Microsoft Academic Alliance

[Zephyr952]

I was asking the tech guy at my school today about possibly downloading Windows Vista Business from the Microsoft Academic Alliance (MSDN) and installing it on the new laptop I will be purchasing.

However he told me that usually after I am graduated from school (in about a year) I will not be allowed to use the Vista OS since I downloaded it off that site. Has anyone actually downloaded Vista from the MSDN site through their school and can possibly confirm this?

On a side note I also was wondering if it was possible (and I have done this before for a PC) to mirror the image of my old laptop to the new one I will be getting and install the drivers from the driver's disk I will recieve with the new laptop? The tech guy at my school said this was unlikely possible to do properly from his experience.

Thanks!

[Aes]

I just downloaded my 64 bit version of XP from it recently and I read the whole terms and conditions. You can still use it after you finish your degree, but as soon as your degree ends, or whenever the MSDN ends, you can no longer receive updates for it. So while you can still use it, you won't get security updates or anything like that. Depending on what you're using it for that may or may not be a serious issue.

As for mirroring your harddrive onto your new laptop Probably not, the OS will require you to revalidate it when it detects the hardware changes it'll probably be more work that it's worth.

[Zephyr952]

Well seeing as thats the case I should probably just fork over the cash for the Vista OS. Normally I wouldnt worry about updates but with Vista being such a new OS I'd hate to be out of the loop for a critical service pack update.

[PeterPan]

You can manually download updates off the pirate bay, thats what I do.

[Zephyr952]

ah good idea peter I use pirate bay fairly often didnt even dawn on me to use it for that

[8igdave]

or you could stop being stindgy and pay for your os :p cheap skates lol.

[oakae]

You should be able to buy significantly cheaper software since you are still a student. You can get Vista for something like half price.

[PeterPan]

or you could stop being stindgy and pay for your os :p cheap skates lol.I prefer having to download a torrent once in a while to shelling out $150

I use a time freeze crack but having a semi-legit version I don't think major updates would cause any problems on his machine.

[8igdave]

BUy the OEM version, you should know that. There is no reason to buy retail unless you want to install it on 3 pc's. The OEM version csots a third of the amount.

[Mo0rbid]

Why buy expensive things when you can get em for free if you feel like it

almost everyone with a computer has done piracy once or more:roll:

[wingzero]

yer thats the whole reasion the PC market is doing down the toilet, because compans are paying out billions of pounds makeing the software that people then snatch up for free :mad:.

i currently use MSDN once you leave UNI you can still use vista and get updates as far as im aware but in 3 years time something else would have come along anyway so it dont really matter