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Australian Students Can Get Office at 95% Off Retail
tora201 writes "Microsoft Australia is offering university students in that country Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for just $75 Australian dollars, a 95% discount off the usual retail price. Alternatively students can buy a one year renewable license at just $25, or download a trial version that can be later activated. Eligibility is determined through a valid Australian university e-mail address with payment made via credit card."
Dupe - and the original story was much funnier - it covered MS's promotional site being flagged as a phishing site by MS's own IE7.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Dupe or not, the sad thing is there are lots of students clueless enough to think that they need MS Office when 99% of them can do all they need with OpenOffice.org.
.: Max Romantschuk
I linked to the article I was commenting on.
Dupe article is here.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
..or massively discounted.
But you pay the full whack for the rest, sonny boy.
Is is just me or have I seem the same tactic used to get people hooked on recreational pharmaceuticals?
--------------
Dirty pool, old man. Never again!
95% off ? Does Microsoft actually sell any single license for Office to anyone at ~$1500 US ?
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
$75 sounds like a very reasonable price. That's what it should have cost in the first place!
I guess it's all about how people think about that cost. Many people would say "$75! And every one else has to pay hundreds! It's a bargain!"
Whereas I'd say, "it's $75 more than OO, and it doesn't even run natively on my OS - what a piece of crap!!"
If the Ultimate Edition is being given away so cheap to students, why the hell did they ever came up with the Student Edition minus the frills? Which notably, costs more than the discounted Ultimate Edition for students.
"Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time."
M$FT: The same ethics as a heroine dealer at a school yard: just get them hooked young and let them suffer later!
I had to pay full price for a copy recently for my wife as it was a requirement of the last class she needs for her first degree.... We are far from rich and the fact that we are trying to get her through college without racking up student loan debt means that this was our "Major" purchase for this half of the year ;)
We use open office at home so it actually caused me physical pain to have to purchase another Microsoft product :)
It's only paranoia if your wrong...
I thought I'd point out a few things that were mentioned on the article from a few days ago:
- This ultimate edition thats available through this offer is limited to installation on one PC, vs installation on three PCs available to those who buy the student edition (around $249AU)
- You don't get the CDs with the offer, but can download it, or get a disc from a participating university (I didn't check if it was just a burnt copy or a nicely labeled pressed disc). I'd pay $75 if OpenOffice came in such a fancy box!
I was one button away from purchasing it, until I realized how unnecessary it is for me. I use OpenOffice for my university studies, it opens every word document and PowerPoint presentation thats given to us from the Lecturers. I'm not sure how it is for other things. But for those of you who think this is a good deal, please consider, or atleast try OpenOffice first!
If it is "Ultimate" does that mean there will be no further releases?
Funny how often the US gets to bear the brunt of development costs while the rest of the world gets deep discounts. It's not just software but drugs as well. Even Canada gets radically cheaper drug prices than the US. Part of it is government policies but the bulk is corporate america bleeding the US dry then discounting the rest of the world. Interesting that some drugs can be sold for a few dollars a dose at a profit overseas and yet sell for tens of dollars here. Microsoft can count on the US to pay for the development costs so the rest of the world is gravy. Europe doesn't see the software discounts generally but a lot of the world does. I'm sure Microsoft is claiming hundreds of millions to perhaps billions in developing Vista but we pay for that development in higher software prices. In this case we aren't getting much for our money. The added security seems to come with a high anoyance factor and the eye candie we can live without. Direct X10 sounds impressive but do we really need a whole new OS to run it? There are some definate improvements in memory limits and such but we pay for it in radically greater system requirements. The low end computer manufactures are likely going to be stuck with Linux since the system requirements are so high. Ironically that will come back to bite Microsoft because more and more entry level users will become in exposed to Linux. They may be trying to avoid that with the foreign markets because people are going to be less inclined to pay both the high OS and hardware costs. Give the students cheap OSs then hopefully they stay branded to Microsoft.
And then when the discount "Office Ultimate" software decides to lock you out of your Office documents, you have to pay the full price plus the unlocking fee.
Read the EULA. Understand about DRM, and Microsoft's plans for the future. ORCON is fine and dandy until you realise that the provider of the control mechanisms is the real owner of the document.
This FUD brought to you by the number 51 and a Tin Foil Hat.
Nice ad hominem. I love the implication that your move away from Microsoft is some kind of intellectual philosophizing and of scholarly merit, and that someone who likes a product released by Microsoft is some immature child, dazzled by a new toy and "blind to the ways of the world".
That's their problem. I know I wouldn't keep working at something I detest. Let alone say that it's someone else's fault. I know plenty of people who are happy administering Exchange (though personally I find its admin to be cumbersome and unintuitive).
Why, because he has the unmitigated gall to have a differing opinion from you on the subject? I happen to think O2007 is a vast improvement in usability to O2003. The ribbon is far more contextual and I spend less time menu-hunting/surfing. HOWEVER, I will admit that there is a significant effort in becoming familiar with this new system. For some people, myself included, the usability of the product once this has been overcome is worth this initial expense. For you, it may not (above and beyond the fact that you imply you've never used it).