Hi, Jim,

I was checking around with SoftMart.

They quoted a NASA government price of US$2887 but it includes Software Assurance....so it is good for three years. I pressed them about the three years, and they said that was the case, (for NASA)

So, that would bring the yearly cost to $962.00

A 1 year "boxed product" is $2484..again, under the NASA contract. No great savings there.

The quoted $2680 to buy S.A. for an existing subscription.

The academic version is $751.00. If you wanted to upgrade to a full production version, then there is no credit. There is no difference between the products, only the license.

I'm just asking myself, how can they legally do that on eBay? The academic price might seem to be a reasonable differential for what they are selling it at "ebay retail"....could they be using academic licenses and selling them as something else?

Then again...if Dell can buy Win XP Pro for $15.00 and sell it for $195, I suppose the price differential isn't that out of wack.

I will watch your experience with interest.