And another thing...

What do you want for nothing?

I recently got bored and went through my spam folder in gmail. I noticed a lot of email from online companies promising me software dirt cheap. Since I have inside information, I decided to investigate.

The first email was entitled: What IS 0EM Software And Why D0 You Care?

I clicked over to the site, and guess what? I searched for 10 minutes and never got an answer to that question but since I know it, I will tell you.

OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer. Computer manufacturers purchase this from the software companies for distribution with their hardware. It is not meant for sale to the general public without said hardware. It will say on the disk "for distribution with a new PC only". But wait! This site does not send you a cd, so you will never know this. And for the 'Why do you care?' part. Well when OEM's distribute this software, they take over warranty support, you will not get support from the makers of the software, and you would know this if you had a cd because it would clearly say on the face of the disk "for product support contact the manufacturer of your pc".

So the site I went to raised a few red flags. First being, no cd's, download only as indicated in the Terms section:

2.3. You cannot register the software with the manufacturer and updates are available not for all the products;
2.4. You do not receive printed license documentation;
2.5. You do not receive a copy of the software on a disk.

This should worry the consumer that purchases software this way. Any legitimate software CAN be registered with the manufacture and CAN absolutely get updates. And in case you are wondering, updates aren't just for upgrades of the software, updates include security patches. So you may get the software for next to nothing, but the first time a security threat pops up, your software cannot be protected from it. In the case of a critical security threat, you, my friend, are SOL.

Now I am not sure what type of license they are distributing with this software. If it were OEM licenses they would not warn you that you cannot register the software, I suspect that the licenses are volume licenses, since they are telling you that they will not give you a printed copy which means a proper Certificate of Authenticity. Volume licenses are purchased by companies so they can install the software on multiple computer within their company. They are not transferable to the general public. If you have this type of license on a home computer you are not running legitimate software.

This site is to download the software and make a copy. Again, on the cd you would see the words, "do not make illegal copies of this software". After downloading you are instructed to burn it to cd. You had better hope this process is successful because if you fail to burn it correctly, you are screwed if you need to reinstall for any reason, this site will not help you. And if you call me and tell me the software is on a burnt cd? I will laugh at you.

So remember, you get what you pay for.