Vista oem with windows 7 oem, or retail

Yeah, i agree with you, I actually am all legit now, thanks for the info, im gonna purchase oem, dont want 32 bit disc, or need box, so oem is fine for me.

You can uninstall and install the OEM as many times as you want, as long as you do it on the same computer.

You might want to look at an upgrade version. It is considered to be retail. It should cost about what oem will cost. There will be a 3 license family pack for about $150.

It is not clear to me what windows-7 will require to use an upgrade version. For vista, all that was required was that the install needed to be run under some existing OS. In fact, that os could be the 30 day trial that you loaded using the upgrade cd.

Regarding the second part of your answer, that loophole was closed with Win7. Now it requires the upgraded OS to be activated, which the Vista trial was not.

With Vista, I wanted to upgrade from a 32 bit XP to home premium 64 bit. I bought the upgrade package, and sent in for the 64 bit version. There seemed to be no way to do this, so I called Microsoft support. Since the upgrade package was considered retail, they gave me the following procedure:
You install vista from the cd, but do not initially enter the product code.

Just tell the install which version you bought, and do not activate.
After it installs, you have a fully functional vista for 30 days.
Step 2 is to insert the cd again, while running vista and then do an upgrade.
This time, enter your product code, and activate.
After activation. you may delete the initial version which is named windows.old.

Without a similar such procedure, there will be no way to upgrade a 32 bit license to 64 bit.

There seems to be some confusion on the meaning of "upgrade"

1) The ability to retain your applications and environment. This can be done by loading windows-7 on top of an existing Vista installation. For this type of upgrade, Only vista seems to be supported, and only for 32/32 bit or 64/64 bit conversions, not 32/64.

2) On the other hand "upgrade" can mean that an upgrade package can be used for a clean installed if the user has a valid previous OS. It is the method of validating the posession of a previous OS that I am uncertain about. Submitting the old product key would work, and microsoft could cancel that key to prevent duplicate use. But, if a user needed to reinstall, then it would be a real mess. Submitting an old OS cd would have problems with oem pc's that do not supply one.

I know it seems strange and they'll have to provide for those scenarios, but I do know what I'm talking about. Read this. Problem was with that Vista method, it could be used to install the upgrade version on a clean HDD, just like the Retail or OEM versions. MS had to close the loophole somehow...

Did some more research.

1) The requirements to use the upgrade package are not yet authoritavely known.

2) The most logical method I have found is as follows:

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If you want to reinstall at a later date, you won't need your old license key or the old copy of Vista installed.

Why is this different now? Because now when you install an upgrade
version, it requires the old OS's license key which will then be tied
to your new Windows 7 key on Microsoft's servers. The benefit to you is
that you can toss those old Vista media and license keys, since they
will be invalidated on Microsoft's servers. However, that also means
you can't then use that copy of Vista on another new machine.

Also, when you install you will always be given an option to "Clean
Install" which will put any old OS's in Windows.Old. That old directory
is more of a way to make things easier for you, Microsoft could have
just deleted it. This "Clean Install" option is available even without
the RC installed. And for those of us going from a 32-bit OS to a
64-bit OS, it's actually the only option allowed.

The upgrade version just wants your old license key just once, so it
can be tied to it forever on Microsoft's servers. So the only
fundamental difference to the "full" and "upgrade" version is how the
license keys are validated on the first try. After that, they are the
same. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the media is EXACTLY the same
when you get it from Microsoft, just that the license keys are
different so they can be handled differently on Microsoft's side
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This addresses all issues.

By entering only the previous product key microsoft can accomplish the following:
a) Insure that the previous product key is not used more than once.
b) Handle the situation with pre-built and oem PC's that have a variety of restore methods; They all will have the product key sticker.
c) Your upgrade product key will be recognized in the future as a full retail install key, allowing hassel-free reinstalls.
d) Pre-order upgrade users will be satisfied in any legitimate upgrade.
e) Microsoft will know which are the W7 Release candidate keys, and MAY not allow them to be used as upgrade keys, eliminating one more source of fraudulent upgrades.
f) This allows the media to be exactly the same for basic to ultimate and OEM/upgrade/retail.

If I were in charge of the process, I think this is the approach I would take.

Wow... Send that on to MS. There might be a slight problem with points b/c. The upgrade cannot be recognized as a full retail because 1) Retail requires MS to provide support. But someone who upgraded an OEM copy of Windows should look to their PC manufacturer for support. 2) Upgrading an OEM ties, I believe, the upgraded version to the same restrictions about moving from computer to computer. So it appears there would be a couple problems with making an upgrade version key equivalent to a full retail. If those could be ironed out, sounds good to me!  

Today,the vista upgrade package is considered retail, and deserving of MS support. I got it when trying to upgrade OEM from 32 bit to 64 bit using an upgrade package. I think I have read somewhere that the same applies to W7. Seems like a good way to convert a oem license to supported retail. It makes some sort of logical sense also. Why should a dell or other oem have to support a customer having software problems with an upgrade that they did not build?

Hmm... If that's true, one problem down, one to go. Do you know where you read that? I'll have to remember it when my Win7 upgrade arrives.

The most reliable info I have found comes from Harold Wong's Blog. He is from Microsoft in some capacity.
Here is the relevant part:
http://blogs.technet.com/haroldwong/archive/2009/07/22/...

I hope it is correct.

Interesting... It sounds like no one really knows at this point.