News - Making sense of Microsoft's Windows 7 pricing and promotions

[Output]

I'm still confused, is the W7 that will be on offer for £49.99 a retail, upgrade or oem license?

In an effort to appease the European Commission, the E edition products feature no built-in web browser and are full packaged retail versions offered at upgrade prices.

So the answer is Full Retail - good job we have HEXUS to help us make sense of this

[kalniel]

right, If I'm building a PC in July and want Windows 7.. If i pre-order will i get to use vista home premium and then when 7 gets released I can use it for the price I paid when I built my pc?

Nope, if you pre-order you won't get anything until October. So you'll have to buy Vista separately (in the UK).

[Platinum]

The pre order prices are not bad at all for full versions, Think ill be getting the home premium for £49.99 and use my current Vista licence on my media box , thanks EU for making MS not do a upgrade version

What more do you get in the Pro version? just the option to connect to a domain?

[kalniel]

So the answer is Full Retail - good job we have HEXUS to help us make sense of this

The data is.. but the license might not be. We don't know.

[UnixNerd]

"In an effort to appease the European Commission, the E edition products feature no built-in web browser and are full packaged retail versions offered at upgrade prices."

Is it me or does the $219 upgrade price for the US not equate to the £199 'Upgrade' price for the ultimate edition? even with todays poor exchange rates that looks like a £60 rip off Britain surcharge to me. Having said that the full version price of $319 would be about £203 hmmm so all smoke and mirrors on the Microsoft deals for the UK then? True Saving £4 less the time taken to install the browser of your choice and the bandwidth charge to download it and save it in a safe location prior to upgrade?

Sorry I'm going to stick with XP. Shame too, the RC is actually pretty good but no way I can afford that in this financial climate, I'm no Apple fan but at least their upgrade policy for Snow Leopard seems to be sensible

[hardflipman]

What more do you get in the Pro version? just the option to connect to a domain?

you also get the xp virtualisation i think and lose the media centre. i'm sure there's other differences - maybe number of cpus etc

[Arthran]

Bah, bloody idiots...

Too expensive, and MS's approach to home multi-licensing is idiotic.... Makes me wonder if Bill didn't send an email in telling them that he thought home owners with more than 1 pc was about as likely to take off as the internet....

Give me 3 home licenses for £80 and i would be happy...

I'm 99% sure that the Premium/ultimate versions are 3user licences, much like the home/student office they have been releasing.

[scaryjim]

Is it me or does the $219 upgrade price for the US not equate to the £199 'Upgrade' price for the ultimate edition?

I believe $219 would be pre-tax, as US states levy differing amounts of sales tax, so you have to add *at least* 15% VAT on before doing your calculations.

On the other hand, something doesn't equate with the comparitive price differences between versions: $119 == £79 but $199 == £189?!?!?
Epic Maths Fail, I think...

[scaryjim]

you also get the xp virtualisation i think and lose the media centre. i'm sure there's other differences - maybe number of cpus etc

According to the earlier pre-release information you *don't* lose media centre in Professional, although MS might have changed their minds on that. But certainly the original intention was to have the increasing priced versions add features without removing any...

[sauzee]

So it's £50 for a full retail version of Windows 7 for a limited period?

If it is sounds like a good deal to me.

[aidanjt]

As I understand it, the EC is still unhappy with the 'E Edition' bullcrap. Why don't they just offer a choice at the OOBE screen and that'll make everyone happy on both sides of the pond and Microsoft can brush off their anti-competitive image somewhat.

[mercyground]

Not happy. Not only do we get screwed in the $=£ crap again... Thumbing their nose at the EU by "crippling" w7 by not including IE8 (Which doesnt solve the monopoly issue anyway) we get shafted again.

Frack this... I'm off to abuse amazon.com and get a usa version over here. One. Its cheaper. Two. ITS A FRACKING OS. I should be able to buy it and use it whereever the hell i want.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...mpare-editions
^ for the different versions.

[mercyground]

# Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
# Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.

A$$holes.

I want to buy it and download the damn iso. All i need is 2 legit keys you money grabbing fracktards.

[MorrisR]

[QUOTE=mercyground;1723324]
Frack this... I'm off to abuse amazon.com and get a usa version over here. One. Its cheaper. Two. ITS A FRACKING OS. I should be able to buy it and use it whereever the hell i want.


Just tried it on Amazon - $49.99 for the Upgrade Home Premium version, but won't ship to UK. And that would be at genuine exchange rates, although no delivery charge figure available.

[mercyground]

Just tried it on Amazon - $49.99 for the Upgrade Home Premium version, but won't ship to UK. And that would be at genuine exchange rates, although no delivery charge figure available.

Yep wont let me do it from the MS store either... and thats the Send you a licence key and Download it yourself option.

Digital Divide anyone?
Completely unimpressed.

[mercyground]

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/...pre-order.aspx

Many of you offered feedback that helped us make Windows 7 work the way you want. We think we found the perfect way to thank you—a chance to be one of the first (without having to wait in line) to get Windows 7 at a special low price.

You can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium E for £49** or Windows 7 Professional E for £99**. The offer is available through participating retailers. Each retailer will tell you how to get your copy when Windows 7 is released.

* The offer begins on 15th July, 2009 and will end on 9th August, 2009.
** Estimated Retail Price
** Before you install an E edition of Windows 7, please visit windows.microsoft.com/install-windows-E for important information. When you install the E edition of Windows 7, you'll need to do a custom (clean) installation. That means you'll need to back up all of your files and settings, install the operating system, then re-install your files, settings, and programs. Important: The E editions of Windows 7 do not contain an Internet browser. Please get a browser from Microsoft or a third party and have it on a CD/DVD or another device so it's ready to install after the Windows 7 installation is complete.

Yay... we're soooo special... have a extra 50% ontop of what the americans are paying and by the way we're shafting you again cos we're "complying" with the EU ruling.

And people wonder why they get pirated.