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Vista - The price is right £50?

God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Vista - The price is right £50?

I have previously baulked at what I considered to be the almost punitive price of buying Vista. Home Premium (never mind ultimate) is around £200, the upgrade version the best part of £150
Well I decided to take the plunge and upgrade from XP Pro to Vista Home Premium because I found that I could do this perfectly legally for about £50. Yes F-I-F-T-Y pounds!  £50.67 to be exact.
How did I do this? Microsoft supply the same version £100 cheaper but put an ‘Academic’ (Edu) tag on the end of the title. The only requirement to purchase and install it legally is that the purchaser is either a ‘student’ or it is being purchased on behalf of a student.

So if you or a child in your household is at school, university or a student of any kind then you are entitled to buy and install this identical version of vista for 50 quid. You do not have to go through any official hoops to prove your entitlement, thankfully this version of Vista installs like all others.
Most folks have never heard of this version, why? Because Microsoft don’t publicise it, considering how many households qualify for the discounted version you could say it isn’t a surprise!
I purchased mine from ebuyer, but you might find a better deal elsewhere... enjoy!

God...
16 REPLIES 16
Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

It's a very similar situation with OEM copies as Vista as well.
Companies will sell you an OEM copy with a qualifying bit of hardware far cheaper, and of course it's perfectly legal as well.
Brings Vista down to the comparable USA price anyway Cheesy
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

That is true, however the advantage of the academic pack is that it is a full licence and can be moved from one machine to another whereas the OEM version is tied to the PC it is originally activated on.
pjemmanuel
Grafter
Posts: 354
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Quote from: Alex
Companies will sell you an OEM copy with a qualifying bit of hardware far cheaper, and of course it's perfectly legal as well.

The requirement to purchase hardware has been removed from the MS OEM license. Resellers can sell the OEM software in the outer box to anyone - no need to buy hardware. The person who purchases the outer box becomes the 'System Builder' and is responsible for providing technical support to the 'end user' upon who's computer the software is installed.
There is no requirement for the 'System Builder' and the 'end user' to be different people.
As long as you provide your own technical support, you can be the system builder and the end user - no need to buy hardware. Anyone who demands that you buy hardware to get the software is just trying to make extra sales.
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

If you are torn between OEM and the academic version just remember that if you already have XP the academic upgrade version is cheaper than OEM and more importanly is not tied to one machine for its lifetime!
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Another little known secret, is that NHS employee's are entitled to free (OK, NHS licensed) copies of Microsoft software for use on their only personal computers.
There are rules and restrictions, for example I believe you must purchase the installation media. And must removed the software if they leave the NHS.
And as the NHS do not use Vista, then I doubt you would be able to get Vista.
How you would go about getting copies, I am not sue. I believe your IT department. Or IT training department.
Chilly
penfold
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 2,280
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Hi Chilly.
I work for the NHS, and the IT department has to give you a code, to input on the Home user Microsoft webpage. As far as I know its just for office however, not windows. Office 2003 pro only costs the p&p for the install media.
metman
Dabbler
Posts: 23
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Quote from: God

How did I do this? Microsoft supply the same version £100 cheaper but put an ‘Academic’ (Edu) tag on the end of the title. The only requirement to purchase and install it legally is that the purchaser is either a ‘student’ or it is being purchased on behalf of a student.


Many thanks for the info.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

When I was a uni student we got a copy of XP for free if we wanted it, the university was a member of the Microsoft academic alliance. There was other software available too but I didn't really take much notice of that. Cheesy
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
metman
Dabbler
Posts: 23
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Quote from: God

I purchased mine from ebuyer, but you might find a better deal elsewhere
God...

I notice the Vista from ebuyer is an upgrade,  I have only installed full versions in the past, any comments or tips?
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Personally I have only ever done fresh installs of Vista. I don’t like upgrading when I change operating systems.
As standard a Vista clean install ‘upgrade’ will ask you for your XP key during installation. I understand that once you have installed Vista your XP key is deactivated and is no longer usable (although I have also heard this disputed).
However (albeit a longer process) it is entirely possible to install a clean Vista upgrade without supplying your XP key at all, thus not risking XP deactivation in case you decide to return to XP for any reason.
metman
Dabbler
Posts: 23
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Quote from: God
Personally I have only ever done fresh installs of Vista. I don’t like upgrading when I change operating systems.
However (albeit a longer process) it is entirely possible to install a clean Vista upgrade without supplying your XP key at all, thus not risking XP deactivation in case you decide to return to XP for any reason.

Thank you for your reply and info. I have also read about the longer process but can't remember where. Will see what pops out of my subconcious during the next day or so.
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

One of the reasons I would recommend this  installation process (other than not disabling your XP key) is that you can be certain there are no vestiges of your old XP installation to cause any upsets.
The process has been reported widely across the net including here http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932
The process is as follows:
Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.
Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
This time, type in your product key when prompted.
When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.
I hope this helps.
metman
Dabbler
Posts: 23
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

Quote from: God

The process has been reported widely across the net including here http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

Many thanks again for posting the info. That's the one I was trying to remember so I have now stored it in my docs for future ref.
Trapper_Dave
Grafter
Posts: 131
Registered: ‎17-06-2007

Re: Vista - The price is right £50?

My university is part of the MSDN network so I got the business edition for free; although I decided to upgrade to the ultimate version for £80 and it's well worth it.