old pc on the street, that old pc will go to landfill, and i reuse the coa on the new pc, is it still illegal? still new pc right?
That is still a breech of the EULA, as the COA is attached to the original computer that you picked up off the street. Every time you build a new computer you need a new COA. (Not sure what happens if you're using a retail key instead of a OEM key)
in that case they shouldnt allow this program in the first place, as this program allow to change the key.
when you activate the new pc, i believe microsoft gathering my motherboard serial number as well, so if coa is attached on one pc, they should able to check if you are using different pc by checking the serial number on the new motherboard.
by allowing the customer changing the key, thats mean microsoft allowing you are installing on the new pc then?
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/PkuInstructions.as…
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/XPPkuinst.aspx?dis…
The restrictions are only for OEM keys, which are cheaper. Those keys live and die with that computer. They cannot be transferred to another computer.
A retail non-OEM copy on the other hand, allows you to transfer it to another PC. That's what that link is for.
You think they care? The effort to even think about it costs more in $ than its worth getting.
Its EOL, they made their 25billion of it, they dont care squat, unless you sell $25CDS at a fruit market.
Who's talking about them? This discussion was about the legality of using an OEM key for another install.
If you don't think they care, try openly selling pirated copies of XP now and see if they mind.
FYI: I did several OEM machine reinstalls. If a customer had a motherboard fail, or needed new hard drive and didnt have restore cds it was still easily done. If the machine failed activation you just call the microsoft number it tells you to. Absolute worst case you speak to someone and say "yeah had to stick a new MB in it" and they activated it over the phone every time. Not once did i have it not go through with an OEM code.
Yeah as I mentioned below, you can call up MS to activate it. But as I also mentioned, this is about the legality of using an OEM key on a different computer. It can be done, but if someone is gung-ho about being 100% legal, that'll get in the way.
I think the whole activation thing is just meant to keep casual piracy (friends 'lending' friends their discs, corporate volume licence keys leaking out or getting sold, etc) at bay. If someone is determined to run pirated windows, they'll probably find a way to do so.
It's kinda like the lock on your front door - it keeps opportunists and casual thieves out. But if someone is determined to break in, they'll just break a window. There comes a point of diminishing returns where the payback is not worth the inconvenience of too much security. MS would just factor in the fact that people will find loopholes into the purchase price.
"If someone is determined to run pirated windows, they'll probably find a way to do so."
Yeah, Vista & up have KMS activators. Agree that there will Always be someone 'cracking' SW.
Most schools and businesses buy the computers from OEMs with the CD key already on the side, then they image them from their corporate image and don't use the CD key. Most of those CD keys never actually get activated.
However… most of them are now locked to the OEM hardware, so you can't use a DELL key on your home computer because it checks to see if it's a DELL.
XP is type-specific, i.e. an OEM key will be rejected by a non-OEM XP installation. Pirated XP discs are always volume licence key discs, which will not work with OEM keys.
If you did start with an OEM disc you might have more luck, you just have to call up MS and get them to activate it:
http://betanews.com/2005/02/24/microsoft-closes-activation-l…
and yes, oem means one machine per key.
I'm pretty sure it specifically links to the motherboard, anyone know for sure?
i don't think so.
The OEM stickers most definitely do not link to any specific piece of hardware. To be legal, you require one CoA per install of XP. OEM stickers must be sold with hardware, and belong (legally) to that hardware ever after, but theoretically you could upgrade the machine one piece at a time until there's nothing original left, so it's a bit shady. Retail keys can go on any computer you like, but only one at a time.
All of this is what is legal - in practice you can easily get one key on several PCs at once. As for pirated discs not working with OEM keys, it obviously depends on the disc but usually pirated discs are OEM discs as VLKs only work with OEM. It's retail that is separate, retail keys only work with retail installs, and retail installs only work with retail keys.
(Source: 4 Years in small computer business, installed XP probably something like 2000 times.)
Yes the OEM sticker isn't linked to a specific piece of hardware, but rather the computer as a whole. Changing parts one-by-one will eventually trigger a reactivation (every part has a point score) that requires you to phone Microsoft. One could probably lie and say the motherboard had to be replaced or something, but that's obviously not legal anymore.
OEM windows cannot be sold with hardware - they must be sold with a fully-assembled computer as of 2005:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2005/06/06/425681…
(you could have actually meant hardware as in a whole computer, but hardware usually refers to parts so I thought I should clarify for others)
Pirated discs are never OEM - they're always VLK, reason being VLK XP installs do not require activation. Pirated keys will fail WGA though (FCKGW anyone?).
VLK and OEM are complete opposite ends of the spectrum, with retail in the middle. OEM is the most restrictive, VLK is the least restrictive. A VLK key only works with a VLK disc, OEM with OEM, retail with retail. You can change a CD 'type' by editing the Pid value in the setupp.ini file on the disc.
so if you have vlk disk and you fail the wga, then you can still change the serial keyr with coa serial key right? Because this is what i did many times, when i still using my xp desktop.
If it's an OEM COA, XP shouldn't accept it, unless something has changed recently. I've tried it many times, heh heh. A retail COA might work… never tried that.
it works to me before, i got the pirate cd, but always fail on the WGA, then i use that program to change the serial number with my office pc coa serial key (oem), and it works, never fail :)
Well there you go, a loophole that works. When did you last try it? Also, what brand was the office pc?
dell and ibm
what year did you last try it?
Early this year, when my mate need reinstall his pc
I don't know anything about this computer stuff, but I am wondering if this upgrade will be allowed from this edition as it is a HOME edition/version and the blurb on the upgrade doesn't say home edition. Just saying….
Wtf, isn't this 10 years old?
11 years old.
But with Service Pack 3, all the latest updates, latest drivers, latest version of Chrome / Firefox, decent anti-virus, decent firewall and a whole host of free utilities and tools, the only thing you'll be missing is DirectX versions than 9c.
So many companies are dropping support for Xp though. Adobe, IE, even Chrome I think soon.
Yeah, and your mum's Corolla is 10 years old too so why is she still driving it?
Is this 64Bit? will it Work on a Mac under BootCamp?
Not 64bit.
Not officially supported on Snow Lion.
Do you mean Mountain Lion or Snow Leopard?
It will work in VMware Fusion and Parallels. Boot Camp doesn't officially support it though
32 bit only for this xp home edition. So max 4 meg ram. XP-64 just wasn't popular back then except for corporate users.
XP 64
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP_…
"4 meg"? Ahh, what am I going to do with my other 3.996 GB of RAM? ;)
Don't you mean 4092mb?
4gb sorry
I don't think XP64 was even popular with corporations. XP64 was basically a slightly modified Server 2003 version; it was close enough that you could use 2003 drivers on XP64.
Yuck, over dealing with this old rubbish. get with the times.
XP was the gold standard in Windows OS only 4 years ago before W7 came along, remember that dog called Vista? Funny how quickly people move with reckless abandonment. I have since upgraded to W7 but still think this is a good deal for someone that wants to load XP on a secondary PC or use as a backup OS. I also find XP has better native support for DOS, and there are some other benefits.
When was the last time you used Vista? It's basically how Windows 7 was on release these days. (ie. Not bad)
The It Crowd
lolnope.
LOL good one.
As Rodgort said. Vista was actually fine. Sure there were some bug on release but really it was ironed out pretty quick and it was actually a pretty good OS. People just seem to think beating on it makes them cool for some reason.
Yeah I agree, Vista worked fine for me. I used it from when it was released till when W7 was released.
The only complaint I have with Vista is that it's slow on older computers. Other than that, it was stable and worked fine.
I believe alot of ppl only saw Vista as 'eye candy'. Also the system (high RAM usage) & networking (throughput) performance wasn't optimised until SP1 (from my past exp.), but by then the bad reputation had already been labeled on the OS.
Yeah alright. Cheap old crap :p For those MacOSX and Linux users, maybe it's a cheap way to run Windows program under VirtualBox? ie etax?
if you want just want to run windows apps under virtualisation, you could try the FREE windows clone reactos.org. i'm not sure how advanced it is but there are screenshots showing it running office apps, firefox etc. http://www.reactos.org/en/tour.html
doesn't support directx… have you tested it?
i know it is alpha. still good for running the odd windows app in a vm.
Coming soon….Windows VISTA
Nooooooo keep it away from me! Noooo
"Last one left in stock"
Anyway, with all the Hardware changes MS seems to be forcing on H/W OEM's, there's a risk that XP won't work on newer boxes.
You can still get notebook computers that include XP, so why take such a risk?
A lot of these are without the CD/DVDs if you mean 2nd hand.
Thanks
If i needed an OS, this would be great.
Now says "Out of stock".
Dont forget support for XP ends on 8th April 2014 (ie. no more security updates, etc). After that, do you feel lucky leaving it connected to the internet even with only standard ports open…
yeah i can imagine the amount of zero days after 15 years of operation and security updates!
Probably my favourite OS of the past 15 years. I think I still have the original retail box I bought in 2002 floating around here somewhere..