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Windows 7 Pricing and Upgrade Option [windowsteamblog.com]
today we’re announcing details for the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, pricing, and a special pre-order offer for select markets.But first, I want to talk a little bit more about GA and the worldwide availability of Windows 7. We’ve really focused a lot of our efforts on getting the product out to as many people around the world as quickly as possible. OEMs will start shipping PCs with Windows 7 in all language versions beginning on GA, October 22nd.
And for our retail software, we’ve made significant strides in terms of timing. Gone are the days when it could take months for all language versions to be available. In fact – we’ve narrowed the gap to just over ONE week!
Video [microsoft.com]
It's actually priced really well, it's only £229 (ultimate version) in the UK. Hold on, wait a minute, they really do care about existing Vista users - their upgrade is a massively reduced price of £199.
They're so kind. And while you're installing your upgrade you can think about all the other people outside Europe upgrading for £0.00. (It's free)
The Professional version is £10 cheaper... like that's going to help.
Avast! This be makin' me think of another upgrade plan!
Kaled.
I haven't played the video since I don't feel like installing Silverlight right now, and I'm not finding a feature comparison chart. What are the reasons, if any, that I might want Ultimate instead of Professional?
Also, my system is a 3.0 Ghz P4 w/ 2-gigs of RAM. Is Windows 7 going to be noticeably slower? Faster? The same?
I've been able to locate Vista drivers so far for all but 2 of my peripherals, which I haven't checked yet. Need to check out some software. I'm generally extremely reluctant to upgrade, but this doesn't seem to be as bad as expected. Also, I assume I can buy the upgrade to lock in the pre-order price and then install later when I've gotten these issues straightened out.
The Ultimate gives you encryption and 35 languages for $20 more, but doesn't offer a half-price pre-order upgrade.
They're so kind. And while you're installing your upgrade you can think about all the other people outside Europe upgrading for £0.00. (It's free)
I agree with the sentiment that Microsoft is sending an "up yours" to European commission by hitting the consumers there with a no upgrade option.
Win7 vs. Vista - much cleaner - clearer to use - I can find the options to modify various things without having to google it, doesn't notify me about irrelevant junk constantly, icons and UI much easier - great job - I'll be buying some MS shares soon ;)
It's the OS that Vista should have been.
Anyone have a source for good bench marks?
I'm also a big fan of Linux distributions - if it wasn't for Adobe, my visitors/clients, games, etc etc - I would have switch permanently a long time ago.
[edited by: bill at 6:22 am (utc) on June 26, 2009]
[edit reason] tidy up [/edit]
Moderator's note: This thread is about pricing for Windows 7, not the joys of other operating systems. Feel free to start another thread if you would like to discuss another topic.
Checking on Google and Wikipedia, I apparently can also view kanji and Cyrillic characters, though I don't believe I can create documents with these.
FAQs on Vista and Windows 7 say that these operating systems are not upgradable to multiple languages. But does this refer to the operating system interface and to document creation, or is this also a limitation on what I can display (and perhaps use Google to translate)?
Language packs allow you to view content in the target languages and input text into browsers, word processors, etc. The core operating system language remains unchanged. With a language pack I could enter Japanese into a word processor using the language pack's IME, but my menus and interface would remain in English.
I noticed major grumblings about the pricing upgrades. Microsoft should be bending over backwards to keep the customers they have left at this point. When will they ever learn?
....The upgrade for Windows 7 Home Premium, priced at $49.99, immediately stormed to the top of Amazon.com's bestseller list. The $99.99 Windows 7 Professional Upgrade held the No. 2 spot in software, while Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade, a $219.99 package that has not been discounted, claimed No. 4 as of 1:30 p.m. ET Friday....
...there are so many other ways by which MS can make money than by trying to fool common people to upgrade to a software with useless features they are never ever going to use.
In general the pricing seems to be a few bucks less each step than the previous Vista segments. What I have seen of the Win7 is a more robust and SECURE platform than XP (which I love and have no immediate desire to upgrade at the moment).
The pre-release order option for the Home version does seem very good at Fifty Bucks. Even so, no hurry on my end. I'll wait until the hardware gets that much cheaper when it is necessary to replace a machine... and take my savings that way.
As for pricing, I've put in an order for Home Premium at CAD70 including delivery, at that kind of price it's a fair upgrade - however I may well have hesitated to pay full price - and I would have surely waited for SP1 too.
Many people I know of had postponed their computer purchase to avoid Vista !
There has been some noise made asking MS to give heavy discounts or a gratis license to users who purchased Vista Ultimate. That does make some sense as a lot of the promises made for that particular version have not been met.
Given that few Vista-owners will pay to upgrade at current prices, my guess is that MS could actually make more money by offering low-cost upgrades. $15.00 for Basic (downloaded) ranging up to $35.00 for Ultimate would probably be near optimal. If time-limited (to 1st Dec) - it would also mean a large number of users would upgrade immediately.
Kaled.
