Students Can Get Windows 7 Pro for $19
There's a workaround where students can gain access to Windows 7 Professional for a measly $19.
Cybernet News has discovered a way for students to get Windows 7 Professional really, really dirt cheap. While consumers will be required to shell out up to $299.99 for a retail copy of the Professional version next month, students will only need to fork over a whopping $19. The catch is that high school and undergraduate students must prove a focus in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in order to get the discount "cheat" to work.
The "cheat" in question actually applies to students who are not already enrolled in the MSDN Academic Alliance, a program for universities that grant access to "hundreds" of Microsoft products free of charge. Apparently, students can join the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for the $19 pricetag instead. The ACM thus provides the entire MSDN-AA catalog, including both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Professional in four languages. Ultimately, students will receive eight individual keys that work on all eight versions (32-bit and 64-bit for each language).
"This offer is technically for students taking STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) classes," reads this blog on Overclock.net. "They do not verify your information as of yet, but I cannot encourage you to lie in order to get access."
Windows 7 RTM was already introduced to students registered on Microsoft's MSDN-AA back on August 6th, 2009 when the company offered the OS to all MSDN and TechNet subscribers. However, according to the Overclock blog, students are experiencing problems downloading Windows 7 via MSDN-AA and ACM.
UPDATE: Recently I've received a few emails stating that the MDAA package for students no longer offers any version of Windows 7. "Please note: The Microsoft Developer Academic Alliance package offered to Student Members DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY VERSION OF Windows 7," says the company.
- Microsoft Windows,
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- $19
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I already got it. For free.
BAUHAHAHA
(no I didn't torrent it or get it illegally)
I can get it from my college for dirt cheap (well, if it's like XP and Vista), but I'm legally supposed to remove that when I graduate, so this could be an excellent deal, regardless.
Yay MS!
Wait... what did I just say??!
Your news is outdated.
Windows 7 is taken down since few days ago already
There has been a thread on Fatwallet and SlickDeals for over a month now regarding this. I might have pursued this option if I did not allready have a TechNet Plus subscription.
In bold letters on the sign up page for the student membership:
"The Microsoft Developer Academic Alliance package
DOES NOT contain Windows 7."
It looks like this is no longer available through their student memberships, assuming the bit at the top of their online membership form stating "The Microsoft Developer Academic Alliance package DOES NOT contain Windows 7." is accurate. I found this at https://campus.acm.org/public/Quick [...] e=Student.
Kevin Parrish, did you even read anything (it doesn't contain windows 7)
Dear Students,
Please note that all Windows 7 products have been pulled from our Microsoft Developer AA package offered to ACM Student Members due to the very large influx of non-computing students and professionals.
There are two options if you want to get a hold of Windows 7:
First, if you are a technical student … go to the MSDN AA web site and see if your school or department is an MSDN AA member.
-- If they are, contact your department directly to get access.
-- If they are not, ask a faculty member in your department to get a subscription here.
Second, if you are any student … Microsoft announced today in the US that the Windows 7 is available for pre-order for $29 at http://www.win741.com/
Lillian Israel
ACM Director of Membership
thanks, Ms. Israel.
Damn, I shouldn't pay $49 for Win7 Home premium upgrade.
Yay. I'm in CIV ENG. Will def. take this deal up.
You mean the deal of $29 from the www.win741.com website?
Remove it when you graduate......... yeah......... right.
It wasn't ACM's decision to put Windows 7 into our package OR pull it out. I'm not sure what you mean "Remove it when you graduate"?
"acm membership director" -- I think the poster was referring to the Microsoft Campus Agreement (or Microsoft Select -- can't remember which) program that many colleges and universities have, wherein students can get Microsoft software at great discount or for free. The condition of this program requires that the software be removed when the person is no longer a student of the eligible institution. This seems to be unrelated to the ACM deal.
"acm membership director" -- I think the poster was referring to the Microsoft Campus Agreement (or Microsoft Select -- can't remember which) program that many colleges and universities have, wherein students can get Microsoft software at great discount or for free. The condition of this program requires that the software be removed when the person is no longer a student of the eligible institution. This seems to be unrelated to the ACM deal.
Many thanks for the clarification!
you can also join the ieee (ieee.org) if you want win 7
I believe MS has also pulled Windows 7 products from IEEE's package too.
I am a Computer Science student, so I'm *pretty sure* that I qualify for this.
I have one question about this ACM deal...can I go ahead and join, and get Windows 7 now, or do I still have to wait until the general release date? (October 22)
If you haven't heard about it, Microsoft also has a Microsoft Ultimate discount for students. To qualify, just submit your college/university email, and Microsoft will verify that you are a student, and you can get Microsoft Ultimate for only $60.
I'm in a Network Engineering Technology course. Windows 7 Pro is already free for download from Microsoft for me, its actually what I'm already using.
I also have access to visual studio 2008, all OS's, as well as quite a number of other development software. Free ISO's all from Microsoft for free.
"Your news is outdated.
Windows 7 is taken down since few days ago already"
Just torrent the Windows 7 AIO and use the French, German, Spanish, or Japanese keys.
I got my copy of Win 7 Pro free last week, legally. Why pay when you can burn a DL'ed .iso for free? I being an engineering student
I did the same thing but through IEEE and for $16. Yesterday I discovered my university's MSDNAA subscription would receive Win 7 shortly anyway. Shame, but I expected it to take a year like with Vista.
Mr. Parish you might want to start verifying the information you post, it makes both you and THG look incompetent.
To the rest of the world while you can't get win 7 for free MS does give away developer software for students through the dreamspark program.
https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx
You can get Win Server 2008 R2 from there for free too.
You Are Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can not get windows 7. Nice research!
Student Membership Benefits
* Free access to 100+ software packages from the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance
(Please note: The Microsoft Developer Academic Alliance package offered to Student Members DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY VERSION OF Windows 7.)
* More than 2,500 online courses in multiple languages and 1,000 virtual labs from Element K®
* 500 online books powered by Books24x7®
* Electronic subscription to CACM magazine
* Access to ACM's new highly targeted Career & Job Center
* Free e-mentoring services from MentorNet ®
* Electronic subscription to Crossroads magazine
* ACM CareerNews (bimonthly)
* ACM e-news digest TechNews (triweekly)
* ACM monthly online newsletter MemberNet
* ACM Online Guide to Computing Literature
* Free "acm.org" email forwarding address plus filtering through Postini
* Options to subscribe to the full ACM Digital Library
You Are Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Can not get windows 7. Nice research!
Actually, when this article was written you could get Windows 7 from there. Had you read more than the first comment you'd see that. Congrats on your fail.
Actually I just checked my school's MSDNAA site (I'm an engineering student) and Windows 7 Professional (both x86 and x64 versions) is still there for me. I noticed they took down the Ultimate RC that they had there just a few days ago though...
already have Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM running smoothly. Got it off DreamSpark, just gotta wait for my college's MSDNAA to get Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 licenses for me to grab.
This $19 offer can't beat the free offer of MSDNAA =P!