When you actually get the coupon you will find that taking advantage of the upgrade requires that you have a receipt for a new computer as well.

Newegg and others aren't making this clear so don't fall for the idea you can spend $109 for XP MCE and get Vista for just $20 more. It won't work.

I assume you have to mail in the coupon and the receipt to receive an actual physical copy of Vista? Shouldn't be that hard to come up with a receipt, lots of places provide receipts that are REALLY easy to fake. Or just go dumpster diving outside your local Fry's, shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get a receipt for a new computer.

Still, why would you be buying a copy of XP MCE if you didn't just purchase a new computer?

ON EDIT: The above probably sounded harsher than I intended. This is important information you are providing, and I'm sure many will appreciate hearing about it.

thats why I am waiting for a laptop that is preloaded with vista, I hate upgrade version, either lo-end full version or nothing at all then upgrade version because I hate to install 2 OS, one full version and the other to upgrade.

What if you buy a copy of XP MCE for your own build? Would they want to see receipts for the Mobo, CPU, memory, etc??

"new system only" meaning a receipt of a system, not just spare parts

I'm holding out to see what the university faculty pricing is for Vista. I only paid $5 for Win XP Pro and $15 for Office XP.

You don't have to install 2 OSes to use the upgrade version of Windows. All you have to do is insert the CD for the old version to verify you have a qualifying product for the upgrade. The "upgrade" version can be used for a clean install.

Yep, Employee purchase programs are a good deal.

Because I just built a new computer and it is using Win 2000.

$5 and $15?? what type of discount is this?? How many copies can you get at this price???? So being a teacher at high level pays off I guess.

I guess Bill Gate Values Educated people and education


I never own an upgraded version before so I thought you have to install the old version then upgraded from there, if they do that, that would be sux

sweet deal..I got a copy of Office 2000 (a few years ago) from a professor he ordered one copy and they sent him 2.....he didn't have to pay but 15 bucks for it as well

Like I said in another thread, I just bought a new Toshiba Laptop for my son, and it comes with a free Vista upgrade. 100% free.

What is the hype with Vista?? Microsoft is launching 6 critical updates this tuesday (Nov 14th) for windows XP. The XP has launched so long ago and they are still patching up loopholes one by one. XP is getting near perfect since they've been patching it, I wonder if Vista have better security and if microsoft have patched up all the loopholes that they found in XP on vista

Are these full versions and just low in price or are they neutered versions?
Thanks

Here's a quick link:

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/educ...rs/pr_aer.mspx

Microsoft Academic products are full-featured versions of the most popular Microsoft applications. These products are specially packaged and offered to education customers at substantially reduced priced.| Français

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The software that is included in Academic version products is the same as the Microsoft software in the retail version.
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All major documentation is included in the package either as manuals or, when possible, as on-line reference.
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Academic product packages are clearly marked with the Academic Edition logo.
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Academic Editions may be sold only to K-12 and higher faculty and staff, or to higher education students (no K-12 students).
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Proof of education affiliation is required at the time of purchase.
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Academic products are upgradeable.

The copy of XP I bought is labeled as WXPVOL_EN on the CD. In other words it's the full enterprise version, not an upgrade and no registration is necessary. I'm hoping they do something similar with Vista or I probably won't buy it even if it's super cheap.

Note: I got this through a university deal. It isn't something that is listed as a student version at Office Depot or someplace. It was an arrangement through the university. The CD came with no documentation or box or anything. Just a CD in a jewel case.

That's the same thing that will happen with Vista. I plan to stick with XP since I'm fairly comfortable with it, and it pretty much does what I want an OS to do. Also, my experience with Vista beta versions has shown Vista is mainly XP with added bells, whistles and eye candy. There's nothing new in it I see as any major benefit.

More bogus crud.

Just hang to XP until Vista SP1 and take another look if you want to upgrade.

I don't know of any real reason to upgrade from XP to Vista, actually. Not sure why folks would want to do it, at least offhand.

Perhaps because so many people have too much unused memory and hard drive space? They feel a need or compunction to use it all and Vista will come to the rescue since it's such a resource hog.

On a serious note, I doubt if many corporations are going to want to put up with the headaches of upgrading to Vista. Many IT departments are ran pretty conservatively as IT managers are not willing to rock the boat with anything too risky. And nobody but a fool is going to want to buy all new hardware just to run this OS unless they are due for a system upgrade anyway.

I'm going to stick with XP SP2 for a while even if I can get another university deal on Vista. It sounds like something that may be interesting to play around with on a spare hard drive or something but not something I want on all of my systems.

It's not that I would blame anyone for trying Vista - I'm just not sure what the draw is.

I think for most it is the desire to have the latest and greatest. It is simultaneously having a new toy to play with, and at the same time, being able to brag about having the latest. "I've got Vista and you don't."

I was over at a friend's house earlier today, and he was playing with Vista. It is pretty, I'll give it that.

One of my hobbies is cycling so I'm also a member of a cycling forum. You would be amazed at the number of people who were glazed over and foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the new Shimano 10-speed groupset back when it came out.

Will 20 speeds on a road bike enable them to ride faster than on the same bike with 18 speeds? Highly doubtful. But there is a certain appeal that draws many recreational, non-competitive riders to it. ** It may be snob factor or bling factor. But it could also be that many of these riders actually believe that that one extra gear on their rear cluster will help them.

I don't see any advantage to going to an 18x DVD burner from a 16x, but that's just me. To me it's not worth the extra couple of seconds I'll add to my life in order to have the lastest and greatest. Now if a 16x dies that's a different story. But just to upgrade an extra 2x - keeping in mind that is 2x maximum and not average - it's just not worth it to me.

A lot of people are sold on the idea that newer equates to better. Much of this is integrated into American culture and most people don't even realize it. We've all been bombarded with media and advertising for so long (all of our lives, in fact) that being able to distinguish what is "real" and what is "for sale" have become blurred.



** I say non-competitive, recreational riders because if it were only for sales of 10 speed groups to riders who actually do compete it wouldn't pay for the R&D or be cost effective to manufacture the items.

One big thing at least from a gamers point is DX10, which will not be available on XP. The new 8800 series of nvidia cards just came out and they are DX10. Having said that, the soonest title that will use this is Crysis, and I am sure it will be fully DX9 compatible anyways, and it will be probably be awhile before DX10 becomes mainstream in all the newer titles. I for one will hold onto XP for awhile, since MS is infamous for bugs. In other words "if it aint broke, dont fix it!"

i heard corect me if I am wrong
that vista will be very copy dvd and other media unfriendly

if that's the case, I will stick with XP x64 pro
x64 is better than regular xp and not as intrusive as vista may be

I have been using VISTA Bata1 and now two and love it no comparison can be made with XP. I hope we (the Bata tester get some relief price cut from MS for VISTA after final release but I tout it.