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Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Reseller Selling Standalone Media Center Software
Looks like some Texas mavericks are breaking the rules and selling XP Media Center Edition directly to you and me. Accordinng to Extreme Tech, "At least one vendor is selling OEM copies of Microsoft's new Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system online, possibly exploiting a loophole in Microsoft's contracts. Houston, Tex.-based Directron is selling the OEM edition of Microsoft's software on its web site for $129.99, as well as the accompanying remote control for $43.99.

"That's substantially less than the $299 Directron is charging for the retail boxed copy of Windows XP Pro. Microsoft executives said Tuesday that they do not plan to sell versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 at retail. For the first time, however, the software is being made available to legions of "system builders," white-box makers who can purchase copies of Microsoft's OSes through special programs. Directron, however, appears to be using this loophole to sell the software directly to consumers."

Click here to order a copy before Ballmer decideds to "mess with Texas" as they say out West, and halts direct sales.

# Permalink Posted at 8:15 PM 3 comments Email this Link

Comments on this Item:

It says you have to buy 5 copies. Maybe that's hoow they get around it? Rob

# posted by Anonymous 8:23 PM

It says you must order 5 copies, but you can add the item to your cart and one copy shows up at the price stated, so it looks like a single sale to me. Sneaky.

# posted by Alice 8:24 PM

It also says this:
(8) This product is OEM. It must be purchased with a major system component or entire system. The remote by itself does not count as hardware. Major hardware includes Motherboards, Video Cards and Hard Drives. Failure to purchase this product with a major hardware component will invalidate the order during processing.

# posted by Anonymous 5:17 AM

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