Official Release Date

[Gatt]

CHecked the MVLS licensing site last night and already got my keys for Office 2007 & Vista.

Vista is down as being a VA.20/KMS type key - meaning If i've read things right, that i need at least 25 Vista PC's to use this key...

 

Software not in "Product Downloads" section yet but guess it'll arrive by 30th November.

[john]

ooh ace stuff Gatt, but isnt that the licence that allows 20 "standalone" activations that just phone MS for activation rather than the Server based Licencing system? I cannot believe that they are saying you must deploy to 25 machines to use it as I won't be doing so, I will be deploying to 3 or 4 for testing and thats basically my office machines (must dig that 2nd KVM out of the junk box) and then one of each bread and model of main machine we use for testing the performance on them.

[Gatt]

This is what MVLS says about VA 2.0..

 

VA 2.0/KMS – Volume Activation 2.0/Key Management Service: this key will be used to enable a new service in your environment that will automatically activate Windows Vista computers. You must have a minimum of 25 Windows Vista computers connected together to use the KMS, and all computers will be required to check back to the central service twice per year to stay activated

 

Emphasis is my own...

[towen]

MS Vista Licensing has to options for VL Customers

 

MAK and KMS Activation

 

MAK= Multiple Activation Key

KMS= Key Management Service

 

Check this website for further info

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/default.mspx

[GrumbleDook]

Be aware that the above site does *not* cover Edu licensing within UK, it is aimed at business and other volume license schemes.

 

For information about MS Edu Licensing specific to you, you either speak to the Edu Team at MS (the email address is earlier in the thread) or speak to the reseller who holds your Select / Schools / Academic Agreement.

[john]

@gatt in you original post that i replied to it said VA.20 which is why i questioned it, in the MS quote you did it says VA 2.0 which now I know what it means, basically its the Licence Server thingy I know about already, just not twigged, my brain was deeply involved in my new book

[Gatt]

Yeah sorry that was a typo on my part - I didn't notice it until now :S

[john]

don't worry, I should have had a dig around as well but it was friday night so we all had better things to do, like you thinking about weeble

[towen]

Be aware that the above site does *not* cover Edu licensing within UK, it is aimed at business and other volume license schemes.

 

For information about MS Edu Licensing specific to you, you either speak to the Edu Team at MS (the email address is earlier in the thread) or speak to the reseller who holds your Select / Schools / Academic Agreement.

 

As far as I've been informed (UK School Agreement Customers) can use either licensing sytem KMS \ MAK.

 

We have keys for both KMS and MAK for VISTA which have been obtain via the MS Volume Licensing Site.

 

I suppose we will have to wait and see when we get the software to which way we can license our copies of VISTA

[CyberNerd]

Vista was released to manufacturing today :

 

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/08/windows-vista-releases-to-manufacturing.aspx

[john]

It went yesterday morning at about 11:53 from my MSFT info.

Jim Allchin just posted these two little worlds that sent the IT world into celebrations:

 

"ITS TIME!"

 

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/08/it-s-time.aspx

[eejit]

So we should get it "some time in December"? Has anyone got a more definite time?

[meastaugh1]

So we should get it "some time in December"? Has anyone got a more definite time?

 

I think I read in an IT mag that it would be available to SA customers on 30 November.

[john]

30th Nov is when it is avalable, so those of you who can access the MS VL site thingy can get it there from then with your keys.

 

Shame I cannot, its a darned annoyance that I cannot, is this something that all SST / Ramesys customers have issues with as I would find it more convienient to go there to get my downloads, keys etc than emailing or phoning them.

[mrforgetful]

I'm finding it rather annoying yes. I emailed Ramesys today, they wont give me access details to the MVLS website lol

[eejit]

I'm finding it rather annoying yes. I emailed Ramesys today, they wont give me access details to the MVLS website lol

 

Us too. Luckily they recently sent us some disk and in the paperwork was our agreement number. I went to https://licensing.microsoft.com and tried the number - it worked. There was no "administrator" for our site so I added myself and was able to download whatever I wanted.

 

It may work for you too.

[mrforgetful]

I've a feeling this is going to be a lot of trouble to sort.

 

I've been there, logged in and I have to apply to be approved by our administrator.

Unfortunately I have no idea who it could be, hence why I emailed Ramesys. The reply from them was:

 

"The licences you purchase from us are Select not volume so access to this site would be of no benefit to you, with the select licence program we are not able to supply the information as the site in question has company sensitive information on it.

 

Having said that I've just looked at:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/sel/overview.mspx

 

and I quote:

 

Benefits of Select License

 

Select License benefits include:

 

Access to Microsoft Volume License Services (MVLS), a password-protected, secure Web site that offers electronic access to purchase history, order confirmations, and other helpful resources that help you manage your licenses with ease and confidence.

 

Should I email back armed with this new information?

[eejit]

I didn't bother - just went for it myself, safe in the knowledge that I'll never have to speak to Ramesys again

[john]

I mentioned this today with them when they said we will be lucky to see anything before Decemeber GRRRR That was my Christmas Project to start software testing. I said about the site, first responce was what site, when I explained more and that actually schools using Select use it and its up there, they were oh, then they use the confidential data trick. Surely if its up there they can login using the agreement data and then get us our copies we are wanting.

 

@mrforgetful, I would maybe keep pressing them as there must be something they can do even if its not giving us the direct access they could download the the ISO and send us that surely!

[mrforgetful]

He did say that he downloads them from there, but surely if I have to ask them to download it for us that defeats the whole point of the site?

[GrumbleDook]

I had a chat with them this morning ... it all depends on what sort of license you have.

 

If you are on the SSAT Select Agreement then you get the media sent to you and no access to the download site / VLK.

 

If you are on a Volume License Agreement then you do get access ... likewise with the Schools Agreement.

[eejit]

Has anyone here been able to activate yet?

We keep getting the "DNS name does not exist" error - along with many other people online.

[mrforgetful]

I had a chat with them this morning ... it all depends on what sort of license you have.

 

If you are on the SSAT Select Agreement then you get the media sent to you and no access to the download site / VLK.

 

If you are on a Volume License Agreement then you do get access ... likewise with the Schools Agreement.

 

But according to the Microsoft website the Select Agreement has access too. (see my earlier post).

 

Am I missing something?

 

Also, surely if I put my agreement number in when requesting access it should come back saying it's not valid for the site as opposed to been told it will be sent to my Administrator to verify me?

[GrumbleDook]

The administrator is Ramesys ... the SSAT Select Agreement is slightly special like that ... I will try and encourage someone from Ramesys to post their official response.

[GrumbleDook]

From conversations this is roughly the information I have.

 

Ramesys are the preferred partner for Microsoft and Adobe, and there is a Select Agreement for this with Microsoft. The administrator is indeed Ramesys and on there is their log of who has bought what, when and how many.

 

They do not give access to this to anyone (and did I ever try ....) as this would allow you to pull down absolutely anything and everything that they can sell you from Microsoft ...

 

There are a few exceptions to this ... some schools have signed up for a specified number of licences over a period of time but at better prices still (a sub-Select Agreement I suppose) ... and they have their own sub-site.

 

There are a few more twists and turns for Microsoft Partner schools ... and things start getting grey (or my brain was turning to mush).

 

At the moment Ramesys have Office 2007 ready to send out when you order / request it ... but Vista is a little way off for a number of reasons.

 

On a slightly different note ... but not completely ... have any primary schools here (or secondaries that support primary ... or vice versa) though about what they are going to do about activation? Are you going to wait until SP2 and have the licences tied into a server? Will it be an LA server? Does it have to be on the same domain?

 

A scary thought really ... almost pushing towards a single forest for a county and domains within that ... food for thought.