"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message
...
What little other info I could find (besides what Franc found) suggests
that
at some point they did start making OEM copies bootable. But while my
experience with OEM copies is limited, and my memory sucks BIG TIME, I do
recall using several and don't recall them being bootable, but then, when
you boil out how many times I actually used one for Setup.... Fact is, my
standard setup starts with copying the WIN98 directory to the HD and
otherwise using a bootable floppy (or CD version of same) (and/or BING) to
prepare the disk(s) and SYS the boot drive. After that, no discs are
involved.

I wonder... When shopping for a copy of XP, I found a "system builder's"
version that seems to be something different than the OEM versions, though
I'm not certain what difference there might be except in license (IIRC
once
the SB build is installed, it may never be installed again on any except
the
exact same hardware. No wiggle room.) I don't know the provenance of your
machines, but if they come mostly from large industrial/commercial
sources... Perhaps there's such a thing as an SB version of Win98SE?



Interesting.

Basically the machines I get could be anything.
I scrounge them up from where-ever I can get them.
Individuals, offices and junk piles..you name it.

I still have many of the Certificate of Authenticity booklets for the
bootable win98 cd's
and the ones I have are from either Gateway, Compaq or HP...
and they all are just generic Microsoft cd's for win98se.

Though the books have different manufacturer names on them...
the one thing is common is all of then have the same number in the lower
left hand
portion of the cover : X04-15747 and appear to have been printed in 1999.
Or at least that is the newest copyright date I can find anywhere.

Well one thing I know I will not ever be doing ...is going with the "system
builder's" version
of XP...I change my hardware continuously. I am now using my Win2k
machine...which is the one I seem
to use most often. The HD in here has been transplanted into different
machines at least 4 times now
over a period of many years. Though it requires a repair install...it just
keeps going without
and problems.