Windows 8 Now Available on MSDNAA / Dreamspark Premium (Free Windows 8 for Students)
This was posted 9 months ago, and might be an out-dated deal
Windows 8 is now available on Dreamspark Premium. Most Universities are members of this program in some faculties. While this deal isn't available to everyone, I wanted to raise awareness as it only became available this morning.
For Monash students, your Windows 8 Professional CD key must be obtained through the website on campus.
Comments (Closed)
Enterprise will give you Windows To Go if you want it.
+2 votesaussieaubs on 24/08/2012 - 08:35 ¶free is free - why not try it for yourself if you have a spare PC.
-2 votesI heard from my IT teacher that windows 8 had a press conference and said Windows 8 was not made as a replacement for Windows 7, it's a different offering for people that would enjoy that interface. Think of it as a response to the consumerism of Apple, it's for people that like having eye candy. Windows 7 is a workhorse (it has low boot times, uses little ram and has almost every feature that you could want from an OS).
+2 votesInstall VMware on your computer. Install Windows 8 in Vmware. Play with it that way. That's what I've done and I'm really not ready to make the switch to Win8. I don't like the interface either, and finding Control Panel items was really hard, and I'm an experienced Windows users. :|
+1 voteI've read a few reviews and I'm not going to be going out of my way to install it - while there are a few improvements the 'not-called-Metro' interface is completely botched. All of the basic tasks are more of a pain. A lot of tech sites are calling it the next "Windows ME". While you can tweak it to make it more useful, I just don't want to waste an hour or two out of my life installing a new OS that doesn't really make things any better for me.
+6 votesNever mind. I just downloaded and installed the release preview, and I intend to stay as far away from this POS as possible.
It started well. I didnt have to install any drivers. Everything booted up nicely. It stayed that way for about an hour or so. Then I lost my internet connection, even though my tablet was accessing the internet just fine. Then the screen starts flicking funny colours. I reach down and touch the VGA and it is burning hot, even though the machine isnt doing anything, its just sitting there with the desktop showing.
I restart. The Windows icon comes up. Then it fades to black and that is that. The hard drive has been buzzing frantically, but nothing else has been happening.
EDIT TO ADD - This is extraordinary. I am trying to restart and the video card is completely fried. I can't even get a post screen. It is a 9800 GTX+ so a pretty old card but still was running fine under W7 the last couple of years, and Windows 8 killed it in under an hour. Must be something powerful in those default drivers.
+4 votesWindows 8 didn't kill your card. The drivers in Windows 8 are (obviously) WHQL approved and they are the same drivers that are being pushed out to hundreds of millions of nVIDIA cards when Windows 8 is released.
Call it a awful coincidence, but correlation does not imply causation.
+8 votesNot to mention the complete removal of Aero
GPU-utilising chrome developed for Vista and W7 designed to do away with XP's blocky chrome is removed in favour of even blockier chrome because it's too taxing for (mobile) ARM processors is now tauted as an improvement/feature?
If W8's chrome is so great, why does MS go out of they way to prevent end-user re-introducing the Start button or login directly to desktop, surely, great improvements can sell themselves?
(Built-in support for USB3.0 is the only practical improvement, although I am not sure downloading and installing any of 3 chipset suppliers' (Renesas, Asmedia and Fresco Logic) drivers constitutes an inconvenience.)
-1 vote…"(Built-in support for USB3.0 is the only practical improvement, although I am not sure downloading and installing any of 3 chipset suppliers' (Renesas, Asmedia and Fresco Logic) drivers constitutes an inconvenience.)"…
You obviously don't have a Dell XPS 15/17 laptop with unusable USB 3.0 ports.
- +1 vote
You obviously don't have a Dell XPS 15/17 laptop with unusable USB 3.0 ports.
a driver's a driver, even if it's written by Microsoft. Are you implying that your USB3.0 port works in W8 but not in W7 using manufacturer's drivers?
I am using a Renesas' $10 Expresscard in an ancient Vosto 1500 - (within the limit of Expresscard 1.0 bandwidth) it works.
systmworks on 27/08/2012 - 16:50 ¶Ergh - just tried START8 - hated it - have been using "Classic Shell" since I installed W8 a few months ago.
+2 votesThere were a few benchmarks here and there. Generally the performance is around the same, with at most 9% difference in media playback, and a small amount in web browsing (HTML5 performance)
However there was a dip in performance in gaming. Probably due to drivers.
But seriously, the whole W8 VS W7 debate is on the whole UI redesign, which a lot of people don't like.
blablabla23 on 23/08/2012 - 21:22 Comment score below threshold (-7).
eecan on 23/08/2012 - 21:32 Comment score below threshold (3).- blablabla23 on 23/08/2012 - 21:40 Comment score below threshold (0).
notout50 on 23/08/2012 - 23:33 Comment score below threshold (0).
udyz on 24/08/2012 - 00:05 Comment score below threshold (0).
devang153 on 24/08/2012 - 09:29 Comment score below threshold (0).
Gmann on 24/08/2012 - 00:44 Comment score below threshold (0).- blablabla23 on 24/08/2012 - 18:01 Comment score below threshold (0).
TheFlock on 24/08/2012 - 09:35 Comment score below threshold (3).
Dreamspark premium is accessed from a different URL. If you are an IT student you should have a login for it, might need to do a 'reset password' to get your password sent to your student email though. You'll need to track down the RMIT dreamspark premium login page first though.
+1 voteNot trying to be an Apple fan here, but the way iTunes has a small intro showing how to use iTunes is really good, had to read up on windows 8 reviews before I even found out about how to close an application (fully close, not just leave it in the background) in windows 8 (on VMware)
+2 votesfrancis.tks on 24/08/2012 - 00:02 ¶You are not so bad mate, it took me few days to find out where the shut down button is. I use virtual box so I usually just exit it, but that ain't the right way.
some_one_some_where on 23/08/2012 - 21:59 ¶Yes it is confusing as it is focused towards touch input devices. You will also read lot about the missing start menu. It's a complete change of format. So if you could forget you ever owned a Win O/S machine, you will be fine. It is only when you start to look for similar items that you have issues. Had installed it on a space computer for about a year now..almost… but did not use much due to similar issues and spending too much time here
:)- some_one_some_where on 23/08/2012 - 22:35 ¶
Ok..I was just correcting my error as I could not edit the post
+2 votesI have used windows OS since I was about 2 years old, so pretty much my whole life, and had no issues with changing to W8 DP. It has come a long way since the initial releases and is a whole different product. Anyone claiming that it is targetted towards touch devices is also very wrong, it is meant to bring traditional point and click and touch together, not go either way as past versions have, and it does a good job if you ask me. Using a mouse to navigate the metro screen isn't a problem after you have configured it to your liking and placed your tiles and shortcuts where you want them, Start8 can also be handy if that is what you are after.
While I am in no way a Micro$oft fanboy, I do like the direction they are going with their software, and it will allow working in and out of the office much easier as apps are developed for all devices and with equal compatibility.
Anyway, each for their own, I won't be going back to W7, it really is an individual decision though.
- +5 votessome_one_some_where on 23/08/2012 - 22:31 ¶
Mere presence of start8 tells me that MS did not think much through this product issue unless their main aim was to hit the tablet market. This issue will become the UAC issue of Vista. This is because it is not only Techies who use computers but average people who struggle with basic operation of PC. Such thing missing will frustrate them no end. I see this everytime there is a new system coming out. Then people will load it with Apps or JB or something else to make the manufacturer forced settings to work better. Lets see time will tell.
+6 votesbillybrown on 23/08/2012 - 22:25 ¶Kinda confused, how do I download it?
Tried searching for Melbourne University but says "your school is not enrolled" :S- +1 votebillybrown on 23/08/2012 - 22:43 ¶
managed to create an account and confirmed my uni email but there doesnt seem to be any windows 8 download, i can see visual studio, visual server and stuff…but no windows 8
Flinders Uni also is not signed up for premium. Premium is done by department, not by university. It costs $499 for each department in the university, and Premium can only be gotten by "Technical Departments (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)". So even if you go to Monash and are not in one of those "STEM" departments, I don't see how you would be able to get Windows 8.
netsurfer on 23/08/2012 - 22:38 Comment score below threshold (-7).- TheFlock on 24/08/2012 - 09:40 Comment score below threshold (2).
Strand0410 on 23/08/2012 - 22:44 ¶Also curious about this deal. I've successfully started an account with my edu email address but nothing meaningful is coming up. I'm guessing I'm in the wrong faculty? (If so, no idea how MS vetoed that).
-3 votesLibertyPrime on 23/08/2012 - 23:00 ¶Windows 8 isn't available via Dreamspark. It's on TechNet/MSDN, which is a completely separate programme. The other option is to see if your University directly offers it for free or at a discount.
The deal title is probably correct, but the link provided is not the best link.
MSDNAA - it is basically MSDN so it could be available.
Dreamspark Premium - could be there (but most likely not in Dreamspark (standard)).I don't have a student e-mail (not a student anymore) so cannot really test MSDNAA to see if it there. Besides, on TechNet and MSDN… Windows 8 was released about a week ago.
Good point though… the DreamSpark site seems to indicate you get the Microsoft Server products for free. For client OSes… I think you need DreakSpark Premium.. but still not sure the correct link for students to activate for free.
Win8 is available on my uni's Dreamspark, just ordered 32,64bit copies. I "think" it wasn't there yesterday (my computer was acting funny so wanted to double check my win7 key)….
MSDN Academic Alliance is Dreamspark…they have changed the name(MS tech support told me)….
Also IEEE's Dreamspark does not have Win8… it used to have win7 when it was released but they took it off coz it costed less to get a half yearly ieee membership than to get a copy of win7….
For UWS, you have to go here.
http://e5.onthehub.com/WebStore/ProductsByMajorVersionList.a...And it has to be on a SCEM Computer so it wont work at home.
- +1 vote
You need to be enrolled in a computer-related course, here is the link.
Find someone enrolled in CSE, or if you're in ENGG1811, COMP1911, COMP1917 (first year courses) or any other COMPXXXX, you should have already accepted your "yellow form" (don't know why they named it that) and you use your CSE login (not your zID + password for your standard blackboard + my.unsw + moodle)
UNSW CSE MSDNAA, need active CSE login
Similar to the e5.onthehub.com link as seen with the above UWS link 
ryantan1121 on 24/08/2012 - 01:45 ¶Can other student like engineering student in UNSW eligible for this?
- +1 voteryantan1121 on 24/08/2012 - 04:40 ¶
I got that too, but when I redirected to another website, it says I need to login with a username. Not sure what that username mean. Did you successfully claim the key?
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Good find. It's $39.99 for a donwload otherwise, or $69.99 for a box.