Microsoft Reveals Windows 7 Pricing & Promotions Comments

I have to admit the promotion pricing looks really good value so I think I'll pre-order the professional edition. who is the pre-ordering done with, i.e Microsoft or a retailer like PC World?.

Any indication of OEM pricing?

Wow, to be honest I am really happy. hacing used the Windows 7 beta's for the last few months and the RC version I am excited by the prospect of this OS in its entirity. The early adopter pricing is excellent. With 3 PC's running I will b able to licence all three for the cost of the full retail package from October. Microsoft have pitched this well and have struck a good balance in the pricing. Also, the fact that unbundling IE8 saves me money, I really cant complain.....Kudos

So if i'm reading that correctly - I can use the promotion to pre-order Windows 7E "full retail" Home Premium for £79.99. As opposed to our American friends who would only get an Upgrade SKU?
This would allow us to upgrade our XP machines cheaply, no?

Stonking promotion.

I'll be buying Home Premium for £49.99. I assume that's the "retail" version?

This:
Windows 7 E Home Premium or Professional between 15 July and 14 August by selling them for just £49.99 and £79.99 respectively
Sounds amazing well priced. However, I am completly and utterly refusing to buy the E edition. I do not care what Eu/Microsoft thinks, a browser is part of an O/S these days. I fully intend to buy the normal version of windows 7 and IF and i stress IF it is not possible then I will have to get it from other means.
Hopefully though it will be a case of Windows 7 E keys working with Windows 7 (non E media) and I can purchase the E edition but install from a non E iso. I can dream...

£50 as a promotional price, that's one hell of an incentive. If the price stayed at that I reckon it would fly off the shelves. Any ideas on the pricing for the OEM versions yet?

I'll just order a OEM copy of Win 7 Pro. Should cost a lot less than a full retail version (overclockers sell OEM copies for decent prices).

£50 for windows? Bargain, im definatly sold! As I was looking at the Acer Revo I could get the Linux version (now being shipped with 160GB Drive it seems), an extra 1GB ram for £10 and windows for £50, so save £40.. bargain

I don't particularly understand how you can say the prices are competitive.
I mean in terms of OS competition, your average Mac new OS release is the same price long term as the 'early adopter promotional' release of W7 Pro version, and Linux is well..free.

Yeah, £50 for the new OS will suit me fine. I'm currently running Vista Home Premium pretty successfully, but I'd like to upgrade to 7. Not clear to me at this stage whether I'll have to do a 'clean' install (very inconvenient) or whether 7 will be clever enough to avoid this.

So does windows 7 still have the stupid policy of 1 copy 1 computer. Or can i finally buy 1 copy and put it on all the computers in my house, making it far better value for money

I'm very tempted by this, I've not actually used Windows 7 yet since I own a Mac, but I've been looking to install Windows on it using Boot Camp. I'm assuming Windows 7 will be supported by Boot Camp? I do hope so...

@Bry: "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right" eh? It seems unfair to take out your anger at the EU's sily decision on Microsoft. If you want a disc with IE on it then why not buy the E edition and make your own slipstream disk? It's only that microsoft can't bundle IE, not that it won't work with the E edition.

@SJ: OS X will only install on Apple PCs so that's only a valid comparison if you're looking to buy Windows 7 for one of those and Linux is a special case.

@Mikey_uk: The details of this announcement seem to vary depending on who's reporting it but the general concensus seems to be that the European versions will only allow upgrades from lower versions of Windows 7 and not from Vista.

@Lord Comben: It's hardly a stupid policy, you may be honest but I know plenty of people who'd happily install it on all their friends computers as well as their own. Multiple computer discounts would be nice though.

The most exciting point that nobody's raised yet is that if there's no upgrade editions then will the student deals be for the full version this time? Windows 7 Ultimate Retail for £40 would be wonderful.

7 has the same policy as all versions of windows.
Retail edition: can be installed on as many different computers you like but, only one at a time.
OEM - Is tied to your motherboard. So technically can only ever be installed on one pc (motherboard)

I suppose there are always those dishonest people :( It would just be so much better at 150 for a household. Or 50 for a single then it would be super amazing :)

Am I right in saying I, as a UK customer cannot simply upgrade from Vista and must do a clean install? This is a need to know people so if someone will reply please I'm confused.

I've been using the RC as my main OS since it came out. Very pleased with speed, stability etc.

At £50 it is a bargain an I will probably get a second one for my laptop. As full editions they can presumably me moved from PC to PC, unlike OEM.

That's not correct Gordon, the E editions will not be able to upgrade from Vista. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=154890

@Gordan - thanks there, I was getting a little worried. Sorry to be a pain, but is a clean install worth the hassle? Are there any downsides to simply upgrading my system to W7?

I cannot continue with Vista come October after using the RC

Let's clear things up..

Upgrade options will be available in the Europe!
See hear...
http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/06/25/microsoft-holds-the-line-on-windows-7-pricing-launches-limited-time-promotion.aspx

You can buy upgrades for XP and Vista but only perform an upgrade install from Vista.

Upgrade paths
Vista Home Premium -> 7 Home Premium
Vista Business -> 7 Pro
Vista Ultimate -> 7 Ultimate

@Bry. It is highly likely that you can install a 32 or 64 bit non E version and activate with the key that came with the E version. E versions affect the software not the licence.

Extra Info:
http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/06/25/clean-install-with-windows-7-upgrade-media-what-about-x64-upgrades.aspx

@J4cK1505 - i wouldn't worry too much about doing a clean install, the Windows Easy Transfer tool makes it a whole lot easier than it used to be. If you have an external hard drive it'll copy all of your files and settings from your old installation and copy them onto the new one. You still have to re-install all your programs but to help with that it will give you a report that lists everything you had installed (even driver packages) on your old version of windows so you don't need to remember everything - or foolishly waste your time taking screen dumps of your installed progs like i did the first time...

@Gordan - well lets hope it does, No upgrade option over here would suck eggs! I have too many programs most of which I do not have the disks for anymore. Just when I thought Microsoft were on a winner

Just asking in what shape or form are these prices competitive in any way?

Apple will charge $29 to upgrade to SL.
Linux is well...free.

So Microsoft will charge at least twice as much for what will be the once-again inferior OS, and that is deemed competitive?

Wait, Microsoft: competitive. That's an oxymoron, right?

Tin hat time; "OMG W7 is such an advancement from Vista!" Yeah you're right, there wasn't much room to go backwards was there though?

@Gordon - Ooh, that's a bit harsh considering that Windows 7 seems to be to Vista what Snow Leopard is to Leopard - i.e. introducing a few new technologies under the hood, a speed up, but not too many new features. Each to their own though.

I actually find Windows 7 on about par with Leopard (especially with the new taskbar), but I'd like to see if it suffers from slowdown, as my Vista installation does, after a couple of months of use. Still, two new, sparkling OS's coming out this Autumn - can't be bad ;)

I think £50 is good value if you look at all the software bundled with Windows now. IE will still be available for European versions anyway (albeit via separate install) so I don't see what the fuss is about. I have just gone from Win7 Beta to RC and it took literally 15 minutes to install and be up running again including chrome and flash. Now if I wanted to do the same with 'free' Linux it would cost me around 3 hours and a lot more hacking and stress. I will certainly be ordering a full version in due course.

PS Rest In Peace Michael Jackson.

And I'd just like to add to that the fact that MS needs to allow for countless hardware configurations.
P.S. Given the recent iPhone pricing revelations, it might not be a good idea to drag Apple into an argument about value-for-money, as it could get ugly.

Any idea where you can pre-order? The link given doesn't seem to allow an order at the moment ...

@Gordon

So, W7 is catching up to Leopard, an OS just about to be replaced. And for £50.

M$ well and truly ahead of the game, again...

Website is up and running - however Professional is set at £99 not £79.

Still think it may be worth it.

'An upgrade edition would bring IE over from the original OS, possibly raising the ire of the European Commission.' - bit-tech.net

If that's the sole reason for a no upgrade option to UK customers surely there is a method that could be implementated as to 'delete' IE in the upgrade process. The lack of IE in Windows7 is a stupid move enforced by the EU; a browser is integral to an OS. Now we will need to install IE via a second instalation disc just to install Chrome/Firefox etc. It hasn't changed anything, IE will still find its dirty paws onto my system albeit with a little more hassle

I've just been on to the Microsoft UK pre-order link, and - as I see is reflected in some of the later comments - Microsoft are quite clear that it will not be possible to install as an upgrade, specifically: "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."

Am I the only person who finds this an absolute non-starter? Over the course of a year or so using my main PC I have probably spent cumulative days installing applications and drivers and configuring it... not to mention all the manufacturer-installed drivers and tools that will probably be impossible to replace on a clean install of a new OS. And "backup"? What sort of backup will take my installed applications and licenses and settings and successfully restore them to a new OS? (I'm sure I can _buy_ tools to assist with this, but I don't believe they are going to be straightforward in practice.)

The £49 price is attractive, but the process they are demanding of us (the European users, that is)... no way! Looks like I'm stuck with Vista!

For once, I can express reasonable pleasure at the offer pricing we have been afforded here in the UK, though the full price is still a little on the high side.

I am presuming there are no restrictions on this "E" version and it can be used like a full retail copy of the operating system and can be moved between PCs.

I have a desktop and laptop. Does anyone know will i need to buy two copies, or can i install the one copy on both machines?

@Brian - As far as I know it's one copy per computer. If you want to install Windows on another machine, you'll need another copy. The good thing is, you can install the versions up for pre-order on however many different machines you want (it's not linked to hardware like an OEM copy) but it can only be on one machine a time.

@simonm - If the install process is as it has been for Windows 7 Beta and RC, then a clean install will happily go onto a hard drive with Vista (or XP, perhaps other OS's but I don't have experience of that) already present on it. In the process of a clean install it will gather up all the old Windows files, folders and other miscellaneous and put them under a folder called Windows.old. I believe you can then restore your Windows settings and programs by Easy Transfer Wizard, but again I haven't tried that personally. I can attest that all user content I had was perfectly and safely stored and nothing was lost, under the clean install process. Backing up is just good advice, of course.

@Simonm - yes indeed. What a pain in the ass a clean install is. I too have probably spent a cumulative day or two configuring my system exactly how I want it. In fact it took me a good day when I got my current PC, to install ALL my programs and copy all my files etc. Man the DVD drive is slow. With or without the easy transfer tool, it isn't a hard task, just utterly boring. A task I only ever want to do when I buy a new PC. But I know for a fact, me and many others will give in to MS and do it anyway lol