Free Windows Vista Business & Office Professional 2007 ?

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne

Bummer. Looks like I'll have to sell my copy so I can buy the 64bit version. Or perhaps they will let us upgrade for a price.

Can't sell this one, it is a NFR CD. It does suck that it is only the 32bit version though. This was geared for developers I thought, so why not let them have the 64bit version?

Where did you see that?
I've never seen any official statement that it was NFR: I've only just recently seen
confirmation that it was a Retail license, and in that statement nothing about NFR was mentioned.

It is in the terms:
https://vsd.powertogether.com/terms.aspx


For the NFR, that is what it was last time they did this with XP.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: Elixer
It is in the terms:
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://vsd.powertogether.com/terms.aspx">https://vsd.powertogether.com/terms.aspx</a>

For the NFR, that is what it was last time they did this with XP.

Hmm that's not quite how I interpret the terms. I would think that whatever
the MSLT/EULA says for the software you get would be the determining
factor as to what you can do with the software, and that the terms on the powertogether
site just refer to the usages allowed of information / materials (e.g. the training videos)
on that site itself.

Anyway I don't have current NFR pricing for VISTA handy but if they 1099 report
the value of these softwares as full retail pricing ($499 office, $299 VISTA BUSINESS)
and yet they're NFR, I'm pretty sure it's a BAD DEAL. Last time I looked the
official NFR license edition prices for many Microsoft products was a LOT less than
suggested retail price for the full retail license, just as the OEM versions cost a lot
less than the MSRP for the full retail versions because of the restrictions.

If we're getting NFR license terms AND not even the retail box products but rather
just a DVD copy in a sleeve for vista and a "burn it yourself" download for OFFICE
that'd be even LESS product than the media you usually get if you buy a NFR copy
from distribution. By the time one pays $205+ tax, I'd suspect that one could
have just bought NFR or OEM UPGRADE versions of these for a comparable price
and at least had official media and a tax write-off (business expense or whatever)
for the cost.

Anyway my only point is that though it's a generous promotion, if they're giving
a NFR (vista) or NFR AND MEDIA-LESS (OFFICE) license, and since there ARE official
prices for those that are MUCH LESS than retail product MSRP, they darn well ought
to 1099 us for the lower value of NFR/Medialess vs. MSRP Retail since it'll be
a hundreds of dollars difference in fair market value.

Anyone know what the NFR & NFR media-less costs of VISTA BUSINESS and
OFFICE PRO 2007 actually are these days?

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did both promotions, and got an email for both. For the last few days, I've been debating if I was going to install Vista right away and now that I've heard it's a 32 bit version, I really don't want it (especially due to the W9 thing). I thought he W9 was worth it, but I'm not going to install a buggy 32 bit version. I know it's free and all, but I kind of feel like we were deceived, and we should be able to back out of it. Does anyone know if it's possible to refuse the Vista and just get the Office (and avoid the W9)?
BTW, I didn't even know there was a 32 bit version!
Thanks

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: Airjarhead
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did both promotions, and got an email for both. For the last few days, I've been debating if I was going to install Vista right away and now that I've heard it's a 32 bit version, I really don't want it (especially due to the W9 thing). I thought he W9 was worth it, but I'm not going to install a buggy 32 bit version. I know it's free and all, but I kind of feel like we were deceived, and we should be able to back out of it. Does anyone know if it's possible to refuse the Vista and just get the Office (and avoid the W9)?
BTW, I didn't even know there was a 32 bit version!
Thanks

Someone suggested that Microsoft was going to offer 64 bit vista versions to anyone
with a vista license, but that you'd have to request the 64 bit install software either by
downloading it (maybe) or by ordering it via internet or phone call. I've heard
that they'll just charge nothing but a relatively small shipping & handling fee for
that. None of that is officially confirmed as far as I know, but I've heard it a few places
so I tend to believe it's accurate especially now that I've heard that they're not
putting 64 bit in the retail packages containing the 32 bit version so clearly there would
have to be some simple and inexpensive way for interested people to get the 64 bit
version.

Yeah of course you can refuse it; just email to one of (or all of) the email addresses they
gave out for contact information concerning any questions / problems with fulfillment
and they'll not send you vista. If they've already sent it, it's still no problem, you
can just tell them you don't want it and I'm sure they'll just deactivate your product
key for Vista and change it so you won't get a 1099 tax report including VISTA.

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne

Originally posted by: Airjarhead
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did both promotions, and got an email for both. For the last few days, I've been debating if I was going to install Vista right away and now that I've heard it's a 32 bit version, I really don't want it (especially due to the W9 thing). I thought he W9 was worth it, but I'm not going to install a buggy 32 bit version. I know it's free and all, but I kind of feel like we were deceived, and we should be able to back out of it. Does anyone know if it's possible to refuse the Vista and just get the Office (and avoid the W9)?
BTW, I didn't even know there was a 32 bit version!
Thanks

Someone suggested that Microsoft was going to offer 64 bit vista versions to anyone
with a vista license, but that you'd have to request the 64 bit install software either by
downloading it (maybe) or by ordering it via internet or phone call. I've heard
that they'll just charge nothing but a relatively small shipping & handling fee for
that. None of that is officially confirmed as far as I know, but I've heard it a few places
so I tend to believe it's accurate especially now that I've heard that they're not
putting 64 bit in the retail packages containing the 32 bit version so clearly there would
have to be some simple and inexpensive way for interested people to get the 64 bit
version.

Yeah of course you can refuse it; just email to one of (or all of) the email addresses they
gave out for contact information concerning any questions / problems with fulfillment
and they'll not send you vista. If they've already sent it, it's still no problem, you
can just tell them you don't want it and I'm sure they'll just deactivate your product
key for Vista and change it so you won't get a 1099 tax report including VISTA.

Thanks Quix

 

[Elixer]

Small Update that Mark posted:
"Hey guys. I'm still around. Sorry, I've been on a plane all this week at launch events and will be on a plane all next week too.

btw, we are SHIPPING. Started earlier this week.

Thanks guys."

So we will soon get the products in question.

 

[DolphinAMD]

Originally posted by: Elixer
Small Update that Mark posted:
"Hey guys. I'm still around. Sorry, I've been on a plane all this week at launch events and will be on a plane all next week too.

btw, we are SHIPPING. Started earlier this week.

Thanks guys."

So we will soon get the products in question.

Yay!
I've been checking the mailbox for Windows Vista eagerly this week.

 

[NaOH]

I realized it wasn't 32 bit version too. How the hell do i get a 64 bit version instead!??!

 

[jpetermann]

Anyone not wanting there 32-bit can send it my way

 

[TheCoop]

I hope I will still get both of mine, I just faxed my W9 form to them.

 

[TheCoop]

I wanted to see how much of a change in taxes I would owe it I had $800 extra in it and my federal did not change at all but my state changed by $68. So I can live with $68 in taxes for this.

 

[TheCoop]

Hoping these are full retail versions so I can sell my Vista one. I am happy and content with XP on my two machines. Runs perfect and never have blue screen of death. Since last reboot, 154 days.

 

[pdawg1717]

A 64-bit version would be nice but as of now, 64-bit version is a good 5-20% slower on most apps...that may change down the road however...

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: pdawg1717
A 64-bit version would be nice but as of now, 64-bit version is a good 5-20% slower on most apps...that may change down the road however...

The best thing about 64 bit IMHO is that you get to have more room for memory;
I have 3GB RAM in my machine and already I can't use all of that on 32 bit
because add in cards like video cards, etc. use up some of the 32 bit virtual memory
and you can't have any more than 4GB of room for the hardware and the actual RAM.
It'll be nice to see 2GB memory DIMMS out and getting less expensive so we can have
systems with 4GB, 8GB, etc.

The worst thing about the 64 bit is the stupidity of their "mandatory digitally signed drivers"
so that you have to spend hundreds of dollars every year for a certification process to
make device drivers and develop them in a somewhat more complex way. This will mean
that a lot of companies will perhaps never support some of their products, new and
especially older ones, under 64bit and they just won't work at all or not work well given
infrequently updated drivers.

Also bad is the backward compatibility problems that will lead to a lot of software like
many video games and media programs designed for older OS versions
not working right or at all under Vista, especially not under Vista 64.

 

[commOdog]

I faxed my 1099 in 2 weeks ago, anyone that faxed there forms in get any sort of response??

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: commOdog
I faxed my 1099 in 2 weeks ago, anyone that faxed there forms in get any sort of response??

Same here.
I've received no response after my fax, nor have I heard of anyone else receiving one.

So far the only clear indications of progress have been :
a) the couple of 'congratulations' emails confirming that we'll be receiving Office / Vista,
listing our confirmation numbers, indicating the need to fill in the W9 to receive
the second product, and giving the link to the site one must use to fill in the W9.

b) The email one receives after one fills in the W9 *online* confirming the online W9
entry and giving the mailing address for the W9.

I believe that nobody has been receiving more confirmation than these emails, so
I wouldn't worry and would just wait to see if your products arrive over the next week
or two.

Mark has confirmed that they started shipping the product fulfillments as of last week;
as far as I know nobody has reported receiving their product yet, though.

I imagine the first one will start showing up for people over the next week, and the
second one maybe delayed by however long it took them to process the W9s and
start shipping the 2nd batch of products.

 

[Ryland]

Originally posted by: TheCoop
I wanted to see how much of a change in taxes I would owe it I had $800 extra in it and my federal did not change at all but my state changed by $68. So I can live with $68 in taxes for this.

I am curious as to how the Federal taxes wouldn't have changed with an $800 increase in income. Maybe I should run the numbers through TurboTax when I pick it up and possibly send my W9 in for Office.

 

[vicjm]

Originally posted by: Ryland
I am curious as to how the Federal taxes wouldn't have changed with an $800 increase in income. Maybe I should run the numbers through TurboTax when I pick it up and possibly send my W9 in for Office.

If I'm not mistaken, all of this tax stuff will only hit our 2007 taxes (i.e., the ones due April 15, 2008).

I'm not suggesting that you didn't know this, but I just thought I would clarify so other people don't go sticking an extra $800 of income on their 2006 tax forms or TaxCut/TurboTax.

 

[Ryland]

Originally posted by: vicjm

Originally posted by: Ryland
I am curious as to how the Federal taxes wouldn't have changed with an $800 increase in income. Maybe I should run the numbers through TurboTax when I pick it up and possibly send my W9 in for Office.

If I'm not mistaken, all of this tax stuff will only hit our 2007 taxes (i.e., the ones due April 15, 2008).

I'm not suggesting that you didn't know this, but I just thought I would clarify so other people don't go sticking an extra $800 of income on their 2006 tax forms or TaxCut/TurboTax.

Good point about it being on the 2007 taxes but I think it is still a relatively valid test of how much your taxes would change for sending in the W9 on this.

 

[wb182]

I think I'm going to e-mail them to cancel my Vista Business gift and just send the Office 07 so I don't have to mess with the W9. Office is worth more, plus Vista will undoubtedly have way more kinks to work out in the coming months/years. I'm fine sticking with Windows XP for another year or 2.

 

[voigts]

Seriously, don't cancel the Vista Business! Send it to me. I'll even give you maybe the $40 (if that much) that the two combined on a W9 is going to add to your taxes. Eventually, you or someone you know will want/need Vista, and it only makes sense to take it almost for free just for filling out a form.

I also plan on sticking with XP at least until the first service pack gets released, but if I already have the software, I don't have to cough up several hundred dollars later for it. And given that I build my own systems, this is an issue.

 

[SimMike2]

The first service pack might be more than a year away. This doesn't mean there won't be a ton of updates between now and then, just that they wait on the service pack until there is a bunch of them. So if you are planning on waiting for a service pack, be ready to have extreme patience. Microsoft isn't going to release it very fast because that would make them look bad.

 

[NaOH]

Gonna give the OS a month before I install it. Can't wait to get my copy!!!!! =)

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: SimMike2
The first service pack might be more than a year away. This doesn't mean there won't be a ton of updates between now and then, just that they wait on the service pack until there is a bunch of them. So if you are planning on waiting for a service pack, be ready to have extreme patience. Microsoft isn't going to release it very fast because that would make them look bad.

One of the news sites I read today said that Microsoft
announced a release time Vista Service Pack 1 as 2nd half 2007.
And there are *already* several downloadable updates for Vista, and I'm sure there
will be many more well before SP1 is out.

My main reason for wanting it was for DX10 programming and to be able to do
general testing and development with Vista. However I think I'll keep XP around
in a multi-boot setup for a long time to come. I am turned off by the DRM and
driver signing, license restrictions, et. al. in Vista, and don't really see much benefit
of Vista vs. XP for the average person or business that has no development interest
in Vista specific ways.

 

[cyburzaki]

Microsoft already looking for Vista SP1 guinea pigs