Vista Ultimate SP1 Promotional Software Kit Is Live yet Again

Microsoft has decided to breathe additional life into Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 Promotional Software Kits by prolonging the deadline by which the recipients will be able to register and receive a product key to activate copies of the operating system. Vista Ultimate SP1 Promotional Software Kits are copies of the high-end editions of Vista delivered to attendees of MSDN and TechNet events in 2008. The deadline for registering NFR (Not for Resale) editions of Windows Vista was initially set to December 31, 2008.

A deadline that Microsoft respected, by taking the registration website offline at the end of the past year. However, the Redmond company is now offering procrastinators another chance, with the RegisterWindowsVistaSP1 website back online.

“I would imagine some of you attended Microsoft events last year. At some of those events we handed out or raffled off NFR copies of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1. Here’s a pretty picture of the kit I grabbed from one of those events. Many of you ran home and cracked the seal on the kit and immediately followed the instructions. Those instructions told you to go to the website at http://www.registerwindowsvistasp1.com/ and plug in your PIN (the one inside the kit), your information and submit the request. After you submit the request, an email is sent to you with a valid product key for installation. The process worked perfectly until the deadline. That’s the good news. The deadline WAS 12/31/2008. Repeat, WAS,” Keith Combs, Microsoft evangelist, revealed.

Owners of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 Promotional Software Kits can now head over to the RegisterWindowsVistaSP1 website and enter the unique PIN from the copies they were handed, along with their email address, and Microsoft will offer them a product key. The company plans to re-retire the offer in mid-2009.

“For those of you that missed that deadline, it has now been extended until June 30, 2009. So, if you still have a kit and didn’t register it, please go do it now and have the product ID emailed to you. Don’t expect the deadline to be extended again. Get over there and get this done,” Combs added.