Student offer from M$

[Rawhide]

Greetings all ye fellow students in the playground. I just came upon a very interesting offer from Microsoft, available for students only, that I felt I should bring to your attention (if you should need the software). I couldn't work out if this would be considered advertising or not, if it is, one of the other mods can ban me for spam/advertising :smalltongue:.

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 is available for a very low price ($AU75 for the Australian promotion), this is the full retail version, not a student/academic version.

The promotion is called "Its Not Cheating" in Australia or "The Ultimate Steal" in other countries. Click here (http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au/) for the Australian site then choose your country at the top.

There, I feel dirty "advertising" Microsoft products, but considering Microsoft has finally decided to admit that $AU1150 is far too much for Office, I felt I should help a few fellow students out.

[LCR]

Not available in Germany. Well, I use iWork anyway, so what the heck.

[bugsysservant]

Huh, interesting offer. But if you really need Microsoft Office type software, you could always just get Open Offic for free. :smallbiggrin:

[Catch]

There, I feel dirty "advertising" Microsoft products, but considering Microsoft has finally decided to admit that $AU1150 is far too much for Office, I felt I should help a few fellow students out.

$1150!! Typo or has the Aussie dollar fallen farther than I remember?

Office 2007 is $150 in the US.

[Reinboom]

That's quite cheap compared to the normal price. However, I do prefer free (http://www.openoffice.org/) still, as bugsyservant said. I'm a student and barely have enough for ramen and feeding from a soup kitchen, how do you even expect me to afford $60 USD :smalltongue:

[Rawhide]

$1150!! Typo or has the Aussie dollar fallen farther than I remember?

Office 2007 is $150 in the US.

The Ultimate edition is far more expensive. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX102434891033.aspx)

[Emperor Ing]

I would be interested, if only the whole thing didnt get harder to use every %&#damn year! :smallfurious:

[Catch]

The Ultimate edition is far more expensive. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX102434891033.aspx)

Ah, I see now. You're right, that's pretty much robbery.

[unstattedCommoner]

I think I would have to be paid in excess of $AU 75 to do other than reject this offer out of hand.

As if Windows Live @edu wasn't sinister enough...

[AmberVael]

Ah, I see now. You're right, that's pretty much robbery.

"And now we will beat you with a stick and take your money. Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you-
Fatal system error. 1010101110101001010111101011010101011..."

[Catch]

"And now we will beat you with a stick and take your money. Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you for purchasing from Microsoft! Thank you-
Fatal system error. 1010101110101001010111101011010101011..."

Abort, Retry, Fail?

[AmberVael]

Abort, Retry, Fail?

You ask that as if there were some other pattern computers could adhere to. :smalltongue:

[Death, your friend the Reaper]

The promotion is called "Its Not Cheating" in Australia or "The Ultimate Steal" in other countries.

Things don't translate well out of Australian.

[ZombieRockStar]

*looks at Canadian price*

*looks at lower American price*

*looks at value of Canadian dollar*

Something isn't right here. :smallannoyed:

[PhoeKun]

You expected Microsoft to be entirely benevolent and error-free?

[ZombieRockStar]

Well, no. But you should at least try to hide your unfairness. Like how you're still getting a better deal than any other country, even if their prices are lower. It's the Canadian price that's most blatant.

Of course, I am making a fuss over $4.05...

[Pyro]

I can't stand Office 2007. They made everything all....weird is all I can describe. I miss when the margin adjustment was under the file tab. Now they changed everything around and I can't find anything on it. I want old skool Word back!!!:smallfrown:

[Castaras]

*still uses Microsoft Office '97, and likes it* :smallcool:

[B-Man]

I had a 25 use trial of MS Office '07, I despised the way that they changed the layout. I couldn't find the dictionary settings, so my Word was stuck with English(US). :smallyuk:

And I'll echo ZRS' statement. Why is the Canadian promo more expensive than the US promo when the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US!? :smallfurious:

* bites tongue to avoid any further comment *

[Ichneumon]

*Please don't hit me for responding to spam:smallbiggrin: *

I like it, but I don't life in any of those countries.

Must resist urge to report this as spam....

[Syka]

Actually, I need to thank you Rawhide. :-) I just got OpenOffice, but I haven't figured out how to translate my teachers powerpoint presentations into it yet. The stupid computer I got for graduation last year only has WordPerfect on it. --' NO office programs whatsoever.

So, if I'm able to find my restore disks and get my computer back in working order I'll end up getting this. If I can't...I'm getting a new computer anyway, and this time I'm going to make sure it's got Office on it. I can't tell you the amount of pain having WordPerfect has caused me.

So what's the difference between normal Office and Ultimate Office?

(Oh, and once I get it restored I have every intention of having the tech guys who are fixing my computer also put Ubuntu on there as a secondary system I can use to just play around on the net. Windows is what I need for school, though.)

Cheers,
Syka

[StickMan]

*looks at Canadian price*

*looks at lower American price*

*looks at value of Canadian dollar*

Something isn't right here. :smallannoyed:

No thats correct the Canadian Dollar is now worth more than the American dollar. The American Dollar has gone down in value over the last 6 years and the Canadian Dollar and the Euro have both now passed up. Euro was awhile ago. ::Grumbles::


Good chance LadyoftheStick will post to thank you Rawhide as she needs word for her computer and this is just lovely.

[Narmoth]

pff....
as I would buy this. I prefer pirate copies or share ware like open office

[Don Julio Anejo]

Microsoft should have done stuff like this something like 10 years ago. Maybe then most people would stop and actually buy Word and the like for what it's worth. Instead of going on certain Internet sites (or to a friend with a "copy" of Office).

I don't think anyone I know in RL paid for their Office or Windows.

[Reinboom]

pff....
as I would buy this. I prefer pirate copies or share ware like open office

Don't you mean open source and freeware* ? Shareware is a "try before you buy" software and still usually costs money. Freeware, and ultimately open source, applications are the completely free ones.

I've known people who has bought M$ Office, full, before.
I've also teased my mother them about it. She has They have learned to listen to my advice however, since. :smalltongue:

[Hexed]

Actually, I need to thank you Rawhide. :-) I just got OpenOffice, but I haven't figured out how to translate my teachers powerpoint presentations into it yet. The stupid computer I got for graduation last year only has WordPerfect on it. --' NO office programs whatsoever.

So, if I'm able to find my restore disks and get my computer back in working order I'll end up getting this. If I can't...I'm getting a new computer anyway, and this time I'm going to make sure it's got Office on it. I can't tell you the amount of pain having WordPerfect has caused me.


Cheers,
Syka

If you just want to view them, wouldn't Powerpoint Viewer 2007 be enough? It's free, and saves a lot of space. Same goes for Word Viewer.

If the teacher has problems opening your documents, CutePDF could help there. Or just make them in Latex. :smallwink: PDF readers are everywhere.

[Rykaj]

I still use office '97 and it does everything I need it to do: write text, make simple presentations and calculate average hitpoint rolls for our complicated die rolling contruct. Good 'nuff for me!

[sikyon]

I'm going to the University of Waterloo (in Canada) and we have a really great relationship with Microsoft. In fact, they hire more students from our software engineering program than from any other. Also, when Bill Gates did his last tour, our school was the only Canadian one he spoke at.

A few weeks back, Microsoft literally came here and started handing out free t-shirts and ice cream (the good (but not amazing great) kind) and telling us about it.

For a university student, the experience was mind blowing.

[phoenixineohp]

You might be the closest playgrounder from me sikyon! Well, except on weekends... I haven't forgotten you Zombie. :smallwink: I go to UoG.

Am I the only one who read about the ice cream and though...
"The ice cream... it's made of people! (Specifically Mac users!) Nooooo!"


On topic, I'm currently in the process of realizing that my laptop is quickly becoming a large and expensive paperweight. So I am faced with the 'do I get a Mac and learn everything all over again while paying more than I would for a usual line or do I get another brand and deal with the vista, anti virus, office software issues'. I am currently running Office Word 03 and have been doing fine with it. And I never use the other programs except Powerpoint occasionally.

Advice?

[Reinboom]

How -much- do you want to do, and what?
Personally, I love PCs and macs are a pain and frustration for me to use due to me desiring to do more with them and just running into dead ends. However, I would get OSX Leopard way way before I touch Vista.
---
I stick to... neither however. XP and Linux. But that's what works for me, and everyone has different uses and intents.

To be more specific:
Gaming? How much? What kind? Major titles?
Compatibility with hardware?
How 'nice' do you want your operating system to look?
How fast?
How much money do you have available?

[The_Chilli_God]

I think the one largest issue is how much you want to pay, followed very closely by what you're going to use it for.

Compatibility? Gaming? Those are not issues anymore. They were disposed of ages ago. Heck, I was able to run PC games on my Mac since '98. Trust me, there are many programs out there that are making it happen, even if they do cost more money.
Learning curve? Small enough to not really matter for both OS's.
Niceness & Fastness? Is again related to cost for both OS's.

If you have money to burn, OSX.5 will be easier on you. If you prefer keeping those purse-strings tight, Vista will be better-suited.

...
Crap, I just realized that the programs I have for making projects and stuff were all made 4 years ago. I feel obsolete. :smallfrown:

[phoenixineohp]

See... my problem is less gaming and such and more student based. I need a lightweight laptop that I can take to class with me and have the battery last a day with no charge. And by lightweight I mean less than 5 pounds basically. And that also means a smaller screen. So a lightweight or a MacBook with an upgrade are the same price.

The other thing I am leaning to is a tablet laptop. My house mate has one and I am impressed. Writing right onto the screen and in my case, being able to draw right on the screen is awesome. Having the dock at home and being able to carry it as it's light is awesome. Tiny screen, less so. Price, less so. Vista, less so.

But I also only have a 3 semesters of lectures left hopefully. So I need something that will still be just as awesome after school.

I was staying away from Mac due to my love of the right click without a mouse. Then I learned there was the double finger click and it works. But I get frustrated with Macs as it is like learning all my automatic computer actions again. How easy it is to do something can tick me off since it just keeps doing it when I don't want to, like the screen jogs. (The right click is kinda the only gaming thing. I do like to play WoW and having to apple click everything sucks. But my current laptop can't run WoW, it just dies and takes my character with it. You have no idea how damn long I was stuck on transports trying to get off, just going back and forth with no chance to even see the screen aside from the load map or freeze. :smallmad: )

And I run a lot of applications at once. A lot. My current laptop which is 3 years old constantly tells me that I am doing to much and slows down to a crash. So I want fast and something even I can't overload.

And I need easy, easy, easy compatibility with software and hardware and externals.

And it needs to be as inexpensive as possible.

There has to be something out there... right?

[Syka]

I'm right there with you PXP. My laptop is having it's dying breaths, I think. Poor things two and a half now. If I can find my restore discs it should be ok.

But if I can't, here comes a new computer. My mom told me that she would take the new one and I could get our older desk top (it's three now but, oh boy, it's got some nice features...and can actually play Oblivion fairly well, which my laptop can't.) My sis likes macs, and evidently my dad has some way of getting a hold of a Mac for not too much, so I might go that route. Me, I like XP. Do NOT like Vista. All the lap computers at school have them and it took me so many tries to finally start getting a hold of it. Still don't like it.

Though the widgets are pretty nifty. ;)

Cheers,
Syka

[Rawhide]

On topic, I'm currently in the process of realizing that my laptop is quickly becoming a large and expensive paperweight. So I am faced with the 'do I get a Mac and learn everything all over again while paying more than I would for a usual line or do I get another brand and deal with the vista, anti virus, office software issues'. I am currently running Office Word 03 and have been doing fine with it. And I never use the other programs except Powerpoint occasionally.

First. Apple Macintosh computers are not necessarily more expensive, in fact they can be cheaper than an equivalent Dell. Apple don't reduce the cost of their older Macintoshes, instead they silently upgrade them to the latest specifications. If you buy at the right time you can buy a better priced system than even the cheapest PC vendors.

Second. You do not have to buy Vista with your new computer, there are companies that sell brand new computers with XP. Dell is one of them (this sounds like I am trying to promote Dell now.. *sigh*).

Third. Downgrade rights (http://microsoft.blognewschannel.com/archives/2007/07/02/microsoft-offering-downgrade-options-from-vista-to-xp/). You've probably never heard of these. If you buy a computer with Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, you have the right to downgrade to Windows XP Professional.

Fouth. Macintosh compatibility issues are out the window. You can even dual boot with Windows XP or Vista on the Intel based Macs.

Fifth. There is no fifth.

[Skippy]

Second. You do not have to buy Vista with your new computer, there are companies that sell brand new computers with XP. Dell is one of them (this sounds like I am trying to promote Dell now.. *sigh*).



Even better, you can buy a Dell with Ubuntu. They are selling them that way now. So it's OK to advertise Dell.

I also use OpenOffice (Since I finally stopped using Windows, about a month and a half ago), but even so, it is great to know about it, and can be a really interesting oportunity for a lot of people. Thanks a lot for the information, Rawhide!

[Endeavourl]

*still uses Microsoft Office '97, and likes it* :smallcool:

2000 for me, and still working fine as well. Though if I do need anything recent or compatibility issues, I go to open office.

[Rex Idiotarum]

Okay, first, I'd like to say, Office 2007 is the Devil. I almost lost my NaNo today when it expired on me and put an "x" at the end of my .doc.

Second, PXP, I use my Hp Pavilion tx 1000. Tablet Screen, thumbprint reader, everything. It last about an hour on it's lowest setting with it's battery life, so I'd keep an eye out for that. $1,154.00. (http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/HP-Pavilion-TX1000-Notebook/2670006/product.html?cid=25608&fp=F)

It's crap for gaming, but a godsend for everything else.

Lastly, if you aren't a computer person. Don't use Linux. I'm a computer person and that stuff was stressful.

[Rawhide]

Okay, first, I'd like to say, Office 2007 is the Devil. I almost lost my NaNo today when it expired on me and put an "x" at the end of my .doc.

docx (http://filext.com/file-extension/DOCX) just means it is using XML, its the new word document format.

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en)

[Dispozition]

Greetings all ye fellow students in the playground. I just came upon a very interesting offer from Microsoft, available for students only, that I felt I should bring to your attention (if you should need the software). I couldn't work out if this would be considered advertising or not, if it is, one of the other mods can ban me for spam/advertising :smalltongue:.

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 is available for a very low price ($AU75 for the Australian promotion), this is the full retail version, not a student/academic version.

The promotion is called "Its Not Cheating" in Australia or "The Ultimate Steal" in other countries. Click here (http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au/) for the Australian site then choose your country at the top.

There, I feel dirty "advertising" Microsoft products, but considering Microsoft has finally decided to admit that $AU1150 is far too much for Office, I felt I should help a few fellow students out.

Rawhiode...You've just saved me a hell of a lot of money and stuffz...Thanks man!

EDIT: I take that back...It's only unis and tafes....STUPID!!! Why don't I, a laptop/computer owning high school student get the offer as well?


*grumbles*

[Trog]

I have a mac laptop and I have to say it rocks. I got NeoOffice for free off the mac Downloads site. I use that at work now too. No sense in buying Office if you can get the equivalent for free. Really there's not much to learn about using a mac. Fiddle with the control panels to customize it and drag and drop stuff to your dock. Plus, if you get one now you would get the new OS with it. *waaaaaaaants new OS*

[Rex Idiotarum]

Yeah, I realized that. O! And here's the other thing, that compatibility pack only works for Microsoft Office stuff, and the converters won't download. OpenOffice is working on an XML update, but still...

It meant that I had to find a site to convert it for me, and this dilemma has them really backed up.

O! And here's the other thing, Who designed that interface, took me ten minutes just to open a file!

When designing Vista, did they think, "We want something even less User friendly than XP"?

[Rawhide]

Yeah, I realized that. O! And here's the other thing, that compatibility pack only works for Microsoft Office stuff, and the converters won't download. OpenOffice is working on an XML update, but still...

It meant that I had to find a site to convert it for me, and this dilemma has them really backed up.

O! And here's the other thing, Who designed that interface, took me ten minutes just to open a file!

When designing Vista, did they think, "We want something even less User friendly than XP"?

I know what you mean about the interface, I'm still getting used to it. The only reason I have 2007 over 2003, is that 2007 can do in-text citations and referencing based on the APA (and others) referencing standard.

[Syka]

When designing Vista, did they think, "We want something even less User friendly than XP"?

Yes, yes they did. Or, at least, I'm fairly sure they did. Not only is it icky, but they completely changed the set up of just about everything. Make the Print Button coveniently under File? Naw, we gotta hide it. *curses out Vista* If I do get a new computer, I'm going to make sure it has Office but doesn't have Vista. My sister has Vista (it's a new laptop). I was using it one night and my mom and I still don't know what I did to it, but I hit a button next to the shut down button and IT LOCKED ME OUT. I couldn't even move the mouse. It was sitting on the log on screen. We had to call the Dell people and all they could tell me to do was hard-shut down the computer. wtf? Why design a button whose only apparent function is to lock the user out?


Speaking of, I'd been having spyware and memory issues on my laptop recently. Last week I got locked out of my main user name for about a day (it kept saying there was an error in start up), but was able to use my secondary user. My boyfriend said a virus probably got in a deleted a system file. The next day, though, it let me back on the main name, and I realized I am having extremely minor pop up issues and the speed is back up to normal. Anyone know how it fixed itself? oO Causes it's kinda freaking me out.

Cheers,
Syka