On 2 Oct 2009 at 14:22, dhbailey wrote: > Secondly, ...
And later: > Secondly, ... Is that like "the other left" or are you one of those three-handed folks, one the one hand, on the other hand, on the other hand... :) Anyway, I did have a serious response. You wrote: > These days I'm the last person to leap to MakeMusic's > defense, but in this case until you know for certain that > the company OEM Software Resellers purchased those copies > directly from MakeMusic and didn't buy them through a > liquidation sale, it's a bit premature to get irate over the > low price. A company that calls itself OEM Software Resellers is likely operating illegitimately in the first place. OEM versions of software should be sold only to OEMs, i.e., original equipment manufacturers, the people who make the hardware and bundle it together with software. Most OEM versions lack documentation, in fact, as well as not having the consumer-level packaging. For instance, if you buy an OEM hard drive, it will be the bare hard drive with no CD, no instructions and no cables, in no box at all, just a hard drive in one of those shiny/plastic/metallic envelopes. Buy the consumer version of the same hard drive, and it will be in a branded box, include instructions and likely a CD with useless software, and also very likely the appropriate cable and drive rails for mounting, as well. I'm not certain whether when I buy an OEM hard drive from CDW.com if CDW is breaking the manufacturer's rules or not, but I'm grateful for the price break, since I'm perfectly capable of purchasing the appropriate cable and then doing the installation myself without any need for assistance. I doubt very much that Finale has an actual OEM version, since I don't really think they have any PC manufacturers who are going to bundle Finale with their new computers. But they do have one reduced- price version that sells as $119, and that's the upgrade for those with 2-year-old or older versions of Finale. I would worry that you'd be unable to register this software, and might not be able to use it. I have assumed that MM was the only company that sold upgrades, but likely they sell upgrade packages to the software distributors, too, and it's probably through that channel that these packages were acquired. Whether or not there's any actual restriction on the installation of the upgrade version I don't know. If you lack a serial number, will you be able to install it? I haven't a clue, since every time I've purchased a Finale upgrade, I had the serial number. If someone I knew needed Finale, I would certainly not recommend they purchase it here. Instead, I'd urge them to see if they can qualify for the educational price. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
