Hey all. I’ve gotten into the EMBA program at WVU this fall but have to upgrade my laptop from Win XP Home to Win XP Pro. Still trying to check and see if they have some options at the school for this, but I thought I’d check on here to see if anyone has done this. It looks like it’s easy to do and keeps all your settings and what not. But of course just to buy it out there is over $100. Thoughts?
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
Many schools have a Microsoft Academic Alliance Program where they offer free versions of their software to students. I know I was able to get a free copy of Windows XP Pro SP2 and a bunch of other stuff this way. Contact some people, particularly in the IT and CS departments and see if such a program is available.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
What exactly do you have to upgrade for? I have yet to run in to any real difference between the two.
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
A lot of it may have to do with security requirements on the school network.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Jay, it's super easy. I've done it many times on my laptop (lost harddrives made it necessary) and when I replaced my desktop a while back. I'm wondering why you 'need' to upgrade, though. I had to because I needed the additional network capabilities of Pro (domain recognition, basically). If you don't have a specific need, though, I wouldn't bother. XP Home is really very good. Still, if you do need to upgrade, it's very easy to do. Nobrainer.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
My school "forces" us to upgrade to XP Pro. I didn't and nothing terrible happened.
But seriously, unless prices changed, I think it's $200 bucks not through a school, and cheaper through one (maybe $80). Look into what the school offers.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
They require it for some reason. I think it might have to do with the remote desktop access that XP Pro has and Home doesn’t. I’m taking the class where it is taught at, but I guess they also have remote locations and I imagine they’ll use this feature a lot. I’m perfectly happy with the XP Home too.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
When I was in college, Microsoft software was sold for $5 per cd in the package. They sold me XP professional (2 disks) for $10.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
We give our students copies of XP Pro for free.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
Wow… sounds like you all are the place I need to buy one from!
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Tuition's $18,500 a year.
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
What did you find out the MSDN Academic Alliance I mentioned? Do they have the program at your school? You can get XP Pro for free by downloading it or on CDs for about $5 like Stephen did.
As others have mentioned, the upgrade is easy to do from a technical standpoint, however I can think of a lot more fun ways to spend a benjamin than software.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
18K huh? Ouch. Yeah, I guess you should get some free stuff! This one will be somewhere around 12K though…. And I don’t even think I’ll get student tickets for the games!
They’re looking into the different things they have for the Pro. The one lady at the MBA program I talked to today when getting my registration numbers fixed said she knows they have some deals on it. She also said she talked to her IT people that Home works fine. Even though on their web page they say no. Who knows.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
That's weird. You can download Remote Desktop from Microsoft.com and it works just dandy with XP Home. I used that setup on a daily basis until my job ended in May. You do have to have Pro if you want domain registration over VPN to work. I'd be very tempted to try whatever it is they think you need Pro for with Home and see if it works. I found that once I wasn't travelling to customer sites anymore, Home worked just fine, since 99% of my work was done via Remote Desktop. Whereas at customer sites, I had to be able to log into their networks with domain registration (or whatever you call it, so I could recognise their network domain) and that's where Home just didn't cut it.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Uh...Jay, email me if you like....I have a copy of XP Pro that I don't need. I am not using XP Pro anymore and only have XP Home on my two machines now. I'd be happy to give it to you...I got it from my sister in law who worked for Microsoft at the time. I think I can just give it to you, though when you use it, you'll have to call Microsoft when you try to activate it. I was having a problem with frying hard drives for a while, and have used the upgrade enough that I had to call the last time I used it. It's a legal copy. She bought it at the Microsoft campus store for me. I think it cost me $25. Email me if you want it.
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
Be warned though as I am finding out the hard way 90% of software companiesw won't allow you to upgrade from Academic versions of software. You have to rebuy the full version was you aren't in school anymore.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
Cool. Thanks jeniwren. I'll let you know if I need it. That would be great if it turns out I do.