Is Microsoft Visual Studio Prof 2012 region locked? I know movies are region locked, but I have no idea about software. They charge $250 extra for it in my country, so I was thinking of buying it from America using ebay.
Don't know where are you from, but maybe that's just taxes? Live 25% VAT? Support your country, pay taxes I never heard about region locking of software itself, but official distribution channels may not sell outside their region of service.
Thanks Roman. Its nothing to do with taxes, just backroom deals. Everyone in my country complains that we have to pay so much more, including our politicians occasionally, but nothing is ever done about it.
Yeah, Adobe does the same thing with Photoshop and Autodesk with Max (and probably with all their software). It feels like discrimination from customer point of view when people in US can get exactly the same software significantly cheaper than people in EU. According to their license agreement you are not allowed to use software bought in US in EU either, so moving between countries means you technically have to buy a new license. I bought Photoshop from Toolfarm while living in EU, but when I received it, it said in the box that it's not allowed to be sold outside of North America and technically violated the license terms for me to use it.
I was going to buy a less expensive one through Ebay, but have decided its too risky. So if they won't sell me a download version through the MS online shop, I'll pay extra and buy it here.
I needed to do something for a client with Photoshop a month or so ago. I don't own PS so I went and found it for $699 US, but I couldn't buy it as I had to go to the Australian version of the site, where it cost over $1000. I couldn't buy it in a store, the only versions there were the student versions of the more expensive version of PS (something like $1600AU) which the store helpfully suggested that they could order for me. In the end I outsourced the work and it cost me <$10.
Yeah you know it like I do. They rip Aussies off. If you ever need to buy anything from the USA, for Australia you might try this: http://www.priceusa.com.au/ My sister used them to buy some bonephones and was happy with the service. I haven't bought anything with them yet, but I may use them this time. From what research I did on them a year ago, they appeared to be legitimate.
The thing is, even if you manage to buy something from an US store, the license agreement may prevent you from legitimately using the software. They may even block registration of the software if you are coming from non-US IP address. Worse thing is that if you spend money on buying some cheap Photoshop from eBay or something which are actually counterfeits (if it's too cheap to be true, it probably is). I don't think "Oh, but I didn't know!" or "But I spent money on buying it!" really counts in court.
In the end I decided not to buy Visual Studio at all. They have a downloadable option and still they are charging $150 US extra for it, just because I live outside America. I can't in good conscience support a company, that treats its foreign customers this way.
Is your company relatively new? You could enroll on BizSpark, and get tons of Microsoft stuff for free!
No, I'm just an indie and MS would hit me eventually. I started using Netbeans and Eclipse because of this issue and quite like them, so MS have lost themselves a customer.