Meaning of OEM

While I know that 'OEM' means ink as supplied by the printer
manufacturer to most people in this newsgroup might I point out that
it means something quite different in the 'computer spares' context in
the UK at least.

What OEM means to me is "as supplied *to* an Original Equipment
Manufacturer". In other words it's a computer part (or whatever) in a
bulk/minimal format with no retail packaging etc. If you look through
the computer suppliers here you'll find quite a lot of "OEM" parts and
they are significantly *cheaper* than the alternative (sometimes
described as "Retail packed") parts.

An OEM optical drive (for example) will come in a plain bag with no
extras like software on CD or instructions whereas a "retail" one will
have a pretty box, CDs of software, etc.

So to a UK person buying computer supplies "OEM" tends to mean
cheaper, without frills, not what it seems to mean here.

--
Chris Green