Published: Thursday 25th June, 2009 | Author: Parm Mann
Products: Windows 7
Companies: Microsoft (All Microsoft content)
External reviews: Microsoft Windows 7
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email to a friendMicrosoft has finally unveiled its pricing plans for Windows 7. The operating system will launch on October 22nd, and here's what you can expect to pay:
The US retail prices for Windows 7 upgrade editions - eligible to users of previous versions of Windows - are as follows:
The US retail prices for full packaged retail versions of Windows 7 are:
In the UK, the retail price for upgrade editions of Windows 7 are:
In comparison, the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is $10 cheaper than Windows Vista. Despite many hoping that Microsoft would slash pricing in response to the global economic crisis, both Professional and Ultimate edition pricing remains unchanged.
Instead, Microsoft will be offering discounts as part of a pre-order promotion. Customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan will be able to save up to 50 per cent or more on standard retail pricing with pre-orders placed between specific dates.
The US and Canada pre-order promotion runs between June 26th and July 11th. For the UK, Germany and France, pre-orders need to be placed between July 15th and August 14th.
Microsoft adds that promotional pricing will vary per country, and will be available while stocks last from the Microsoft Store or select online retailers such as Amazon.
In regards to European "E" editions, Microsoft has revealed that the browser-less version of Windows 7 offers no means of upgrading from Windows Vista, and upgrade editions consequently won't be offered in Europe. Instead, European customers will be treated to full packaged retail versions without Internet Explorer at upgrade pricing.
It has also been suggested by some that the "E" editions do not apply to the UK, but we await further confirmation from Microsoft on that one. In keeping with Redmond tradition, the software giant's pricing announcement is about as complicated as it could be - and there's little-to-no clarification of multi-user licenses.
We've been mighty impressed by Windows 7 as a product, but Microsoft's pricing and marketing may be its downfall. Apple's $29 upgrade to a single edition of Snow Leopard now seems heavenly simple.
*Update* Further details are now available here: Making sense of Microsoft's Windows 7 pricing and promotions
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I paid less for vista oem..
lets all refuse to buy it to force MS to lower the cost.
It will be quite hard to convince me to upgrade to 7 at those prices tbh.
I love the new taskbar but its finding it hard to justify the price.
there is a few small features such as lowering all other devices volume by % when you ring or answer a voip phone and homegroup but its mostly proformance and under the hood changes.Quote
Is windows 7 really that much different from vista that it deserves £79 for the home version...
Yes put simply, anybody who's used 7RC will tell you the same.
as of the 15th of July we can pre-order and get a huge discount, so use that as your incentiveQuote
I just read on teh BBC article - what they are calling upgrades are actually full versions and the same price. It's just that you can't upgrade a copy of Vista - has to be a fresh install
But the licensing between the two is very different. An upgrade carries over the license conditions from your previous version, a full version has its own conditions.Quote
I want to upgrade Vista to Win7 Home Premium.
I can't upgrade, but I can buy a full retail version at the upgrade price of £80.
However, I don't know whether that is a single or multi-use licence (and I've no idea why it should be >1).
Because I'm in Europe, its likely to be an E version without IE, buts thats no problem because if I want IE I can download it on another machine, or get a free disk from somewhere.
However, there now appears to be some uncertainty regarding the E version in UK.
Not at all sure about Media player, but presumably just as easy to get as IE if I want to.
However, if I'm quick off the marks, I can pre-order for about £40?
My brain hurts.:confused:Quote
Yes put simply, anybody who's used 7RC will tell you the same.
as of the 15th of July we can pre-order and get a huge discount, so use that as your incentive
If i can get it for £40 if i preorder it i will get it.
atm i have vista home premium. I assume I can get windows 7 pro at half price if I preorder it?
I will definatly be checking the hexus home page on july 15th to find out all the details for preordering.Quote
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