The University is one of the few colleges to offer the Windows Vista: Ultimate edition for free to its students, staff and faculty. What makes this downloadable version of Vista different is the fact the University has allowed the cost students would normally pay to be absorbed by the technology fee, making it virtually free.
According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the University participates in Microsoft’s Student Select program, which “allows schools to use their volume licensing discounts to acquire software licenses and media at reduced costs and pass the savings on to their students.”
Ultimate is the flagship version of Microsoft’s new operating system and comes equipped with every bell and whistle the “next generation” of PC has to offer. In order to purchase Ultimate from a retailer, students would have to pay anywhere from $250 to $400.
Sheri Thompson, the University’s IT Communications and Planning officer said, “A lot of schools offer discounts on software, but LSU has a pretty unique situation with Microsoft because of TigerWare. Being able to download these programs for free is not something other schools have been offering.”
ON THE WEB: Visit Windows Vista
The Enterprise version of Vista was made available on TigerWare earlier in December, and 2,205 students have already downloaded their copy. Since Ultimate’s release Friday evening, over 800 students have downloaded the version.
Each student is required to attain an individual licensing key to activate their downloaded copy. This system prevents exploitation of the free Ultimate offering. The first 100 licensing keys were gone within the first hour. Thompson said that 500 more keys will be available early this week and additional keys will be requested from Microsoft as necessary in batches of 500.
For those students unwilling to upgrade, Thompson said there was no immediate need to do so because the University would recommend an upgrade to Vista only when Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP or if it becomes a security issue.
Thompson also recommends that those wishing to install Vista back up their data and use the full installation option to make the upgrade go as smoothly as possible.
—–Contact Jimmy Garrett [email protected]