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June 25, 2009

Microsoft slashes Windows 7 price to £49

UK customers will have to preorder or pay full price

Rosemary Hattersley

Microsoft has revealed how much it will charge for its next operating system, Windows 7. Windows 7 Home Premium Edition will cost £149.99, while the Professional version will be £219.99 and the Ultimate Edition £229.99.

The Home Edition is £20 cheaper than the equivalent version of Windows Vista. The Professional and Ultimate versions cost the same as their Vista equivalents.

Windows 7 review

Windows 7 will go onsale in the UK, the US and other territories on 22 October. However, unlike previous versions of Windows, there will be no upgrade price option for EU users.

Instead, all EU customers will have to pay for a brand-new licence, regardless of whether they are an existing Windows user. This situation is a result, says Microsoft, of it having to produce an 'e' version of its OS that doesn't come with the Internet Explorer browser preinstalled.

From the 22 October launch until "at least Dec 31st" Windows 7 Home Premium will be offered at the reduced price of £79.99 in all EU territories, said Microsoft UK spokesman John Curran.

Microsoft was sued in the EU for anti-competitive practice because it assumed customers would want to use its Internet Explorer browser and preinstalled it on Windows XP. However, the web browser is not an integral part of Windows and Microsoft was judged to have been anti-competitive to other browser makers in preinstalling IE on Windows PCs. Windows operating systems in the EU are therefore not allowed to ship with IE preinstalled.

In the US, Windows 7 will cost $119.99 for the Home Premium Upgrade version or $199.99 for the full version.

To sweeten the blow for EU customers penalised for not being able to get a cut-price upgrade version to Windows 7, Microsoft is instead offering Windows 7 Home Premium Edition for £79.99 if bought between the launch on 22 October and 31 December. The deal will apply to all EU territories.

Other special offers were also confirmed today in our briefing with Microsoft. These include the launch tomorrow of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Programme and a pre-order scheme whereby customers can get hold of a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Business for £49.99. This price is for Windows 7 Home Premium, while Windows 7 Professional will cost £99.99.

Orders for Windows 7 at the special pre-order price will be limited to 25 per customer or per business. Microsoft describes the £49.99 deal as both "time-limited" and "quantity-limited". Indeed, a table we were sent detailing the different retail options for Windows 7 indicated that Microsoft expects the £49.99 deal to end around 14 August - a full week before Windows 7 is officially available.

US and Canadian users, meanwhile, will be able to take advantage of an offer running for the next two weeks that allows them to preorder the new OS for $50.

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Comments received


Anonimus said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

Will windows 7 be sold as a single disc OEM version?

Rosemary Hattersley said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

Not as far as we know. I have emailed Microsoft for clarification, however.

Raymond Monaghan said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

So, what does me, someone who purchased Vista Ultimate on release day get out of this?

For buying the Ultimate version of an operating system (thats only 2 and a half years old) I expect to get an "Ultimate" discount for the next version. Especially since Windows 7 is getting rolled out so quickly because of the bad Vista press.

Gadget bunny said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

I'd be looking to get hold of one of those 50 quid preorder jobbies if I were you. That's what I'm planning to do

Rosemary Hattersley said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

Microsoft UK press office says:

Q: How will people get hold of a retail OEM version of W7?
As far as we know the OEM version is sold only to OEMs.

CHris M said on Thursday, 25 June 2009

With deals and confusion with prices, it's little wonder I switched to Apple Mac, £19 for Snow Leopard upgrade for Leopard users.

I am disappointed that they have done this, Sorry Micro$oft you just lost a customer for good.

Forum Editor said on Friday, 26 June 2009

If the OEM version is only sold to manufacturers it will mark a departure as far as Microsoft is concerned. They've provided previous Windows OEM versions to Online retailers, and anyone was able to buy a copy.

The thing about an OEM installation is that the licence is only good for the PC on which the software was originally installed. You can't legally install an OEM copy on any other computer.

Skidz said on Friday, 26 June 2009

Still way too much for what it offers.

Kevscar said on Friday, 26 June 2009

Considering I have been running 64Bit Vista wih absolutley no problems I see no point in Windows 7 so I'll wait to the next version which they are probably working on already.

gilesie17 said on Sunday, 28 June 2009

If windows 7 does not come with IE in the EU, how am i going to get on the internet so i can download IE myself?

Skidz said on Sunday, 28 June 2009

@gilesie17 ...

When you go to windows update it will offer I.E as an update if you want it.

evil1 said on Sunday, 28 June 2009

if it is anything like vista i will give it a miss....funny why would they give a limited amount of time to get the discount..makes me wonder

Is this an Upgrade price? said on Monday, 29 June 2009

I agree Vista users should be compensated for an OS that never worked properly, even SP2 seems to be no help, first thing that happened to me was Explorer went down again.
What did we get for buying Ultimate, just empty promises of extra goodies that never materialized, isn't that trade description non compliant.

Best Regards Alan

Laurie said on Monday, 29 June 2009

@Skidz

"When you go to windows update it will offer I.E as an update if you want it."

But doesn't windows update use IE - or is it different in W7?

Jurgen said on Monday, 29 June 2009

Most comments have undoubtedly hit the nail on the head. HOW do you connect to the internet to Update and far more importantly REGISTER your Windows 7? I know you have to, as I'm running Windows 7 x64 RC on my Quad PC.

redstringuitar said on Monday, 29 June 2009

IE is merely a browser to enable users to access the web, as long as you have an internet connection, Windows (and other software) have a direct link and can phone home without having a browser installed.

Laurie said on Monday, 29 June 2009

@redstringuitar

Yes I think most know what IE is and that any software can phone home if programmed to do so. But up to Vista if you force an update to get the optional updates, (and I presume IE will be an optional update under the EU ruling) then it is done by opening an IE window. How will W7 work so that you can get IE?

Skidz said on Tuesday, 30 June 2009

@Laurie

You dont need I.E to access updates in 7 or vista.
it opens updates in a seperate window inbuilt.

Bill Smith said on Tuesday, 30 June 2009

I have always thought that Nicrosoft was profiteering with its prices. I feel sure that they could sell any O.S. for £25 and still make lots pf profit, they sell so many.

Laurie said on Tuesday, 30 June 2009

@Skidz

Thanks for putting me right - I was thinking of XP (which does use IE). I use Vista as well and forgot how it does it's manual updates, and more importantly forgot to check before posting.

johnroy said on Tuesday, 30 June 2009

will the 50 quid version load over the rc virsion i am using now?.

DPH said on Friday, 03 July 2009

NO, if you read the blurb when you installed W7 RC it said it is timelimited to March 2010 and a FULL clean install of W7 would then be required to continue

jason said on Friday, 10 July 2009

windows 7 looks like windows vista but it operates 70% faster and smoother and is more effeciant

jason said on Friday, 10 July 2009

and how thell do you go online without a web browser if it windows 7 dont have ie

Steve said on Friday, 10 July 2009

'windows 7 looks like windows vista but it operates 70% faster and smoother and is more effeciant'

Really? My main use is video editing and it's about the same speed as Vista and 15% slower than XP. It does feel smoother than Vista though.

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