Win7 MSDN version, OEM version, RTM version, VOL version difference

We often hear about the MSDN version, OEM version, RTM version, VOL version, etc. of the operating system. What do they mean? What is the difference?

(1) MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) version

MSDN software is a version of Microsoft's software developers. MSDN covers all platforms and applications that can be developed and expanded, such as Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia, or various games, which are not included in MSDN, because these products are directly oriented to end users, without program development. necessary.

MSDN has a Microsoft software license at the level above the Operating System. According to the MSDN User License Agreement (EULA), the software is only licensed to the developer using MSDN for development and testing. For other purposes, others cannot use the software that comes with MSDN. Included companies cannot use SQL Server Enterprise Edition attached to MSDN as a database server in a production environment; the secretary cannot use Office 2007 attached to MSDN, and so on.

(2) OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version

OEM software can only be shipped from random machines, not retail, so it is also called random version. OEM software can only be installed completely, and cannot be upgraded from the old operating system.

If you buy a laptop or a branded computer, you will have a random version of the software. Packaging is not as beautiful as the retail version, usually with only a cd and a manual (authorization). Such systems usually have fewer drivers, and current OEM software is rarely installed on CDs, either as a recovery disk or as a hard disk image.

(3) RTM (Release to Manufacturing) version

Before the software is officially put on the retail store, it takes a while to compress, package, and distribute the software, so the program code must be officially released. It will be completed a while ago. The completed program code is called final.code. After the program code is developed, the master chip is sent to the factory for a large number of compression. This version is called RTM version.

The RTM version of the program code is the same as the official version. However, it is different from the official version: for example, the oem in the official version cannot be upgraded, and the upgraded version will check the old operating system CD if it is newly installed. These are the different places of rtm and the official version, but their main program code. all the same. Strictly speaking, this version is still a retail version of fpp and needs to be activated.

(4) RC (Release Candidate) version

From the practice of Microsoft, the introduction of the RC version of the operating system represents the official version of the operating system is not far from us, because the Microsoft operating system The development steps are as follows: internal test -> alpha beta -> beta beta -> RC version -> official version of the listing; usually Microsoft's RC version screening will go through 2-3 processes, which means Microsoft will The RC1, RC2 or RC3 operating system was introduced, and then the official version of the operating system was released, so it is usually seen that the RC1 version of the operating system is almost the same as the final retail version of the operating system.

(5) VOL (Volume Licensing for Organizations) Edition

Chinese is a group volume license. According to this license, when a company or a government needs to purchase a large amount of software, a discount can be obtained. The label of the disc for this product is marked with "VOL", and the first three letters of "Volume" are used to indicate that it is a batch. This version is further subdivided into "Open License", "Open License", "Select License", ""Enterprise Agreement", “ Five versions, such as the Academic Volume Licensing, the Shanghai government VOL version of XP is the bulk purchase version. According to the VOL program, VOL products do not need to be activated (whether upgraded to SP1 or SP2).

(6) FPP (Full Packaged Product) retail version

FPP is a retail version (boxed software), the volume label of this product is marked with "FPP" For example, the WPP version of the English WXP Pro CD label is WXPFPP_EN, where WX means Windows XP, P is Professional (H is Home), FPP indicates retail version, and EN indicates English. In addition to the purchase in the store (H is Home), FPP indicates a retail version and EN indicates English. In addition to the purchase in the store, some MSDN users can also get it.

Postscript:

When we know the difference between the versions, we can avoid buying errors and the wrong condition of the board. Xiaobian reminds me to know more about it.