(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I'm thinking about converting a half-dozen personal-use PCs from
XP Pro to Windows 7 Pro. (although my choice of Windows 7 Pro vs
the many other versions is based on nothing except the sound of
name....)
Looks like a single license is about $75-85.
Is there a cheaper way than multiple single licenses?
An MSDN subscription?
Something else?
And would that be the retail or OEM/systemBuilder version? Are you
willing to install a license and have it permanently stick to a
particular host so you can pay less for the OEM version, or do you want
the ability to later move that license to another host which means
paying more for the retail version?
Volume licensing.
The smallest volume pack is 5 licenses.
Volume licenses must be distributed within the same organization. They
are not to be purchased and then sliced off for separate sale or
distribution to other entities. That means if the 6 hosts you have are
all in the same company then volume licensing will work but if they are
all separate clients then you can't use a volume license and instead
have to get a separate license for each client. You "converting a half-
dozen personal-use PCs" doesn't say if they are all yours or all within
your family or if you'll be using those licenses with separate users
that are not part of some encompassing "organization".
At newegg.com, you can get a 3-pack OEM version fo $400 which is all of
$20 cheaper than then getting 3 individual OEM versions. So for a
one-time installation involving just 6 hosts, it may not be worth
getting the 3-pack version.
MSDN subscriptions:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/buy.aspx
An MSDN subscription will start you at around $700. You think that is a
good-value purchase for just 6 licenses of Windows 7 that alone would
cost $400? Like volume licenses, all installations from an MSDN license
are to be distributed within the same organization that has the MSDN
subscription.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZWQIVC/...N=B006Z WQIVC
This lists Windows 7 Pro for $90 but there's no mention if you're
getting an OEM or retail version, just that no retail packaging is
included. No experience with the selling source or this style of
product. Buy at your own risk.