Software for Students -to stop selling Microsoft products

sjg1_2

Just recieved the below e-mail so you had better be quick - these are fantastic prices so dont miss out



Important Notice for S4S Customers!

Today we have an important annoucement for all of our S4S fans in relation to Microsoft products availability.

As many of you know, Software4Students has been offering the best discounts in Microsoft software for students and their parents since 2006.

Over the years, we have been offering discounts of up to 90%, for full versions of Microsoft software. However, Microsoft has recently announced that the programme that was making this possible will come to an end on March 31st, 2012.

We would like to take this opportunity to encourage all those who still do not have Windows 7 or Microsoft Office 2010 installed in their laptops or PCs to take advantage of this last chance to enjoy amazing discounts like the ones below.
As this programme ends soon you will need to hurry to secure your copy before we run out of them. So place your order now!!

The following products will no longer be available:

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

Microsoft Office Mac Standard 2011

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade

Microsoft Expression Web 4 & Studio 4 Professional

spannerzone

Probably due to so many of their customers not meeting the licence criterior I suspect!

System

It's an MS thing The following is on Viglen's site

Changes to availability of Microsoft student/staff products
Microsoft has recently announced world-wide changes to the availability of its products to Students and Academic Staff. With effect from 31st March 2012 the following Student/Staff editions of its products will be discontinued:

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
• Microsoft Office Mac Standard 2011
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade
• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade
• Microsoft Expression Studio Web Professional

This applies to both digital download and physical DVD versions of the above products.

Options for HE/FE - Microsoft Office
From 1st April 2012, there will be a single Windows version and a single Macintosh version of Microsoft Office, available by Digital Download to Students, Staff & Faculty in Further and Higher Education only. We have been advised that pricing will be higher than that currently available for the Office Professional Plus 2010 & Office Mac Standard 2011 products on this site.
Options for Primary/Secondary - Microsoft Office
For students in Primary & Secondary institutions, the only options available will be to purchase Office for Home & Student (both in Windows & Mac versions). These products are more expensive but do provide you with the ability to install the software on up to 3 devices in the same household. At this time, the Home and Student products are only available in physical DVD format. Should they become available as digital downloads from Microsoft, we will obviously make these available on the Viglen Student Portal at the earliest opportunity.
Options for All Students - Windows 7 & Expression Web
For all Students (Primary through to Higher Education), there will be NO discounted versions of Windows 7 upgrades (Professional or Ultimate), nor Expression Studio Web Pro.

jayme1

shame, if I needed an office suite I would use office for 40 quid but more than that no way, libraoffice is more than good enough, and to the average user WordPad built into win7 is likely good enough, (it is for me).

John_Gray

To avoid the suspicions that the 1st April 2012 is a relevant date, please could we have the original links.

This information seems to relate ONLY to Software4Students. I can't find the information on the Viglen website or anywhere on Microsoft (but that may just be my inadequate search skills!).

From IT Pro Portal I see:
"Why would Microsoft end its educational partnership with software4students? Perhaps it is an attempt by the company to crack down on abuse of the system given that anybody can buy the software, as the seller relies on the buyer's own word and there's no student card required. Other Microsoft-approved educational software sellers like the Basement, Phoenix software and Pugh have yet to come out with a similar announcement."

linni

If I bought some Office software now, would I be able to keep it to use it later in the year when DS gets a laptop for Uni, or does it have to be used straight away?

John_Gray

See about halfway down this page.

jayme1

took a bit of digging but http://viglen.software2.co.uk/microsoft-announcement
I agree though people should source their quotes

nellynerd

I emailed microsoft education UK to find out what was happening and they said they are ending the current scheme with all companies. BUT the replacement scheme would only apply to university students, not school students like current scheme. Partner companies in the current scheme are listed here: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/students/default.aspx

Here's the reply I got, in two emails:

email #1
Thank you for contacting us.
Microsoft continually evaluates our licensing programs to ensure that we’re best meeting the needs of our customers. There are a number of upcoming changes to way we make Microsoft Office available to students as part of a worldwide program to simplify and broaden the availability of our academic offerings. Today, 95% of higher-education students use Office, while only 23% are aware of Office student discounts.
Microsoft has been working with our existing partners in the UK over the last two months to help them prepare for these changes.
The details of the current changes are:
· Office Professional Plus 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 will no longer be available for purchase through the Student Select program starting 1 April 2012. This is the current program used by Software for Students and other partners currently who specialise in this market.
· Office University 2010 and Office for Mac University 2011 were released on 1 February 2012. Office University 2010 and Office for Mac University 2011 offers university and college students great value for the same applications, services and support as Office Professional 2010 and Office for Mac Home & Business 2011. With the release of these retail products, we are dramatically increasing the number of partners able to stock the product.

I asked them what they were planning for school students:

email #2
There are currently no plans to introduce a dedicated Microsoft Office student software suite for GCSE or A level students. For future product announcements I recommend keeping an eye on the official Office website: - [my emphasis]

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/

I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If you have any more questions please give us a call on 0844 800 6006 (Option 3). Our lines are open Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm. Of course if you prefer, please send me an email.

Kind regards,