Microsoft is sponsoring a promotion that gives college students a chance to snag Office Ultimate 2007 for just $59.95. It's called The Ultimate Steal Unfortunately I can't do it since I'm not in college, but I'm not a fan of Office anyways. Right now I have Office 2k and OOo and Works 8.5 so I'm not in a big need.

The other thing is IBM just came out with their own free open source office suite called Lotus Symphony. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I hear its pretty good.

didn't newegg have something like this except for like free USBs or something like this?

I saw this, but as I am not a student I can't get it. If I was, I would definitely buy it for that price.

They're called Student programs, big deal.

I can pick Office Enterprise (2k3 upgrade) up for €49 here if I'm a student already. Student versions apply to any scholar, not just university/college students.

Remember if anything goes wrong with your application to get the $540 off of Office 07 Ultimate, you have to cough up the full value of the software. I think most students will stick to Office 07 Home & Student.

thats horrible so you just have to be a student to apply? i have a friend in the university.

Oh yeah I forgot to warn you about that...

There is a good reason why it's called "The Ultimate Steal". Fortunately for Microsoft, they are swimming in profit and their software costs a fraction of what we pay for it. Too bad really--I know a number of college students will be very angry when they found out that they forgot to dot a single "i" or cross a single "t", and thus are given a $600 bill that they really can't afford.

My school gives us Office 07 Enterprise. Free.
(It's a private school so technically we pay for it. And we all have laptops.)

Oh yeah, I'm always jealous of schools that require kids to have laptops...

depends on the school, some schools give you cheap IBMs from the the 1985s to the 2000s, other schools that are better give you high end ones you can customize your self or is just high end like 3000+. the cheaplaptops are free but if you want like a good one you have to pay like 3000$ i remember a friend got a uber one when he went to a private school

Well, they don't give us the laptops. We buy them...
But I have an IBM T43p...and it's horrible.
I could have gotten a really nice HP but my parents bought what the school suggested.

Last time I checked, Toungy wasn't eligible.

there are posters about that all over the computer/graphic sections in my school

He never said he was.

Where I come from, I am eligeble for student versions of programs, as a middle school student.

it says that only students in the US with an email adress that has an edu ending and a proof of enrollment can apply

On the US version, yes it does. However, there are other student programs offered - not just the US Ultimate Steal.

Yeah, but our school doesn't even allow us to bring laptops, or any electronics for that matter. NO cameras, PDAs, DAPs, nothing except for calculators.