Purchasing Vista then Upgrading to Win7

So I'm thinking of purchasing a DOS computer with no OS installed. I can get Win7 Ultimate Upgrade through my school for $35, but cannot get the full versions at all. So in order to use the upgrade legally, I'd have to pretty much have Vista Ultimate. Win 7 Ultimate is actually what the school recommends for my course of study.

So looking around on the internet for Vista... Does anyone know where I can get it cheap and legally? is this site reputable?
Microsoft Windows

Thinking of doing this because the computer configured with Win 7 Pro would be actually more expensive than getting Vista at the store above and then upgrading to Ultimate through my school.

Versus Win 7 Home, it would be $20 more expensive total.

 

Just install Win7 ultimate twice. During the second install, enter in the product key and it will register.

 

Naughty, naughty.

 

Um. No.

Link

 

Do you have a link to where MS fully supports this?

 

Link

Ed Bott and Paul Thurrott are two of the web's pre-eminent Windows experts.

 

This part of the conclusion is what has me thinking it's not okay. So it's fully supported by Microsoft, as long as you're a valid, licensed owner of a previous Windows version (assume that means on the same PC). Which, in my case above, isnt the case (since it's coming with just MS DOS installed).
Am I wrong? If so, fantastic. Would love to just install it via the double install method.

 

Ahh, got it. That's what I thought, but wasn't sure. Sigh. Maybe I'll do the vista/ultimate combo I originally planned to be legally compliant.

 

I highly doubt anything bad will happen to you if you go with the double install method.

Also, you can get Windows 7 Professional for $30 if you're a college student. Do you absolutely need Windows 7 Ultimate?

 

I would never consider any 'Ultimate' version.

Looking at the support for different Vista versions, you are perhaps worse off installing 'Win 7 Ultimate'.
Vista Ultimate is treated as Vista Home as both will have support dropped in 2012.
Only Vista Business and Vista Enterprise will have support until 2017.
So from a support/updates pov, Ultimate versions are worth as much as Home versions.
Go with Windows 7 Professional, I'd say. Just make sure it meets the school minimum requirements.

 

I really dont know why they recommend Ultimate. Maybe something to do with their licensing agreement with MS? They just said it's their recommended OS (rec even for mac users to use through Parallels or Bootcamp).

 

They said they dont know why the law school recommends ultimate, but think it's due to better security and the fact that the school has a licensing agreement with ultimate (if the law school recommended pro in reality, they would still send out a recommendation of ultimate due to the licensing agreement and to make things easier - the less confusing the better).

When talking about installing a full version of windows on my computer, two separate ppl in the IT department (got two separate responses to my email inquiry from different ppl) said I could install the upgrade via the workaround. She also said the workaround is just done so often that she thinks it's fine. But there's no official word from their rep. The workaround was recommended by their rep for Mac computers though (if someone wanted to run bootcamp or parallels).

So still confused as to if I'm allowed. Going to law school, so dont want to violate any, if at all possible.

Leaning towards purchasing - Windows Vista Ultimate

And the Win 7 Ultimate upgrade via my school ($35), then just do the double install method. Total cost of the OSs will be 122, and the configured computer still comes in at just 18 bucks more than if I bought the computer with Home Premium (and 25 bucks or so LESS than if I bought it configured with Pro) installed through Lenovo. Obviously if I'm allowed to just do the workaround (since the IT recommended it, I'm guessing it's okay via their license?), that saves me an additional $90.

 

Why didn't you just buy a computer that came with Win7 Home/Pro already on it, and then buy the Ultimate upgrade? Seems much, much simpler to me.

 

Could do that - it would be more expensive, and are you allowed to upgrade Win 7 Home or Pro to Ultimate? As I understand it, you're only allowed to upgrade between Win 7 versions via Windows Anytime Upgrade that you just do through the computer (it just unlocks features of Ultimate?).

 

OEMs typically buy windows licenses for ~$50 (plus or minus ~$15; larger companies get better discounts), and you said that the Win7 Ultimate upgrade is $20, so how is $70 more than $122? Yes, you can upgrade from Home or Pro to Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade.

 

Not sure of outright costs for OEM or what they charge, just know that I configured the same machine with Home Premium (1133.74), Pro (1183.65) and DOS (1026.43). Ultimate is 35, and full version Vista on that site is 87 (122 total). So adding that to the DOS machine is 1148.43, compared to the other two quotes above.

 

Well if your copies are for the retail version it's not tied to one machine OEM version are tied to a machine. But if you buy a license for the new version is doesn't matter. Microsoft doesn't care if you have 100 computer and you buy 100 license of their software. What they care about is if you buy 50 and install it on 100 computers.