Retail Copy of Windows 7 available to students?

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ComputerBox34

[H]F Junkie
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I use MSDNAA to get software provided free from my school.

A few days ago, this became available to download:

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This was what was there before:

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Legit?
 
On the surface, I'd say legit because it is right from your MSDNAA website. However, the x64 .iso file is much larger than 2.1 GB. File size issues aside, I don't know why you would think it wasn't legit.
 
DeaconFrost said:
On the surface, I'd say legit because it is right from your MSDNAA website. However, the x64 .iso file is much larger than 2.1 GB. File size issues aside, I don't know why you would think it wasn't legit.
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I just don't see why MS would release it to students so early...I didn't even know they finished the OS

Can pros download it yet?

I'm waiting to get login info from my school and then I'm going to try to d/l it.
 
What shows up in your MSDNAA is entirely selected by your school, not everyone that has MSDNAA can see the same software you can


and yes, W7 RTM has been available on TechNet and MSDN for a couple weeks
 
Yes this is legit if its MSDN. Windows 7 become available to MSDN/TechNet on August 6th and MANY of the people on this board get it from there that day including me.
 
It's been on TechNet since August 6th. I was under the impression it was available to MSDN on the same day. How do you think so many of us are running the RTM?
 
My first question would be why anyone would think that MSDNAA downloads would not be legit. It's not like any monkey can just make stuff available for download through the MSDNAA portal.

The sole purpose of MSDNAA is to hook future customers on MS technology so that when they head into the business world as end-users or decision-makers they insist on using MS products over other products.

MSDNAA sent out an email to the admins on Aug 11, subject: "MSDNAA: Windows 7 Professional will be available in ELMS on August 13th 2009.", so there, hope that answers the OP question.
 
Is everyone at your school allowed to download from your MSDNAA site? We didn't have this when I was in school, just curious.
 
AMD T-type said:
MSDN and MSDNAA are not the same
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I think Deacon was trying to say "Windows 7 is launched and available on MSDN and TechNet, so yes if MSDNAA say it's available, it's true.. it IS available."
 
I haven't been in school for a while, but why would you be able to get the OS for free? Does the school pay up front?
 
I think they provide it to CS and CE students for free in the same way that you can typically get your first order of coke for free from a drug dealer.
 
Yes, Windows 7 Professional has been available on ELMS (MSDNAA) since the 14th. I don't have the option to download it yet but there is a notice that it is available.

Windows 7 Professional-English (32 bit and 64bit) is now available in ELMS
2009-08-14

Use the product search drop-down to download Windows 7. Unable to locate Windows 7? Contact your Program Administrator.

After you click to purchase it, under the "My Software" link, you will see your purchases and a Download button for the Windows 7 invoice. The download location will give you a .exe that downloads the iso to c:\. It will also show you what your COA activation code is.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
Is everyone at your school allowed to download from your MSDNAA site? We didn't have this when I was in school, just curious.
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To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I'm starting my freshmen year.

I just requested an account from the help desk and they gave me one on the spot...
 
Yes, it is 'legit'. However it is (technically anyways) not really 'Retail'. MSDNAA is part of Microsoft's volume licensing scheme, and whilst as a student you can obtain, from your school, a copy of the installation media and a working install key to use with it, you can only really become the 'end user' rather than the 'license holder'.

The educational institution is ever and always the license holder of the volume licensing arrangement. Some educational institutions will impose restrictions over and above what Microsoft demands and, as the license holder, they have every right to and their restrictions are legally binding. If, for example, a particular school insists that you uninstall and cease using it after you graduate, that is a legally binding condition of use.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
Is everyone at your school allowed to download from your MSDNAA site? We didn't have this when I was in school, just curious.
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MSDN AA is issued on a department level, so it's not for the entire campus, though many departments are eligible. The cost is $500 for the first year and $325 (iirc) for the renewals.
The MSDN AA admin for that department has to add authorized users to the download site at which point they can download any product the admin made available. The admin can choose to not make all products available but limit it to a small selection as they see fit.
 
Legit. I installed the RTM several weeks ago and just activated a couple days ago with keys from MSDNAA. Butter.

edit: Oh, and it will be 3 GB when you download it. Not sure why the page is wrong. It showed 2.2 on my account too.
 
Just some clarifications:

Yes, both are available (32/64 bit) via MSDNAA (I am my college's administrator).

Volume licensing doesn't apply to students and they shouldn't have volume keys. Students receive their own key per product and are allowed to use it when they leave school (per Microsoft). Any interpretations beyond this are probably beyond the intent of Microsoft's policies.
 
MSDN-AA Accounts are avilable to any Education institution that deals with Science and ENgineering. As the poster said earlier, It is a way for MS to get students and faculty hooked on MS Products early on. Where I work (A private high school in the SF Bay area) I purchased a regular MSDN account for $189 per year!!! A steal when you think about it. It is for "Testing and Evaluation Purposes" according to the license terms. But we all know how that goes!!!

I for one love Windows 7, runs circles around Vista in every way. Not that Vista was that BAD after the SP's.
 
When Win7 comes out officially in October, what do we have to do with our RTM versions?
Will we be able to change keys or will we have to do another install of Win7 with the Retail key?
 
Zepher said:
When Win7 comes out officially in October, what do we have to do with our RTM versions?
Will we be able to change keys or will we have to do another install of Win7 with the Retail key?
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RTM IS retail. Its the exact same thing. You already have what everyone else gets in October.
 
Zepher said:
When Win7 comes out officially in October, what do we have to do with our RTM versions?
Will we be able to change keys or will we have to do another install of Win7 with the Retail key?
Click to expand...

Your [H]ardnessSupreme is in question.
 
xfile said:
Just some clarifications:

Yes, both are available (32/64 bit) via MSDNAA (I am my college's administrator).

Volume licensing doesn't apply to students and they shouldn't have volume keys. Students receive their own key per product and are allowed to use it when they leave school (per Microsoft). Any interpretations beyond this are probably beyond the intent of Microsoft's policies.
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Just to clarify a bit further. I'm no school administrator - just a person who read and devoured the documentation of policies.

MSDNAA volume licensing does include the capacity for educational institutions to make the products available to students, if those educational institutions take up the 'Student Option' under 'Campus Agreement'. Initially, rights of use passed on in this fashion are 'whilst enrolled' rights of use. Under the Student option scheme, perpetual rights of use can be transferred to students upon graduation. There is no provision for perpetual rights to be transferred to non-graduating students, and any graduating student who has perpetual rights of use transferred to himself/fherself must be provided with, by the administering educational institution, a 'Confirmation of rights' document.



Yes, the individual install keys provided to students are RTL keys. That fact though, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily make the product provided a 'retail license'. It just makes it one which uses the same activation mechanism as a retail license does.




:D
 
Yet further clarification, from someone who is actually administering a MSDNAA site for a department, while students and faculty can keep using the software even after the leave the institution, they may not use it in commercial capacity.

If software was used to develop code which then was taken commercial, then commercial versions of the dev software will need to be bought prior to taking the code commerical.
 
Question - In the list of programs available to me, I probably have $50k worth of MS software available...all for free. According to the EULA I have to agree to before downloading any of it, I can use it as long as it's for an educational purpose or "personal business" but not for commercial.

My question is...why?

Educated guess - Because MS figures the kids who use it will get accustomed to it and then put recommendations in to their future employers to buy the software? That's the only logical thing I can think of.
 
lolz at this "From someone who is..." stuff, by the way. It's quite comical :)


Here's the web address where the full 'Campus Agreement Program Guide' documentation can be accessed:

http://www.microsoft.com/education/license/howtobuy/agreements/campusagreement.aspx#1


And from the program overview/info, here is the relevent section pertaining to perpetual usage rights:

Perpetual student use rights

Upon graduation, students licensed under the Student Option are granted perpetual use rights for the selected Campus Agreement products.

All other students are only licensed to use the software for the subscription term. These licenses are non-perpetual (meaning the student does not own the license). Upon leaving the institution (besides graduation) or expiration of the licensed period, students are required to remove the software. Your institution is responsible for communicating the appropriate use rights to students when distributing the software. Guidelines for facilitating compliance are outlined in the Campus Agreement terms and conditions. Provided that your institution follows these guidelines, you will not be held responsible for students' failure to remove the software.
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Put it all together and you find that the following are all "true":

  • Even though the install key distributed to students etc is an RTL key, it does not ever actually constitute a 'retail license'.
  • Even though the student can be 'licensed to use' that does not actually mean that they are granted ownership of 'a license'. The license holder remains the organisation which is the MSDNAA subscriber, and it is only really 'rights to use' which have been extended. Under any circumstances whatsoever, for as long as the installation continues to be used it is subject to any additional restrictions imposed by virtue of the MSDNAA volume licensing agreement and other related/relevant agreements.
  • Students can only become eligible for 'perpetual use rights' by graduating from their course of study.
  • The granting of perpetual use rights does not, technically, ever really constitute a transfer of 'license ownership'.


There are a helluva lot of people in this world who misunderstand all that, and think that what is provided to students is actually a 'retail copy' of Windows with all the full benefits of an actual retail license. It ain't that at all. Students get install media. They get provided with an install key which is 'attached' to the license held by the MSDNAA subscriber but intended only for use by that student. They get 'rights to use' the product which is licensed to the MSDNAA subscriber. And that's it. They don't actually ever 'get' a license, and the fact that purchasers of 'Retail windows' actually 'buy' a license rather than a product means that students don't actually ever 'get' Retail windows!


The fact that there are no included mechanisms to block or enforce conditions of use and usages outside of those conditions doesn't make it all any less so.

:D
 
Oh! Here's another curious little anomoly of it all. I've mentioned the need to 'graduate' above, but of course the educational institution needs to remain actively subscribed and with the necessary agreements still in place, otherwise everything authorised under their license is rendered void.

So:

  • You enrol as a student this year, and get Windows via the Student option provisions.
  • Next year your school decides to discontinue having and using the Student Option Agreement.
  • In a few years time you graduate but, because there's no longer a Student Option Agreement in place, you don't get to have perpetual use rights and you gotta uninstall/discontinue using your suposedly 'retail' copy of Windows!

:D
ComputerBox34 said:
My question is...why?

Educated guess - Because MS figures the kids who use it will get accustomed to it and then put recommendations in to their future employers to buy the software? That's the only logical thing I can think of.
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Of course the protection/ensurance of future markets/sales is an important part of it all, but it isn't the be-all and end-all of it:

  • The licensing is a 'limited usage' form of licensing
  • It's an education-related program, and thus aimed at ensuring the continuance of a high level of skill regarding product usage/maintenance/support.
  • From Microsoft's perspective, product support costs impact on profitability, so efforts to reduce or minimise that in future are productive efforts.
  • It's all good PR anyways and...
  • It ain;t as if the handing out of freebie usage to Uni students forever after stops Microsoft from getting any profit from those students. All the products are basically designed to have a 3 year cycle of 'currency', and the free or cheap usage rights don't extend to future products or product versions!
 
Blah blah blah blah... so it's not "technically" a retail license, but for all intents and purposes it is ;).
 
They might be releasing it for students because Fall classes are about to begin.
 
Catweazle said:
lolz at this "From someone who is..." stuff, by the way. It's quite comical :)


Here's the web address where the full 'Campus Agreement Program Guide' documentation can be accessed:

http://www.microsoft.com/education/license/howtobuy/agreements/campusagreement.aspx#1
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This is all very interesting, EXCEPT, the campus agreement is NOT MSDN AA.
In fact, as previously stated, MSDN AA is specifically NOT a campus agreement but an agreement on the department level.

Here is what the MSDN License Amendment says:

MSDNAA LICENSE AMENDMENT

Membership in the MSDN Academic Alliance provides your department with a special License Amendment, designed specifically to address the needs of educational institutions. The MSDN Academic Alliance helps your school make the latest Microsoft development tools, platforms, and applications available to its faculty and students at a very low cost. The MSDNAA License Amendment offer the following benefits:

Permits the following individuals to install MSDNAA software on their personal computers for use in coursework and personal non-commercial projects:

* Students taking at least one for-credit course offered by the member department
* Faculty members of the member department
* Staff directly responsible for administering the MSDNAA program

Authorizes a member department to make the software available using these two methods:

* Create up to 50 copies of MSDNAA discs for check-out
* Make the contents of MSDNAA discs available via a secure download server

Enables a member department to install MSDNAA software on any number of departmental lab machines for instructional and research purposes only.

Program Restrictions

* The software tools and technologies provided by MSDNAA are restricted to instructional use and non-commercial research only.
* The software that is part of the MSDNAA program may not be used to run the infrastructure of the department or the school. Prohibited uses of MSDNAA software include storing student records, hosting e-mail servers, and running actual e-commerce applications.
* Windows may only be installed to support MSDNAA tools and technologies.
* Only a department that is a member of MSDNAA may use the software. It may not be shared among other member or non-member departments.
* The designated program administrator may not be a student or teaching assistant.
* Software that is part of the program may only be made available to students who are taking at least one for-credit course within the member department.
* After the membership has expired (and not been renewed), the department may not make MSDNAA software available to students, faculty, and staff. Software installed prior to the expiration of the membership may continue to be used for the purposes consistent with the license terms.
* Students may not keep the CD or DVD media they borrow except for the MSDN Library CDs.
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http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/dd831047.aspx

So yeah, the LOL is on you my friend. ;)
 
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