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I am looking to purchase a copy of Coreldraw X3 and I have noticed that there is a student/teacher version available which is significantly cheaper than the standard X3 (about $500AU). I'm wondering if anyone knows if the student version is any different to the standard version eg does it come with less features, or is it the same version only offered at a lower price? Yes I am a poor potato eating student
David, the student version should have all of the same functionality as the retail version. The thing is it's supposed to be for non-commercial use, thats why it's so cheap. But who's going to find out right?
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It is the same exact thing as the full retail version, except that you do not get the clip art collection, font collection, some of the manuals, and maybe a few other extras. The core program is the same.
The biggest thing is that you also do not get tech support and you do not qualify for future upgrades. That means if you want X4 later you will have to pay the full price again.
If you look around, you can get X3 Full Retail version for about $200, but you have to be careful and read all the fine print of the ads. Most of the people selling the student version try to do their best to make you think you are buying the full retail version.
Incidentally, it's not a matter of being cheap. The price difference between student and retail versions of a product is often hundreds of dollars. When it's the same product you'd be stupid to pay more if you don't have to, and when it's slightly different (as in this case) it's definitely well worth considering "Is it worth paying $X for those extra features?"
All academic versions (that I have seen) expressly prohibit commercial use - so it's not an issue of being cheap or saving hundreds for the same program - it's an issue of protecting your business and your reputation. If you don't care about licensed software you can get tons of bootleg stuff that is "the same product" but it isn't right regardless of who may or may not find out.
All academic versions (that I have seen) expressly prohibit commercial use
Yeah, that does make a lot of sense - I'd always wondered why academic versions would even exist. Interestingly though I've never heard this before/been warned, etc. (I'm sure it's true because it makes a lot of sense - my point is it's not as widely known as it should be).
All academic versions (that I have seen) expressly prohibit commercial use -
Directly from the Adobe FAQ:
Question
"I'm very interested in buying the Education version of Adobe Creative Suite, but
first I want to know if the software can be used to produce work for
paying customers once I am working in the industry, or do I have to buy
a different version of Creative Suite once I'm working in the industry?”
Answer
Good news! You can use Adobe Education software (any title!) to produce
commercial/professional paid-for work when you leave school, or even
while you are in school. In this regard, Adobe does not limit how
student software is used. So students can use it to learn and to make
money!
Another reason to go Adobe
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I guess the reason for academic versions is the same reason as free care baskets for college room dorms (i.e. give them a free/cheap sample early because people are more likely to go with the product they already know than to buy something new when it comes time to upgrade).
I guess the reason for academic versions is the same reason as free care baskets for college room dorms (i.e. give them a free/cheap sample early because people are more likely to go with the product they already know than to buy something new when it comes time to upgrade).
Exactly. It's not because they care about poor impoverished students, it's because those students have 50 years of software buying ahead of them, and people become hibituated.
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Thank you for the update - I had some academic versions of Macromedia's suite and it (at that time) prohibitied commercial use - as did Microsoft's products. So if you qualify for academic versions (at least adobe's) it looks like the way to go!
Incidentally, it's not a matter of being cheap. The price difference between student and retail versions of a product is often hundreds of dollars. When it's the same product you'd be stupid to pay more if you don't have to, and when it's slightly different (as in this case) it's definitely well worth considering "Is it worth paying $X for those extra features?"
True. Its just the cost of Corel is pretty darn cheap to begin with.
Keep in mind also that the full Retail version that you can buy and download from the Corel website does not include everything that the boxed version does.
student edition of corel X3 
