Microsoft School Agreement

[Quackers]

I've had a hunt through the School Agreement threads already out there but cannot seem to find the answer i'm after.

 

Hypothetically speaking, if we had 500 netbooks for students, because Microsoft will only allow XP Home to be installed by the makers , we would then have to spend around £30 on a Windows Upgrade Licence so i can install Windows XP Pro , then around the £30 mark again for an Microsoft Office licence, then a few ££ for a Windows Server CAL.

 

Would Microsoft School's agreement work out cheaper over 5 years? I keep seeing on posts on this subject £25-£30 per PC, is this per year, every 3 years?

[kmount]

Depends upon what you're after as part of the agreement but the £35-30 figure is per year.

[Netman]

Not in that case, no....

 

School agreement desktop licence is £28 per year per machine so x5 would be £140 over 5 years.

Your solution would be c£65 for the 5 years or £13 per year.

 

You would also have to licence basically everything you have under the school agreement - you can't pick and choose.

 

Where it does score is with flexibility and if your replacement cycles are lower...

[mb2k01]

Hi Quackers,

 

That's not my understanding of it.

With Schools Agreement you have upgrade rights (as well as downgrade rights). As long as a client has a legal version of any Windows OS you can upgrade or downgrade as you please.

 

I can't say that I've ever needed to upgrade from home, so don't know that what i've said is 100% correct, but I'd check with your Microsoft license partner. I think i'm correct though

[localzuk]

One thing to remember with the Schools Agreement is that currently you would have to license *every* machine in the school that could run the software. So, if you've got 300 machines already, you would have to license 800 rather than just the 500 you wanted.

[Quackers]

Thanks for the answers , i think School Agreement is a no no

[dgsmith]

Hi Quackers,

As long as a client has a legal version of any Windows OS you can upgrade or downgrade as you please.

 

Can I just ask, as it's confusing for us too, that if we are to buy machines with Vista Home Basic/Premium licences or build machines and buy an OEM version of this, are we still covered under the schools agreement to upgrade these to whatever we want (XP Pro or Vista Business)?

 

Any literature would be appreciated for us here, as we can get some laptops cheaper with Vista Basic, so it makes sense to save the ~£40 if getting a basic OS licence is still legal - it's all very confusing!

[localzuk]

Can I just ask, as it's confusing for us too, that if we are to buy machines with Vista Home Basic/Premium licences or build machines and buy an OEM version of this, are we still covered under the schools agreement to upgrade these to whatever we want (XP Pro or Vista Business)?

 

Any literature would be appreciated for us here, as we can get some laptops cheaper with Vista Basic, so it makes sense to save the ~£40 if getting a basic OS licence is still legal - it's all very confusing!

 

Yup, if you buy a machine with vista home etc... on it, you are covered by the schools agreement to upgrade to whatever you wish that you are licensed for under the agreement.

[SYNACK]

@dgsmith - The schools agreement licenses are upgrades so anything in the allowed upgrade path is acceptable. Any new licesences would be Vista Business and yes Vista home does qualify:

 

Get Windows Vista: Upgrade options

 

As the agreement includes downgrade rights as well you can use XP Pro or Vista Business as the installed OS under your agreement.

[mb2k01]

Yup, if you buy a machine with vista home etc... on it, you are covered by the schools agreement to upgrade to whatever you wish that you are licensed for under the agreement.

 

 

...or downgrade, if you're still an XP lover!

[dgsmith]

Thanks for that. I was under the impression that was the case, with any windows OS being acceptable as the core for the agreement, however I did just want to double check (we already have alot of machines with home level licences, so would have been a disaster if it weren't the case)!

[ahunter]

This is causing some confusion for us also. I recently renewed our schools 3 agreement and requested 300 XP licenses to cover all of our machines for XP installation. They sold me part number 66J-01156 which is labelled as Vista business upgrade.

 

I am now being told that I can only use those licenses to upgrade machines that have come pre-installed with XP Pro to Vista business and that I cannot use those licenses for fresh installations of XP even though with the acceptance email from Microsoft they provided me with a new Windows XP Pro key!!

 

Anyone got any ideas on this as its a really grey area.

 

Now I'm assuming that as Microsoft are not selling XP pro directly anymore they sell you Vista business upgrade with keys for XP pro and Vista business which means I am Ok to install XP directly onto a blank machine that did not come with XP pre-installed using the key they gave me right??

:eek::eek::eek::

[Soulfish]

This is causing some confusion for us also. I recently renewed our schools 3 agreement and requested 300 XP licenses to cover all of our machines for XP installation. They sold me part number 66J-01156 which is labelled as Vista business upgrade.

 

I am now being told that I can only use those licenses to upgrade machines that have come pre-installed with XP Pro to Vista business and that I cannot use those licenses for fresh installations of XP even though with the acceptance email from Microsoft they provided me with a new Windows XP Pro key!!

 

Anyone got any ideas on this as its a really grey area.

 

Now I'm assuming that as Microsoft are not selling XP pro directly anymore they sell you Vista business upgrade with keys for XP pro and Vista business which means I am Ok to install XP directly onto a blank machine that did not come with XP pre-installed using the key they gave me right??

:eek::eek::eek::

 

The licenses that are sold for Windows Vista under both the select and school agreements is only a upgrade license. You're required to have a "qualifying operating system" on the PC first. A qualifying operating system is basically any version of Windows since Windows 98 (including Vista Home Basic & Visa Starter Edition). The vista licenses also give you downgrade rights, so once again you can use any previous version of Windows including XP Pro provided you meet the "qualifying OS" criteria

[ahunter]

If this is true how on earth are schools that don't have the qualifying OS criteria supposed to install windows XP pro on their stations?

 

For example a new school is built and they want to license 300 machines that currently have come shipped with no OS, they have no previous licenses or agreements in place yet they wish to setup a schools agreement. Under the schools agreement they are sold part number 66J-01156 qty: 300

 

What your telling me is the school would be breaking the law?

[trolley01]

If this is true how on earth are schools that don't have the qualifying OS criteria supposed to install windows XP pro on their stations?

 

For example a new school is built and they want to license 300 machines that currently have come shipped with no OS, they have no previous licenses or agreements in place yet they wish to setup a schools agreement. Under the schools agreement they are sold part number 66J-01156 qty: 300

 

What your telling me is the school would be breaking the law?

 

Yes, you would. I have a long conversation with a Microsoft licencing specialist once, and found that out. Made for a very expensive conversation in the end, but did mean that we didn't make the mistake of buying another 50 machines without OEM licences on them. THankfully we were able to go back to the manufacturer of our last batch of machines, and they kindly let us buy the OEM licences afterwards.

 

If I remember rightly, you can use an eOpen agreement to buy licences for the PC's that were bought without licences, but you cannot then use a Schools Agreement to upgrade any machine licenced through eOpen.

 

Really have to spend time reading the Schools Agreement. Last time we renewed I spent ages reading through the docs. Sooooo boring!!

[flyinghaggis]

If this is true how on earth are schools that don't have the qualifying OS criteria supposed to install windows XP pro on their stations?

 

I think if that's the case technically you'd need to buy MS windows licence for those machines before you can install an OS upgrade under the schools agreement. TBH the whole thing just seems like a slightly underhand way of allowing resellers like DELL and HP to continue selling OEM licences with new PCs they distribute

 

Mind you at least the MS schools agreement gives you the flexibility to upgrade versions of windows/server/office whenever you want rather than only being able to do it when the money's available so I still reckon the schools agreement is the best way to go overall.

[localzuk]

If this is true how on earth are schools that don't have the qualifying OS criteria supposed to install windows XP pro on their stations?

 

For example a new school is built and they want to license 300 machines that currently have come shipped with no OS, they have no previous licenses or agreements in place yet they wish to setup a schools agreement. Under the schools agreement they are sold part number 66J-01156 qty: 300

 

What your telling me is the school would be breaking the law?

 

Afraid so. All machines that utilise the Schools Agreement windows licenses must have a copy of windows on already. So, blank machines will require a full copy of windows to be bought. This can be any version of Windows from 98 though, but can't be OEM (only the OEM manufacturer of the machines, who holds an OEM agreement with Microsoft can issue these licenses).

 

That's why we buy machines with Windows on already. Such as Vista Home Basic or XP home in the past.

[AndyD]

Afraid so. All machines that utilise the Schools Agreement windows licenses must have a copy of windows on already. So, blank machines will require a full copy of windows to be bought. This can be any version of Windows from 98 though, but can't be OEM (only the OEM manufacturer of the machines, who holds an OEM agreement with Microsoft can issue these licenses).

 

That's why we buy machines with Windows on already. Such as Vista Home Basic or XP home in the past.

I was led to believe as long as you are a registered system builder, a case of registering on the system builder website, you can purchase the OEM versions to then be installed on a bare sytem ready for the school agreement volume licence media and vlk. That is what our previous and current reseller told us.

[trolley01]

I was led to believe as long as you are a registered system builder, a case of registering on the system builder website, you can purchase the OEM versions to then be installed on a bare sytem ready for the school agreement volume licence media and vlk. That is what our previous and current reseller told us.

 

I thought that schools weren't allowed to register as a System Builder??

[localzuk]

I was led to believe as long as you are a registered system builder, a case of registering on the system builder website, you can purchase the OEM versions to then be installed on a bare sytem ready for the school agreement volume licence media and vlk. That is what our previous and current reseller told us.

 

OEM licenses are specific to the OEM who is supplying them. Dell supply ones that are only legit when used on Dell PCs. The labels are usually printed with this fact also. So, you can't buy a non-Dell OEM license to put on a Dell PC, as you are not the builder of that machine.

 

Taken from the 'Education Operating System Licensing Q&A'

 

4. When a school or institution enters into a Microsoft Volume Licensing agreement (Campus Agreement, School Agreement, Academic Open, Academic Select), does that mean it is licensed for a full Microsoft® operating system (OS), such as Windows?

ANSWER: No. Microsoft Volume Licensing only licenses a school or institution for an upgrade for Windows, and sometimes for a downgrade to an earlier version of Windows. There are only three ways for an education institution to obtain a full operating system:

 Acquire the Full-Packaged Product from a retail store.

 Acquire a new PC with an OEM version of the operating system preinstalled.

 Acquire an OEM license with additional hardware from your system builder.

 

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/e/3/4e3eace0-4c6d-4123-9d0c-c80436181742/OSLicQA.doc

[AndyD]

I thought that schools weren't allowed to register as a System Builder??

I'm not sure about that. I registered as a user and not as a school.

OEM licenses are specific to the OEM who is supplying them. Dell supply ones that are only legit when used on Dell PCs. The labels are usually printed with this fact also. So, you can't buy a non-Dell OEM license to put on a Dell PC, as you are not the builder of that machine.

I was referring to computers built from scratch by myself, should have said so in my post.

[john]

If I build a PC from components I just buy an OEM Copy of XP Pro or Vista Business from the likes of Dabs, Ebuyer, CCL, Insight etc they all sell OEM copies of them so you can get them easy enough without registering.