What is the difference between retail software, OEM software academic software and NFR software?
Good question! The primary difference is in the license agreement. Retail software is licensed to “end users”, you and me, who install and use the software on our computers. If we choose, we can uninstall the software and sell or transfer our rights to use the software to another user (sometimes). OEM software, on the other hand, is licensed to be sold with a computer or computer hardware. For example, if you buy a new computer, the software that comes preinstalled on the system would be OEM software. You generally can not sell this type of software unless you sell the computer with it. OEM software for sale on this web site (you will not find much, we avoid it like the plague) is clearly labeled as OEM software and is NOT LICENSED FOR END USERS. If you read an OEM end user license agreement (EULA) you will find statements such as “If the software product is not accompanied by a new computer system or computer system component, you may not use or copy the software product”. OEM softwar
The primary difference is in the license agreement. Retail software is licensed to “end users” who install and use the software on their computers. The same software you would buy from Best Buy or CompUSA. This is the majority of the software we sell in our catalog. OEM software, on the other hand, is licensed to be sold with a computer or computer hardware. For example, if you buy a new computer, the software that comes preinstalled on the system would be OEM software. You generally can not sell this type of software unless you sell the computer with it. If you read an OEM end user license agreement (EULA) you will find statements such as “If the software product is not accompanied by a new computer system or computer system component, you may not use or copy the software product”. OEM software is licensed to be installed on a computer and then be sold to the end user as a packaged deal. Other differences between retail and OEM software include no technical support, installation manua
