Windows 7 Half-Price Sale Starts Friday -- InformationWeek

Windows 7 Half-Price Sale Starts Friday

Microsoft is offering deep discounts on its next operating system in effort to boost sales.

Consumers who pre-order a copy of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system will receive more than 50% off the retail price for a limited time starting Friday.

The full version of Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at $199, with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119. The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199. Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $319, with the upgrade version at $219.
But U.S. shoppers who pre-order between June 26th and July 11th will receive discounts of 50% or more, Microsoft said. For instance, Windows 7 Home Premium will sell for $49 during the discount period, while Windows 7 Professional will sell for $99. Participating retailers include Best Buy and Amazon, as well as Microsoft's own online store.

A similar program will be offered in Europe from July 15th to Aug. 14th.

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc, in a blog post Thursday, said the discounts are meant "as a way of saying thank you to our loyal Windows customers."

That may be, but Microsoft's aggressive pricing for Windows 7 shows that the company is anxious to reinvigorate flagging Windows sales. Microsoft's client unit, which houses Windows, saw sales slip 16% in the most recent quarter.

In a further effort to boost sales, Microsoft on Thursday disclosed an upgrade program through which consumers who purchase a Vista-powered PC can migrate to Windows 7 at little or no cost when the latter becomes available on Oct. 22.

Microsoft said it would defer recognition of 50% of revenue for sales made through the program until the fulfillment date of the purchases or until the program expires, based on whichever comes earliest. Microsoft said it expects to defer $200 to $300 million in such revenues during its current fiscal fourth quarter, which ends June 30.

Such upgrade programs are generally meant to convince consumers to not hold off purchasing PCs during the time period between when a new product is announced and when it's actually available.

Microsoft needs to tread carefully when it comes to upgrade programs. The company was sued last year by consumers who complained that some Windows XP PCs sold as "Vista Capable" prior to Vista's launch in January 2007 were anything but.

Yeh the Vista Capable computers thing wasn't necessarily correct. I worked on a laptip earlier this week that had 512 mb of RAM. I would never put Vista on less than 1 gb. Fortunately that was never fulfilled so it still had XP on it. On the other hand my brother bought a higher end Vista capable laptop that had more than enough power for Vista however he has had driver issues with it. Namely the wireless adapter. I think that if the so called Windows 7 capable computers run vista very well than 7 should be no problem on that computer.

Personally I don't know if I'll do this because I shouldn't spend the money and I'm perfectly happy with Vista. It is tempting though. I didn't want to buy 7 until I purchase or build another computer.

Does anyone know if this is a discount at purchase of if you would have to wait on a rebate from MS?

New Vista PC buyers to get free upgrade to Windows 7

New Vista PC buyers to get free upgrade to Windows 7

Microsoft has said today that new consumers who buy Vista PCs before the much anticipated Windows 7 operating system launches in October will get a free upgrade to the new OS.

To get added "buzz," the company said it will also be taking pre-orders for the operating system beginning June 26th, offering Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 USD and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99, about half off their suggested retail prices.

Beta testers and users of leaked 7 RCs say the new operating system runs much smoother then Vista does, as well as faster booting, and less UAC pop-ups.

Any consumer that purchases Vista Premium, Business or Ultimate beginning tomorrow will be given a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available on October 22nd. Vista Basic is not eligible, and Microsoft says the promotion will run until January 2010.

The pre-order sale will start tomorrow in the US, Canada and Japan and next month in the UK, France, and Germany. Microsoft expects to sell out within 2 weeks at the promotional prices.

Newegg has it here:

Newegg.com - Pre-Order your Windows 7 Now!

Microsoft Store here:

Windows 7 - Buy and download from Microsoft Store

Note MS offers it as a download + disk.

The Ultimate version not in this deal but the only features MS posts that the Ultimate has over the Pro are:

1) Help protect your data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker.

2) Work in the language of your choice or switch between any of thirty-five languages.

Both offers through July 11 in the US. Or limited by supply.


It appears that both the 32 bit abd 64 bit options are included in one package.

Also note these are Upgrade versions requiring a previous copy of Vista; XP; or 2000.

Windows 7 editions Comparison chart [Wikipedia]

I wonder why this is only for the upgrades? I bet I know why it doesn't apply to Ultimate. The half price ultimate upgrade would only be $10 more than the half price pro upgrade. I guess that MS can't have that.

UPDATE: Long story short, every Windows 7 retail box (except for Home Basic) comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit install discs, according to Microsoft.

http://community.winsupersite.com/bl...bit-discs.aspx

Earlier reports had the 64 bit version only available via the MS download:

Neowin.net - Where unprofessional journalism looks better

Micro Center offering Windows 7 coupons for $39 and $89

We've just received a note from Neowin reader kilobyte1024 that let us know electronics retailer Micro Center is offering Windows 7 pre-orders for $10 less than the pre-order standard prices.

There is a catch though, you have to go visit one of their 21 US locations to obtain a coupon between today and Sunday. However, once you've obtained the coupon you can then return between October 22 and November 4, after Windows 7 will hit general availability, and purchase your copy of Windows 7 for the reduced price. Meaning you don't have to actually "pre-order" right now, just obtain the coupon and purchase later.

Sounds like a great deal, if you can get into one of their stores this weekend.

As we reported earlier today, Microsoft is now selling pre-orders of Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional at a discount price of $49.99 and $99.99 respectively starting June 26 and going through July 11, while supplies last. Results of the first day of the pre-sale have been very positive for Microsoft and as of 1:30 PM ET, Windows 7 Home Premium, selling for $49.99 has claimed the number one spot of Amazon's software bestseller list, while the Professional edition, selling for $99.99 has claimed the number two spot.

So anybody bought it yet?

Any ideas if this will be made available to UK customers?

From post #1:

A similar program will be offered in Europe from July 15th to Aug. 14th.

That is all that I know.