Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Edition (Upgrade) (PC)

veruccasalt

Just found the above on sale at Amazon for £54.98 with free delivery

Link is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B000KCIA2I/202-3442632-5062251?SubscriptionId=17ZNWQMWNAY2K2SFHV82

Seems a bargain-currently £99.95 at John Lewis and Argos

Redmikee

or you could have Home Premium if anyone in your family is in full time education(not that we have ever been asked to prove it)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124781 for £57.42 with free delivery

Mike

phoenixbbs

Can I just ask why anyone thinks they want Vista at this point - there are about 30 processes that "phone home" to Microsoft regularly, it automatically degrades audio and video quality even on legitimate purchases unless you buy new fancy monitors that "protect copyright", it doesn't work with a lot of applications, and they can remotely disable applications or hardware (that you may have gone out and bought with your own hard-earned cash) if they think they can be used to subvert copyright.

Think this is scare mongering ? - Google "longest suicide note in history" or click here: https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

While we're on the subject, before anyone spends out on Microsoft Office (the new version breaks compatibility with the older more common versions anyway), can I throw in a recommendation for OpenOffice.org - it's free (as in free beer) and works just fine with the most common Microsoft Office file formats with the exception of Access databases :-)[SIZE=-1]
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horsepills

phoenixbbs wrote: »

Can I just ask why anyone thinks they want Vista at this point

Why? this isn't a reviews board, or a place for vista-haters to harp on about how awful they think it is. It's for pointing out good, short-term deals.

phoenixbbs wrote: »

While we're on the subject, before anyone spends out on Microsoft Office (the new version breaks compatibility with the older more common versions anyway),

This is scaremongering - Office 2007 doesn't "break compatibility with older versions" - yes, it saves files in new formats - but if you want to guarantee compatibility it's extremely easy to save files in older formats (.doc or .xls files for example). Go bash Microsoft somewhere else!

showman36

yet another post in the wrong forum

gromituk

horsepills wrote: »

This is scaremongering - Office 2007 doesn't "break compatibility with older versions" - yes, it saves files in new formats - but if you want to guarantee compatibility it's extremely easy to save files in older formats (.doc or .xls files for example).

...until Microsoft decides it is not going to support these formats any more, of course. Or if you've been using the trial version of MS Office and suddenly find that you can no longer access your own work after 30 days (?) when the trial runs out, even if you have access to an older version!

The new MS Office formats are a menace - not only are they NOT open, but they are protected by Microsoft's patents so anyone who tries to build a competing office suite which supports them can be sued by Microsoft. If you want your data to remain your own and not be mortgaged to a thrice-convicted monopolist, then I suggest you avoid the new formats - at no cost, because you just download OpenOffice (or one of the alternatives). And if you need to send your documents to the unenlightened, you either produce a PDF with one mouse click, or you save in a format which MS Office understands.

fred_quimby

I thought a student licence product came as an empty box with a form to be signed and stamped by the education establishment attended or is it different now??

horsepills

gromituk wrote: »

...until Microsoft decides it is not going to support these formats any more, of course.

gromituk - that's irrelevant. we're talking about MS Office 2007 here, which does support older formats. What they decide to do in the future with different office suites is neither here nor there.

pepsi_max2k

veruccasalt wrote: »

Just found the above on sale at Amazon for £54.98 with free delivery
Link is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B000KCIA2I/202-3442632-5062251?SubscriptionId=17ZNWQMWNAY2K2SFHV82
Seems a bargain-currently £99.95 at John Lewis and Argos

not the best bargain; for £2.50 extra you can get the premium edition which doesn't have almost every interesting vista feature stripped out.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124781

£57.42 free shipping. technically it's a student edition so you wanna have someone in the house in education, but as far as i can see (having installed the thing for someone else) there are zero checks to confirm this; no forms to fill in, no emails to send, nothing checked during purchase and nothing checked during activation.

and as for the upgrade part, well, most techies would advise against upgrading any OS, and vista's "upgrade" cds really don't need to upgrade anything other than themselves. install clean, don't activate, re-install from os, activate. that's it. strange but true.

gromituk

horsepills wrote: »

gromituk - that's irrelevant. we're talking about MS Office 2007 here, which does support older formats.

Yes, but for how long - did you know that the latest update to Office 2003 will prevent it from opening some Office 2003 files? :eek: (Microsoft says that this is for security reasons. The irony is that there's nothing insecure about the files; it's the office suite that's insecure.)

What they decide to do in the future with different office suites is neither here nor there.

It very much is if you want to be able to read your data in a few years' time. Just look at the hoops the National Archive is having to jump through. If the documents were in an open format, it wouldn't be in this mess. But it is in Microsoft's interests to build in obsolescence so that it can keep you on the treadmill of unnecessary software upgrades forever. The way to moneysave is to get off this treadmill.

gromituk

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

as far as i can see...there are zero checks to confirm this; no forms to fill in, no emails to send, nothing checked during purchase and nothing checked during activation.

This is because Microsoft faces competition from cheaper alternatives. It would rather turn a blind eye to a fraudulent educational copy than to lose that machine to Linux and its gaining momentum, or for it to stay running XP which it desperately wants people to abandon because it is less locked down than Vista. When it would lose real money, such as with a large company using the educational discount, it will then pursue the matter.