Correct. Obvioulsy, TechNet subscribers have agreed to abide by an
honor system that sometimes is not honored.
Isn't the fact that the versions are *for evaluation purposes*
effectively prohibit their use on production machines?
--
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Walter B
walterb[at]tampabay[dot]rr[dot]com
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Your comments seem exactly right to me, Saucy.
As it stands, TechNet is getting VERY overloaded. I'm sure MS will
add bandwidth/servers/etc. as time goes along. The Microsoft File
Transfer Manager that you *must* use (right?) is embarrassingly crude
compared to free/shareware/commercial equivalent download managers.
And 50-70 kb/s per file (4 files at the same time max) is ludicrously
slow -- perhaps those speeds are a result of the overcrowding right
now and the rather large op sys downloads.
All that being said, at *this* moment in the MS product cycle, the
TechNet Plus direct download membership fee seems an incredible
bargain. So, we'll just keep it our little secret.
I did the same and pour over Vista looking at the features and study
it. I'm not too interested in Office other than for email, but I
install that anyway too out of curiosity.
And you are right, it is the golden goose. I use MSDN and Technet
stuff for a variety of purposes including developing, studying,
testing etc. etc. I also have "retail" and "oem " OS and productivity
software from Microsoft.
Now should you keep it QT (Quiet)? Hm .. well it is a bit the golden
goose. I would offer the advice only if the poster seems a serious
type. If they seem crazed, just tell them to wait for January. If
they seem legit .. then suggest Technet etc. -- but that's just my
advice [which most people seem to leave rather than take]. In other
words, if you value the opportunity Technet affords, then treat it
with respect, right?
I have been SOOOOOOO resisting saying what I am about to say. What
the heck:
You want a fully licensed, RTM version of Vista in 48 hours?
Subscribe to Microsoft's TechNet Plus Direct ($349 US plus tax for
the first year) and download both DVDs -- the 64-bit version (which
includes Ultimate and the lesser versions depending on which key you
use) and the 32-bit ISO (ditto for versions). And, you'll get keys
for all versions which are not in any way crippled or time limited.
The EULA says you may use TechNet direct downloads *for evaluation
purposes* and activate each *version* on up to 10 computers. As a
lawyer who knows MS can write a killer EULA when they want to, that
vague language is not likely to be a mistake. If it is, act soon
before MS's General Counsel reads this newsgroup (as I am sure he
does in his spare time) and re-writes the thing.
For fear of killing the golden goose, I'm not going to go on about
what a bargain Technet Direct Plus is at this moment in the
Microsoft product cycle. Er, but Office 2007 Ultimate RTM is there,
too.
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with TechNet Plus other than being
a (recently) paid subscriber.
I'm looking at various vendors to get a copy of Vista Ultimate
x64 - but I'm concerned that I will only get the x86 version! There
are a plethora of rumours about whether or not the DVD will include
the x64 version and I'm really not sure who to believe!
The Microsoft site doesn't help nor do the vendors.
There's no point buying an x86 Vista Ultimate DVD, it would simply
be a waste of shelf-sapce!
Can anyone point me to a page that clears up this confusion?
TIA