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BleepingComputer.com _ News _ $29.99 Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for College students
Posted by: Grinler Sep 25 2009, 08:43 AM
Microsoft announced recently that they are offering a very good deal for college students in the United State and in the United Kingdom. This deal allows students to purchase a Windows 7 Home Premium license for $29.99 compared to the normal price of $119.99.
This promotion ends on January 3rd, 2010 and after that it will go back to normal pricing for college students. So if you are in college, this is too good of a deal to pass up. Even if you do not plan on upgrading immediately, it would be a smart decision to take advantage of this promotion in order to get Windows 7 at such a great price for a future upgrade.
The links to the related sites are below.
Link: Posted by: groovicus Sep 25 2009, 02:00 PM
Just as a note Windows 7 will be available for students at a discount on http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx. I am not sure of the date, but my guess is that it will not be too long after the Oct. 22 date when Windows 7 becomes available to the general public.
Posted by: Vaerli Sep 25 2009, 02:12 PM
My college tops that. I'm gonna try and get Win7 Ultimate Upgrade for just the cost of the DVD being mailed to me. It's going to be around 18$ I believe.
Posted by: groovicus Sep 25 2009, 03:23 PM
Really? I didn't know this was a contest, but hey, my college tops that. I get mine free. Perhaps you should see if your IT department has an MSDNAA account.
Posted by: Swordie Sep 25 2009, 04:02 PM
^
Haha. I should buy one, they said somewhere that buying the Ultimate Version is the best deal, since they are all $29.99 across the board.
They are also offering this to other countries in 2010.
Posted by: scff249 Sep 26 2009, 10:37 PM
Okay, that's it. I'm buying it while I still have the chance!!!!
Posted by: Swordie Sep 26 2009, 11:30 PM
Who wouldn't?
Posted by: starcraftmaster Sep 27 2009, 12:38 AM
lol who cares
every one has win xp and vista and windows 7 is going to be a other problem os most likly
why i got linux
Posted by: groovicus Sep 27 2009, 01:17 AM
Why I do not hire Linux elitists.
Posted by: woodyblade Sep 27 2009, 07:24 AM
Thanks for telling us this, especially about the Microsoft Office software that will be really useful for me on my Uni course (My first IT session on Monday, Programming Concepts, nice start 
), I can get free software off my Uni, I think Dreamweaver might be one of them (don't know yet since I haven't been given a account to download the software) but I can't get the Office Software like Word, Powerpoint or Excel so £39 is great to get the full package.
Just a question about Windows 7, will it be a CD/DVD sent in the post or will it be a download?
Plus is it an Upgrade or the Full version?
I'm currently running Vista Home Premium on my laptop and do have the OEM disc so it's no problem if it messes up, but I will assume if I install Windows 7 it will mean I have to reinstall all my software again?
Posted by: starcraftmaster Sep 27 2009, 08:24 AM
Why I do not hire Linux elitists.
you love M$
got shares in them? lol
Posted by: Swordie Sep 27 2009, 09:50 AM
), I can get free software off my Uni, I think Dreamweaver might be one of them (don't know yet since I haven't been given a account to download the software) but I can't get the Office Software like Word, Powerpoint or Excel so £39 is great to get the full package.Just a question about Windows 7, will it be a CD/DVD sent in the post or will it be a download?
Plus is it an Upgrade or the Full version?
I'm currently running Vista Home Premium on my laptop and do have the OEM disc so it's no problem if it messes up, but I will assume if I install Windows 7 it will mean I have to reinstall all my software again?
They should be sending DVD's to you. There is so many things wrong with a download, it would take a good 6 hours on my connection, downloading a good 2-3 GB.
Posted by: woodyblade Sep 27 2009, 01:31 PM
Yep I'd of assumed a CD or DVD just asking to make sure, it took me about 3-4 hours to download the Windows 7 RC so would have been a similar for this.
Posted by: KamakaZ Sep 27 2009, 08:47 PM
Why I do not hire Linux elitists.
you love M$
got shares in them? lol
Oh no... the debate is on again... Windows vs. Linux...
This sounds like a pretty good deal!! Wish they would do a similar sort of thing in Australia!! But i don't see that happening...
~ Kam
Posted by: groovicus Sep 28 2009, 12:45 PM
Who said anything about Windows?
Posted by: Sneakycyber Sep 30 2009, 07:10 PM
Haha. I should buy one, they said somewhere that buying the Ultimate Version is the best deal, since they are all $29.99 across the board.
They are also offering this to other countries in 2010.
Just to be sure they are offering the Ultimate Version also?
Doesn't look like it
Program Description: Eligible students are allowed to purchase one license of the product below:
1. Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium
OR
2. Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional
Posted by: johnvcn Oct 1 2009, 08:30 AM
I know it says USA amd UK but hoe about Canada. Great deal.
Posted by: imolgen Oct 3 2009, 09:43 PM
I'm based in Ireland but I thought I'd stick in my Irish university email address (in the UK portal). It told me that I was eligible to buy it! So maybe you could try the US portal - might work. Still, I'm a bit apprehensive about going ahead, as in the Terms and Conditions it clearly states...
"1. Individual must possess a valid e-mail address at a UK educational institution which contains the domain suffix 'ac.uk', 'ac.im', 'ac.gg', 'ac.je' or 'open.ac.uk'.
2. If you are a student, you must be enrolled in an education institution geographically located in the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man."
I don't meet those terms - worried if I buy it that I might have trouble later.
BTW, will this offer be open to other countries? Would be mighty unfair otherwise...
Posted by: katieb Oct 9 2009, 09:36 AM
Someone asked whether it was an upgrade or the full version, what would be the difference?
Posted by: woodyblade Oct 12 2009, 02:28 PM
Just to confirm it is a Upgrade Version on the promotion, was just about to order it now but needed something clarified (if someone can answer it) I currently have Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit, I'd like to get the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Professional, now since this can't be a direct upgrade, either in version or bits will it still install properly? I'm guessing it just looks for the product key of the current Windows version?
Just to confirm as well I have 64 bit hardware so know I can install 64 bit software.
As for the difference between Full and Upgrade versions, an Upgrade version looks for a previous version of Windows and upgrades on top of that by formatting and installing (In the case of Windows XP at least) the new system, if you have Vista it will go on top of that I think without having to format, although it would be best to format when installing a new OS, a Full version can simply be put in any blank HDD.
Posted by: mastershake100 Oct 14 2009, 09:15 AM
great deal i might get this even tho i hate windows, still using XP on all comps...
Posted by: Layback Bear Oct 15 2009, 07:43 PM
I hate Windows but you have it on all your computers. I'm confused.
Posted by: Master_Shake Oct 24 2009, 09:08 PM
Just to confirm as well I have 64 bit hardware so know I can install 64 bit software.
As for the difference between Full and Upgrade versions, an Upgrade version looks for a previous version of Windows and upgrades on top of that by formatting and installing (In the case of Windows XP at least) the new system, if you have Vista it will go on top of that I think without having to format, although it would be best to format when installing a new OS, a Full version can simply be put in any blank HDD.
Don't know if you figured it out, but you can just choose costume install instead of upgrading.
Posted by: Sneakycyber Oct 24 2009, 09:59 PM
Sorry to be late to the party according to Micro$ft you can not upgrade to a 64 bit OS while running a 32 bit OS. You need to do a full install. If there is a way around it I don't know the answer. You may want to post in our windows 7 forums and ask there since there is a certified Microsoft consultant there.
Posted by: woodyblade Oct 25 2009, 09:33 AM
Sorry you 2 I forgot to post back here, I had posted in the Windows 7 area of the forum here - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic264116.html
I'm on Windows 7 now having had to waste 15 hours (Probably more) of my life trying to install it, I'll try to shorten the story you might want to chuckle as well at the misfortune that oddly enough seems to follow me quite a lot.
Continuing on from my post in the Windows 7 forum I decided I would install my Vista OS onto my new HDD, got it installed on Monday, then Thursday came, I got the email link where I could download the Windows 7 OS the download time was going to be about 4 hours (My home connection is about 2.2mbps, downloads at about 220KB/s). Once I had downloaded the files to my surprise I found instead of an iso file, an exe file and 2 box files.
So I clicked the exe file which was there to unpack the box files, a third of the way through unpacking an error ("Unspecified Error" was what it said very helpful ) came up it couldn't unpack the files I later found this to be because I was unpacking on a 32 bit system, I went through Google reading about the exact same problem for 100's of other people, I thought you can't even write this script a big cock up had started again and I was part of it with 100's (if not 1000's) of others, I was thinking at this point I might as well have bought a Mac and saved myself the trouble but then again there is always bound to be errors in all technology so it would make no difference although I still say that I will be buying a Macbook as my next laptop and dodging PC's for a while.
Anyway luckily some had come up with a solution to use an 'expanded setup' folder which was where the files were being unpacked to and convert it to an iso file so it could be burned to a DVD, process detailed here (Couldn't find the forum where I originally followed the process) - http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/22/how-to-make-a-dvd-of-that-student-only-windows-7/
Since I was one who couldn't get the files unpacked to the full 3GB (I was getting about 200MB), I tried downloading Windows 7 from my MSDNAA account so I could install that and unpack the files again that used the exact same way as the download I had done before (Unpack the files), so another 4 hours wasted. I decided that I would try downloading from Digital River again because I had read of rumors that the files may be corrupted, so once I had downloaded again I tried to unpack again this time it worked I got it all the way unpacked until the error came up near the end that nearly everyone else had got (that one about being unable to save files or something) but looked at the folder "expanded setup" it was 3GB so I could finally use that to create the iso and burn it to a DVD so I could install.
I booted onto the disc and chose custom install as had been said before, I formatted my OS partition and installed Windows 7 without a hitch all my drivers were installed correctly apart from the Video Card which I had already downloaded from ATI and just installed that.
So having been cheesed off for a long time from Thursday to Friday that instead of an easy installation which would have took around 5-6 hours for me including download time it ended up taking 15 hours if not more.
Posted by: groovicus Oct 25 2009, 11:09 AM
I wonder what you downloaded from MSDNAA, because when I downloaded Windows from there, it was an ISO. 
Most people report install times of les than half an hour.
Posted by: woodyblade Oct 25 2009, 06:31 PM
Yeah it was an ISO from MSDNAA but as I said because I was on a 32bit OS at the time it wasn't unpacking properly, the 3rd out of 4 steps in downloading from MSDN was unpacking if I remember right, I did have a look at the ISO I downloaded from my MSDNAA account and it was only 200MB, so the same as the folder I got when trying to unpack the download from Digital River the first time.
Yeah my install time was around 30 minutes or so, I'm including burning the ISO to the DVD (About 15-20 mins for my DVD drive), updates and installing all the basic software (Security and all that).
Posted by: uByte Nov 2 2009, 12:17 PM
I ordered it. It is the upgrade copy. But you can only choose between Home Premium and Pro (32 or 64). I had a time getting it on a disk and installing it.
You had to manually create an iso for the unzipped files that come with it. http://www.sevenforums.com/showthread.php?t=30470 That shows you how to do it.
If you are upgrading from vista your ok. But if you are doing a fresh install from xp In order to activate it you have to install it without the key then from within your newly installed version of win7 you have to do the upgrade.
Sucks but it works. I am loving the GUI.
uByte
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