<p>I am will be a freshman at MIT this September and I am in the process of buying my laptop. Does MIT/Microsoft has special discount for Microsoft Office Suite and XP professional? If so, how much would they be? Should I order them through the laptop vendor instead?</p>
<p>Apparently, undergrads can download (free) the ability to update to XP Professional. This probably requires certificates.</p>
<p>The website also says that MIT has a license for Office, but it looks like this is only for departments. I would advise getting the Student/Teacher version of Office -- it's cheapest that way.</p>
<p>My friend Seve, who is graduating in Course 2 in a few weeks, says, "Tell them to download it from the internet." I am merely reporting Seve's words; I am not condoning this activity in any way.</p>
<p>MIT has a liscence agreement and volume discount purchasing through Govconnection. The web address for purchasing (you need an MIT certificate) is <a href="http://web.mit.edu/ecat/govconnection/%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/ecat/govconnection/</a>.</p>
<p>Office 2003 without Access on there right now is $131 (with Access is $155). </p>
<p>Compare to amazon.com price of $124.99 without Access (the version with Access is not available online at amazon - a comparable full release runs over $300).</p>
<p>So the lesson is, if you want the basic edition, buy it anywhere. With Access, buy it from govconnection.</p>
<p>Have you considered OpenOffice and Linux? I doubt you will leave MIT without dabbling in them.</p>
<p>Hey,
I'm also a MIT09 and I just recently won XP Pro and Office 2003 Pro in a Business Plan Competition at Microsoft. I really don't have any need for them- so if you are interested I'd be interested in selling them to you. </p>
<p>I sent you a private message w/ my contact already so take a look or reply in this thread.</p>
<p>First thing I did when I got my powerbook was remove the office trial and pop on OpenOffice (well, the Neooffice/j port, but ...). Word completion does wonders for those of us who are always pushing the border to RSIs.</p>
<p>if you're coming in here <em>already</em> borderline RSI...
i'm going to light some incense for you, neighbour.</p>
<p>and yeah, you'll get experience with oo, at least, and if you consider athena = *nix ~ linux, then yeah, that too. not that i'm looking to set up a linux cruftbox this summer just for kicks or anything...</p>