Students!

[Bobsama]

Some of you may have heard, some of you may not have. Back in February of this year, Mr. Gates announced the DreamSpark (https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/), to provide professional software to students free of charge. Pretty cool if you ask me. Some of the software included? Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit only), Server 2008 Standard Edition (32-bit or 64-bit), and a number of other titles that are quite expensive otherwise. Anyways: I'm more or less announcing this for crunchers. If you are a student, you typically will have access to DreamSpark software free-of-charge. Pretty useful for those Clovertown, Harpertown, and Sossaman machines if you ask me. :up: The standard edition software supports up to 4 physical processors, in comparison to 2 for Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Ultimate. It's primarily focused at college students, though I saw somewhere that it was also available for high school students.

EDIT: http://journeyed.com/home.asp for cheap software: it's not free, but it's better then full retail in some cases. It's for students (and their parents) and faculty mostly.

[[XC] Hicks121]

Huh, my wife is a teacher, will she be able to get this?

[randomplatypi]

Thanks Bobsama! I am downloading Visual Studio 2008 now. I don't know what I would use it for, but it's free and I'm a student, plus I like to learn new things.

[Bobsama]

I'm not sure exactly: I know it works for college students, but I didn't see anything about teachers. Anyways--the related site JourneyEd (http://journeyed.com/home.asp) has clear indications of who's qualified. Most of the stuff there is retail-versions, but the prices are incredible. Basically it's an online retailer for technology. There is a lot of software, hardware, accessories, &c on the site so do check it out. Most of the stuff is available to faculty, including some things like low-cost notebooks with a retail version of Office 2007 bundled in. It's worth a look at least: it may or may not beat Newegg's prices, but it does beat the MSRP on most software it carries. For example--I found AutoCAD 2009 for Students (13-month license) for $160--down from >$1000 for a normal license. Maya for $400, Photoshop CS3 w/ free CS4 upgrade for $300, SolidWorks (2 year) for $90. A lot of stuff: the software's cheap and so long as you're a student or, it seems, an educator it's available for you.

On the cheaper-software note, there's Office 07 Pro with a 2GB flash drive for $120.
http://journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=88011723

Some other good deals: go hunting there before you make a buy if you're qualified: it may be cheaper.

[Mr_Slinky]

I would defiantly be interested in a server 2008 too bad I just got out of college and my niece is only thirteen but its good I work at a company that has a lot of servers; but were only in the process of testing server 2008 to be fully compatible with our products but that is only in our Q&A dept. Where was Mr. Gates when I was in school; oh yeah he was raping them with the prices they were paying for windows and when they put up a stink then he would give them a price break but not a lot.

[theclash]

A few years ago, my school sold OEM copies of XP Pro for about $5. You were limited to three copies per year, but it came with XP Pro AND XP 64. Stinking Apple stepping-in and ruining all my fun....

Anyway, that's a great find Bobsama. Thanks for the links!

[karl_eller]

Gah, they STILL haven't put University of Newcastle (The Australian Newcastle, not Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK) on that list. God damn lazy bastards! And my subscription to the MSDN Academic Alliance has just expired, so I can't get anything else from there until next year :( And I need another CD key for Server 2k8 (Standard) for my gaming rig.

Eller

[Bobsama]

Hm: you can validate your status by scanning an ID, class schedule, or any number of other things. Basically try to verify your information: they ask you do it annually as it is.

[just a noob]

sorry to bring up a thread that hasn't been posted on for a little while, but holy crap, the other site only wants 160 dollars for cad 2009 :O

[Bobsama]

I know: it's practically a steal. Solidworks for 2 years for $100 is also a steal. When I get a job, I may very well grab AutoCAD 2009 and enjoy it. Other then that, the least this site can do for you is save you $180 on two Windows licenses: Server 2003 R2 is essentially XP Pro, and Server 2008 is essentially Vista. If I had a Sossaman rig, I'd definitely use Server 2003 R2 on it (32-bit only :p:).

[Martijn]

Yes, we've been having this in the Netherlands for a while. I can get hold of XP pro x86/x64, Server 2k3, Server 2k8 (both x86/x64), Vista Business (again x86/64) and a lot more...

:up:

I have access to these OSes (for free), then there's the rest of the M$ apps as well but that would just make the list way too long...

* Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server™ 2003 Standard Edition (Deutsch)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server™ 2003 Standard Edition (English)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server™ 2003 Standard Edition (Français)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server™ 2003 Standard Edition (Nederlands)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition (English)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Multilangual Interface Pack, Disc 1 (Deutsch, …)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Multilangual Interface Pack, Disc 2 (Nederlands, Français, …)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Standard Edition, Volume License Version, Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition, Volume License Version (Deutsch)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Standard x64 Edition (English)
* Windows Server™ 2003 Web Edition (English)
* Windows® Server 2003 System Resource Manager (Deutsch)
* Windows® Server 2003 System Resource Manager (English)
* Windows® Server 2003 System Resource Manager (Français)
* Windows Server 2008 (Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard edition) (English)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Edition (English)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Edition (Nederlands)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition (English)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Standard Edition (English)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Standard Edition (Nederlands)
* Windows Server 2003 R2, Standard x64 Edition (English)
* Windows® Millennium (English)
* Windows Vista Business (x64) Nederlands DVD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) English CD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) English DVD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) Français CD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) Français DVD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) Nederlands CD
* Windows Vista Business (x86) Nederlands DVD
* Windows® XP Embedded Service Pack 2, Multilingual User Interface (English, Multilanguage)
* Windows® XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 (English)
* Windows® XP Home with Service Pack 2 (Deutsch)
* Windows® XP Home with Service Pack 2 (English)
* Windows® XP Home with Service Pack 2 (Español)
* Windows® XP Home with Service Pack 2 (Nederlands)
* Windows® XP Multilingual User Interface Packs
* Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (Deutsch)
* Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (English)
* Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (Français)
* Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (Nederlands)
* Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (Spanish)
* Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition (English)
* Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 (English)
* Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition Multilingual User Interface & Recognizer Pack (MUIRP) (English)

A permanent Vista Business license will cost me €45, a permanent Ultimate license costs €65, which isn't too bad either, as isn't the €60 I have to pay for Office 2k7 Enterprise.

[G.Foyle]

Martijn, I think it depends on the university, not country. Warsaw University of Technology has an ELMS subscription too, All Microsoft software except Office is free.

[Martijn]

Martijn, I think it depends on the university, not country. Warsaw University of Technology has an ELMS subscription too, All Microsoft software except Office is free.

This is the standard package for all technology universities in Belgium and the Netherlands. I suspect it might differ from country to country though.

[Polizei]

I don't think the MSDN has the x64 version of Server 2008... I was told in a Slickdeals.net thread that I could go to MS's site and download the x64 trial version of Server 2008 and just use the x86 key that MSDN provides. People say it works fine, but I'm content with my current Vista install.

I downloaded it nonetheless, might use it some day.

[G.Foyle]

AFAIK Server 2008 ISO form MSDN has both x86 and x64 versions on the same disc, using the same key.

[Bobsama]

Yeah I heard the same thing---x86 and x64 are both on the Server 2008 DVD, and you're only given a single key. Besides--they want you to use these programs to advance your education and reliance on Microsoft products: it'd be stupid to supply you with 32-bit only software. Anyways: I did a quick search of NewEgg: a single OEM Server 200x copy runs like $650, though like 5-10 licenses are only $750 and $850 or something like that. I think it's pretty cool that us students get it all free.

Anyways: I would LOVE to have access to that product portfolio, Martijn. Even with the limited two-licenses-annually, it's still two computers that are cheaper now then before.

[Martijn]

Yeah I heard the same thing---x86 and x64 are both on the Server 2008 DVD, and you're only given a single key. Besides--they want you to use these programs to advance your education and reliance on Microsoft products: it'd be stupid to supply you with 32-bit only software. Anyways: I did a quick search of NewEgg: a single OEM Server 200x copy runs like $650, though like 5-10 licenses are only $750 and $850 or something like that. I think it's pretty cool that us students get it all free.

Anyways: I would LOVE to have access to that product portfolio, Martijn. Even with the limited two-licenses-annually, it's still two computers that are cheaper now then before.

You can always come over to do your Master here? :shrug::up:

[Bobsama]

What language is used in your universities? :p:

[Martijn]

What language is used in your universities? :p:

Dutch for the bachelors, although almost every course is available in English as well. The masters are English only :up:

[karl_eller]

Hm: you can validate your status by scanning an ID, class schedule, or any number of other things. Basically try to verify your information: they ask you do it annually as it is.
God Micrsoft's customer support is great. The FAQ for DreamSpark said that if I wanted to try to validate myself some other way, use the Contact Us form and they'll try to arrange something. Sent them TWO differently worded questions (which were basically "My uni isn't on that list, how do I get validated?"), the response to both was pretty much: "Show this link to your Uni's IT Department to get them to join!". Reeeeeal helpful there, Microsoft :p: Now I have to figure out who the hell I need to bug at uni in order to get them to sign up, and god knows how long that'll take.

Eller

[Bobsama]

Scan a school ID or schedule, or take a screenshot of, say, your uConnect schedule. That's what I did--rotated display 90 degrees and took a picture of my Detailed Schedule on uConnect. They gave the thumbs up &c. Should work the same for you--my Uni's not on the list.

[karl_eller]

I've tried a little bit more direct approach (Pretty much asking exactly what I need to do to get verified without the Uni signing up) and we'll see what comes of it. Hopefully they won't just copy-and-paste a couple of paragraphs from the FAQ again.

Eller

[Bobsama]

Just follow the method I said--customer support are all dumbasses 9 out of 10 times as it is.

[karl_eller]

You're right, they are completely retarded. Yet another response that completely ignored my question. It went a bit like this:

Me: "Is there any way that I can validate myself as a student of the University of Newcastle, Australia, without first having to wait for the uni to sign up for DreamSpark? I don't have an ISIC, so I can't validate that way, and the DreamSpark site doesn't offer any other alternative forms of validation."

Them: "Hello Jonathan,

Thank you for your interest in DreamSpark.
I understand that your college is not listed on the Microsoft DreamSpark web site. I regret the inconvenience caused.
We are working as fast as we can to get everyone on board. If your school/university is not on the list, have your IT Department check out the “University Administrator FAQs” to find out more about including your school or organization. After all, we don’t want to leave anyone out.
Please ask IT Department of your school/university to visit the following web link to view the “University Administrator FAQs”: https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/FAQ/UniversityAdministrators.aspx
Jonathan, I hope you find the information helpful."

Who should I be emailing with the proof of validation? I'm guessing I probably should include stuff like the letter of admission and uni bills and crap, too (assuming they don't reveal too much personal information :p:).

Eller

[Bobsama]

Students just send ONE of the following documents. All documents must show person's name, school name and be for a current session:

* CURRENT DATED STUDENT ID
* CURRENT CLASS SCHEDULE
* CURRENT TUTIION RECEIPT
* K-12 STUDENT REPORT CARD


That's for the USA...

[karl_eller]

Unfortunately, I'm not in the USA, so I'm not sure if that'd work for me ;)

Eller

[Bobsama]

Yeah--well hopefully they figure something out. :p: It's a bunch of free software, so what's not to love?

[karl_eller]

What's not to love is that they're teasing me with that free copy of Server 2008 that I need for my desktop and won't let me sign up (yet) :p:

Eller

[Bobsama]

Don't forget Server 03 R2!! :p: Anyways--at least try to get it to your IT department: your friends may be willing to harvest more keys for you too! :p: