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I need to know what to buy. I got several computer towers that have XP professional for Dell license numbers on them. My intent is to sell them on CL and I want to provide an OS and stay legal.
When I check on ebay and amazon for XP professional there are many different programs available. I hope someone can point me in the right direction, Mike.
each disk has it's own number, which can usually be used on only one computer. If the program that's on it came on it, and doesn't suggest it could be pirated, it might be ok. I'd test it tho, if not by taking it online and doing a windows update, at least look in control panel in automatic updates to see if it is turned on, if it is on and has been running that way, is another good sign. The only way I know of to install from one disk to multiple computers is to own a valid corporate edition. Without that you might still sell them without an OS to people who have their own disk, or want to use a linux distro. They'll still sell well above scrap, but they won't sell as fast.
I've done it both ways. From what I understand if you have the original disc, license number and certificate of authenticity you can sell the unit as is. Otherwise you have to buy a whole new license.
Check out this website:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...CqzcBVaxzfrBtw
Cheers!
Tom
You can use any disk that the COA sticker is for. So if its windows xp pro, you have to use a windows xp pro disk then use the COA sticker thats on the side of the computer. It should update just fine and that is legal, you just need to have a copy of that program.
How do you think all the people on CL can offer to re-install a OS on your computer for 30 or 40bucks...they are using your coa and there cd.
Yeah there are basically two kinds of Discs out there for your every day generic computer. You can get an OEM copy which will install using the CD key on the side of the Machine. The other type of Disc is the Volume License copy. Volume Licenses and for corporations which install on a bunch of machines using the same key. You can't use an OEM key when installing a volume license version and vise versa.
Now if you have a Dell computer you can use a Dell restore CD on it and reinstall the Dell OS with it. It wont even ask you for your key and its legal. I might be able to work something out with shipping a Disc to you if you dont have one. I have 2 right now so I would like to test if a burned copy will work. Never tried it. I also have a Dell Vista Business CD if your machine came with Vista. I use those CD's everytime I work on a Dell because they are easy to deal with and I dont have to worry about my customer having the discs.
Unbuntu, comes with an office clone that reads and saves documents in MS word, Excell and Powerpoint files, good accounting app gnucash, gimp photo editor which runs neck to neck with photoshop without the big bucks.
Ubuntu installs in 1/3 the time of installing any Windows OS, no OEM numbes required no reboots. And the best part no drivers to hunt down, when it comes to dial up modems make sure its hardware driven and not a soft modem. Linux does not support soft modems with out jumping through hoops.
I routinely load Ubuntu onto a hard drive using my fatest computer, yank the hard drive then install into another computer on the first boot all the drivers are found to match that PC's hardware configuration. Try that with Windows, you'll be making a telehpone call to verify your OEM number.
I would gladly go with Unbuntu but I doubt my adverage customers for my cheap computers would recognize it as an operating system. Mike.
Biscuit, I am curious: are these computers you build with Ubuntu for sale to your "average" buyer of used desktops/laptops? I have the same concern as Mike about your average Joe know being able to find their way around Linux, but maybe things are different now than they were a few years ago. On one hand, more people now know about Linux. On the other hand, those people who might be more computer savvy may not be even interested in a desktop no matter how old it is: I read today that one of the things the "Facebook" generation apparently does not buy is desktops.Quote:
Originally Posted by biscuit
Anything with Linux on it your normal buyer will not buy. By installing Linux on it you are cutting the potential customers base by a large factor. If you install Windows on an old machine anyone that would use any Linux distro would still buy it and put Linux on it themselves. It just makes sense to put Windows on the PC's and not cut your customer base down and make it harder to sell.
A good salesman would give the customer the option of paying for the OEM license or the free Ubuntu.
The basic windows operating system, comes bare bones with trial apps that expire, Ubuntu comes with the same apps without obligation. Right out of the box you could run your business from it, perform dunning letters, mailing list, spread sheets and power point finally use gnucash to keep your books in order.
To accomplish the same thing using windows it's going to cost you thousands of dollars, any one can load up a computer and say here its got the latest windows on it but it wont do much for you - it will go out to the Internet, the bowser sucks and your probably going to download Thunderbird as your email client, now if your willing to give me your credit card we can really open this thing up with some useful applications. But we can install Ubuntu and do all these things at no cost to you.
Some of you must have a friend or neighbor that has a Mac with OSX and they rant on about how they like it better than Win X, truth be known OSX is a derivative of Debian as is Ubuntu..
When a vulnerability is known in widows os it take months of not years to put out a patch, some never get fixed, ever wonder why. The big wigs in Redmond are more concerned about shareholders than customers.
When a vulnerability is know in any Linux flavor it fixed within days, this is one reason why there are so few viruses and Trojans. Why bother when you know it will be found and fixed before the dirty deed is carried out, meanwhile millions of Windows based PC's are hijacked daily.
Linux code is freely available, having it this way assures that the majority of applications run smoothly and those that do not are open to bug fixes by members of the open source community that have programming skills.
Third party applications IE shareware designed to run in MS are at best buggy causing computer crashes, why because the folks who put out shareware can not afford to pay for the use of Microsoft run time files so the programmer has to to emulate the run time files which causes the blue screens of death we all are so familiar with.
There are also some things about Linux that I'm not pleased with, or better said the hardware manufactures are at fault, I'll use the dial up modem as an example.
A hardware modem performs functions on-board, and yes these were larger cards not those puny PCI modem cards - software modems which rely on resources from the cpu, ram and operating system all of which drag the system down to a crawl.
Ahh but the hardware manufactures love soft modems it cuts down on the chips used to manufacture a modem and Microsoft comes in a winner by supporting this garbage.
It may come as a surprise to some that Microsoft who once called Linux a cancer is now one of the largest contributors to the Linux OS - don't believe me just Google it and read it for yourself why.
I'm not here to bash Microsoft, Bill Gates was at the right place at the right time when he borrowed that $50,000.00 from his parents to purchase DOS from IBM. His powers are in marketing and he is brilliant, and the show is almost over.
You cannot use any xp professional and the key from the dell computer. different install disks have different keys they are valid for. in order to use the key from the computer, you must have a dell oem install disk. there is a work around, though. I use a retail version of the install disk to do the initial setup. Microsoft has a key update utility that I use to change the key to the one on the coa after the setup is complete. one positive is you don't end up with all the dumb preloaded stuff that it came from the factory with.
you have things to say that are worth reading biscuit, my FWIW dept however, asks that your spell checker gets checked ; )
When Microsoft got its feathers clipped over that anti-trust law suit the courts as part of the fine prohibited any new OS releases for the next 5 years. If it had not been for the courts MS would have killed XP off sooner instead of spending time and money to fix the bugs.
Now that the courts have been satisfied and MS once again has a free hand, Vista was released and had everyone crying in their beer, due to public outcry MS extended the life of XP.
I also hear that folks are not to pleased with Windows 7, and now with the release of Windows 8 Microsoft has publicly announced they are going to orphan XP.
Microsoft has told customers that it's time to stop using Windows XP, reminding people on its official blog that there is less than 1,000 days of support left for the ageing OS.
With an inevitable focus on migrating people and businesses to Windows 7 – its critically acclaimed latest OS – and with huge amounts of focus on its successor, Windows 8, Microsoft has made it clear that XP reliance should be drawing to a close.
I have been leaning toward the belief that the large number of government auctions of computers is because of the demise of Windows XP. It may be cause I have just recently started paying attention to the auctions. Or perhaps the government has been selling like this for a long time. If I am correct then this glut of computers may slow down in the near futrue. Others who have been at this for a long time could correct my thoughts. Mike.
I'm seeing a lot of schools phasing out "Computer labs" In favor of Tablets and "Bring your own technology". The last pick up I did was for 40+ pcs and 25 laptops from phased out labs. The PC's are P4 and Pentium D dual Processor machines...So..old, but not that old.
I have another pickup for 80-90 pcs for Thursday. I'll be interested to see what's in that lot as well.
I follow a single rule when dealing with the average consumer....K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid)
I am going to venture out and try to retail some Pentium D machines this week. See if I can get like $50 a piece out of some PC's with XP Pro installed. I've been trying to avoid this, but I haven't found a PC shop to sell good machines to..
I think I have sorted out the os problem. I have a member helping me with it. Also the first two machines work great. They are P4 2.4 ghz, 512mb ram, and 40gb harddrives. The op syst. is Windows XP professional with service pack 3 installed. Looks good so far, Mike.