As usual, the UK and the EU gets a shagging on the price.

Yeah...they'll shag pretty much anything over there. ;)

I agree. One of the biggest flaws in Windows Vista is the multiple (too many) versions available to the public. For whatever reason the team at MS had decided to ignore what they had learned from the previous releases of Windows (ie. XP). How many versions were available for XP? Starter, Home, Media Center, and Pro. There was no Home Premium or Ultimate. Maybe MS should take the Apple approach and just release one version rather than confusing consumers.

Ultimate will be "Windows Anytime Upgrade" only. Starter will likely only be available in developing nations, and Home Premium will likely be the only SKU on the Retail Store shelves.

....

And this will confuse users how?

so many choices so much confusion. seems almost like nickle and diming consumers.

basically, if people buy a striped down version, they will likely regret it in the future.

in my opinion if there has be differing versions of the same software, then it should be based on the differing versions of the hardware.

a basic version of w7 should work on a basic pc, which has the minimal requirements for the basic o.s.. a ultimate version should be made for more power pc's.

truly the value of an operating system is to provide all the features possible for consumers to "realize" the full potential.

Personally, I would judge that the average home user honestly won't miss any of those features. The full potential comment really blew me away though. Do you honestly think they would bother messing around with something like the group policy editor? That's even a better known feature too that was divided off. In short, people that need more probably build their own machines and never show their faces. Otherwise, they are IT/small company/business in which case they opt for the other side of the coin. There isn't much of a confusion since people normally buy a new PC that comes with a new OS. If they decide to upgrade, they should know by now if they need those additional features (in which case they upgrade to Ultimate) or just stick with what they have which is the most likely scenario. In the scenario that they suddenly need the additional features, MS is offering an upgrade there as well.

More or less, marketing has already taken a good look at everything (that's what they get paid for.) That's why they have all these versions in the first place which isn't all that much in the first place when you get down to it. Home premium already is the "standard" edition in "western" nations and there will effectively be only 3 choices at retail in these areas. At least, home premium comes on most new retail PCs which is what the family pack is for as well. I'd imagine they'd sell an Ultimate family pack if families used Ultimate more than Home Premium but that doesn't seem to be the case. I think the real news is that the offer seems to be limited to the US and Canada right now. The UK and other areas have to wait it seems.

Let me explain to you what is going on here (some of you, admittedly very few, seem to enjoy my genius insight into these matters)...

What MS is doing is basically compromising with the pirates of the world. Forget the US market -- MS already gets paid $50 per OEM license for 99% of PCs used in this country, with 95% of those PCs never upgrading the original OS (1% techie geeks in the world or users on "incapable for OS upgrade" older hardware)...

MS now had a choice. They could piss off the pirates of the world in countries like China, India & Russia where 95% of the ppl STILL buy computer-shop-built PCs with pirated OS (then/later) installed on it. Or they could drop the price of "latest & greatest" Windows to $50, which is the lowest MS is willing to go right now. Lower than that -- and MS really wouldn't mind you switching to Linux, Mac, or sticking to your old trusty easily-pirated XP... MS knows their hard work is worth $50 (I'd even put it at $80 myself, but I'm more generous than most customers they gotta deal with, in so many countries).

I've already established that Windows 7 will be IMPOSSIBLE to crack for 99% of the population. Repeated/crippled OS is not an option for the masses. They use pirated software to SAVE MONEY, so if they need to get their Russian cracking geek neighbor to recrack their OS every 2 months, it'll soon exceed the $ value of being legit in the first place, minus the aggrevation... THEY WILL REACH THIS CONCLUSION VERY VERY FAST, FRIENDS...

I'm personally very happy to hear the $50/license deal is back! I got 3 at the pre-sale offer and regretted not getting 3-6 more. As a software expert, MS basically gave me an incentive to donate my time to upgrade more family/friends PCs to Windows 7, if I really like it, and if they really like it when they see it on my machine(s)... Well done MS! Good biz move.

Sorry to report that Windows 7 has already been cracked the same way that Windows Vista was. The crack is also in the wild and I believe BetaNews reported on this a couple of days ago. This crack will most likely not be defeated because they would have to invalidate Lenovo's OEM license in order to do this. Even if they do, they could just find another OEM license and crack it with that. I have seen the cracks that rely on modding your BIOS, but this one does not require this. I doubt China and the like will stop pirating Windows even at a $50 price point.

MSFT already blacklisted the compromised Lenovo key. Betanews already did a story on that one.

USEFUL ARTICLE

THis is a very good article

Nice Article

the pricing is odd, esp for canadians so say the least but there are many ways around it these days

Typical of Microsoft to charge Can$199. At current exchange it should be Can$163. But I suppose it's the cost of shipping those heavy boxes of software all the way up in to Canada from Washington state - I guess I'll buy in the US

If I am able to purchase 3 upgrades today from Amazon for $150, then where the heck is the savings for the "Family Pack"? Shouldn't the consumer be saving by purchasing a pack? Another MS screw up..............Wake up man, how about 3 upgrades for $129 or something, then its a deal =((

That deal from amazon is over. If you look at Amazon now the upgrade price is $119.99.

Is there no distinction between the 32bit and 64bit versions? If I get this family package, for instance, could I complete 2 32-bit installs and 1 64-bit install? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Excellent question! I believe it's all based on a single license/key, so I would assume it's 32 *or* 64...but not both.

Whatcha got, Tim?

The Microsoft site doesn't seem to make any distinction in their edition comparisons, but it doesn't look like they've fleshed the Windows 7 pages out a whole lot yet.

I do not have a direct link, but it was stated that the keys for Windows 7 are valid for both a 32-bit and 64-bit install. You should be fine given your scenario.

If it is like it was with Vista:

Same key sold with 64/32 DVD, but tied to whatever bit-depth you install/activated first.

If you activate 32bit, it's a 32-bit key. You cannot later go and activate 64-bit with the same key.

As far as I can tell it is $150 for all three licenses. So essentially $50/license which isn't bad at all in the grand scheme of things.

Is this only for the upgrade or for full installs?

Upgrade only. But sicne the upgrade can do a clean install, it really doesn't matter. Microsoft is correctly assuming most of these will go on systems already running a version of Windows.

...not to mention how easy it is to trick the upgrade into thinking you have a legit qualifying product.

Great

As per usual, its time to screw the Canadians on the price again!
Microsoft should check, the exchange rate is less than 10%

My thoughts exactly ... you just beat me to it.

As long as you can buy this from e-tailers, then it wont be an issue. Just look at Vista Ultimate OEM pricing, $229.99 cdn @ ncix.com, and $189.99 usd @ Newegg.
---> $190/0.90 = $211.11
Also it wasn't more than a few weeks back that the canadian dollar was closer to ~15% on the dollar:
---> $190/0.85 = $223.50
There are likely better prices to be found from other Canadian etailers, but ncix will price match...

$150 CDN for 3 licenses for the FULL version or don't waste my time, M$.

Oh and I almost forgot:

All you greedy Canadian retailers who like to screw your own kind by padding the exchange rate, I have two words for you and they're NOT "Happy Birthday".

is this 150 per a license or 150 for all 3 license's?

150 per 3 licenses