http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8118749.stm

Microsoft will not be offering an upgrade version of Windows 7 in Europe.

In the past Microsoft has given people already using Windows a chance to upgrade to a new version when it becomes available.

While that option will be offered in the US, Microsoft said its efforts to comply with competition regulations meant it could not do so in Europe.

European regulators dismissed the claim, saying the move limited choices rather than opening them up

I payed for Vista Ultimate after it came out, and have been using the Windows 7 RC for the last month or so. I like Windows 7, but unless there's a really cheap upgrade I won't pay for it.

My reasoning is that they have basically decided that Vista was a failure after I payed for that, so I want the replacement for free/cheap.

I don't see how vista was a failure.. I'm using 64 ultimate and it's never missed a beat...

I don't see how vista was a failure.. I'm using 64 ultimate and it's never missed a beat...

.

Yeah, Vista 64 has been great for me. I can't recall it f***ing up for me once ever since I've had it.

am i being made blunt of a joke? ahhaah

but seriously, i don't see why vista was given a bad name..

I got Vista Business for free through uni ^_^. Needless to say I dont need it so I gave it to my dad, and his PC is shockingly unstable due to driver issues and all kinds of s***. The thing will 100% never finish shutting down and then do a BSOD after bout half an hour.

am i being made blunt of a joke? ahhaah

LOFL

I'm being serious. Vista 64 has been awesome for me so I won't be upgrading from it for a while.

Vista hasn't been too unstable for me (the odd BSOD but meh, that's normal) but MS are certainly sweeping it under the rug due to the fact that it didn't significantly better Windows XP (aside from being pretty).

It isn't a failure in the sense that Windows Me was, but Windows 7 is definitely trying to do what Vista was meant to.

I just bought an Acer Timeline laptop yesterday and i found a pamphlet in its box saying i'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home premium.

Here's a photo i prepared earlier:

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/34/img0473y.jpg

Not sure if that's anything guaranteed at this stage.. sounds like it..

last edited by MatchFixer at 11:33:15 28/Jun/09

The main problem with vista is that they allowed it to be installed on machines with less than 2 gig of ram, combine that with a lower end cpu and a s*** hard drive and it can run like a complete piece of s***, not actual crashes, just run realy bad. It realy needs 4 gig of ram to run nice.

I setup some brand new laptops a few years back when vista was just coming out, they were IBM laptops, with vista business and only 1 gig of ram. They were also the smaller IBM's so i think they had pretty s*** hard drives and cpu.

They were the worst new machines i've ever seen, we nearly had to take them back. We upgraded to 4gb of ram and did some performance tweaking and they became pretty usuable, not super fast, but usuable. One of the group of laptops we rolled back to xp, and ran 1000x better, even with 1gb ram, and realy what extra usefullnees were they getting from vista? A prettier GUI?

Windows 7 does look pretty good though, they obvously addresses the performance issues.

odd thread, topic indicates OP should include something about pricing yet nothing.

Europeans who want to get hold of Windows 7 but have not bought a new PC will be able to buy it at a discount. In the UK, the Home Premium edition of Windows 7 will be £79.99 until 31 December 2009.

By contrast buying this edition after 31 December will cost £149.99.

home premium seems like the standard version of win7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
wiki also has some prices up. funny how there's going to be 6 versions

I want some of that Windows 7 Profissional

I don't think I've seen MS state that Vista was a failure anywhere. They've acknowledged problems that some of their customers had and incorporated some changes to accomodate this in 7. This sounds like a software vendor listening to feedback in a new release, standard fare?

I don't really see why people expect to get 7 super cheap cos its some sort of Vista fix? Sounds like a big e-whinge, if you don't think its good value and hate the s*** out of Vista, then don't upgrade. Better still vote with your wallet and choose an alternate OS? Windows is hardly necessary for personal computing these days.

And yes, if you still use XP you'll have to upgrade to stay patched eventually. How long are they sposed to keep supporting it and its broken user security model? Its been eight years now.

last edited by Hogfather at 12:33:41 28/Jun/09

Haha, Profissional.

I don't think I've seen MS state that Vista was a failure anywhere.

Yeh, cos "polished more" == failure.

I see that.

3dee thats more of a hardware issue?

My reasoning is that they have basically decided that Vista was a failure after I payed for that, so I want the replacement for free/cheap.

MS plans a new OS release every few years. Vista isn't being abandoned for Win7, there was always going to be a new OS released this year.

I don't know, starting work on windows 7 right after vista release seems like a clear indication that it was only a place holder product and that they wouldn't be spending too much time/effort on it.

yeah but it does suck quite hard, its all opinion based etc but I've stuck with XP because Vista just never did as it was told

I might not have given it as much of a chance as it needed to infiltrate my computer, but it took me 5 years to get to XP from 2000 and well.. XP just works for me.

I want some of that Windows 7 Profissional

Ultimate or nothing imho.

I'm happy with the way vista runs on my PC, I tried windows 7 and I really hate the new task bar. It's cool how you can drag stuff around on it but I've never actually needed or even wanted that feature and sometimes I like to open multiple instances of the same program off the quick launch bar. With the new version if you click on it again doesn't it just bring the running instance to the front? You've got to do something else like shift click it or something to open a new instance. Not a whole lot of extra work but still, for the first few days it'd piss me off till I got used to it.

Also, not sure if it was because it was running in a VM and at a smaller res, the task bar was HUGE, reminds me so much of how linux was all those years ago with hugeass icons for blind noobs. I hope you can easily resize it (back to small icons).

Trying to figure out how to install this Win 7 beta but being the noob I am I have nfi.

Vista has been good to me though.

I don't know, starting work on windows 7 right after vista release seems like a clear indication that it was only a place holder product and that they wouldn't be spending too much time/effort on it.

Windows 7 technically started before Vista. "Blackcomb" (became Windows 7) was meant to replace Windows XP. In 2003 MS announced "Longhorn" (became Vista), and Blackcomb was delayed. Some of the planned features for Blackcomb ended up being used in Longhorn/Vista.

Trying to figure out how to install this Win 7 beta but being the noob I am I have nfi.

Burn ISO to disc, set your DVD drive as first boot device in your BIOS, restart computer with disc in DVD drive.

last edited by Mantorok at 16:14:52 28/Jun/09

I don't know, starting work on windows 7 right after vista release seems like a clear indication that it was only a place holder product and that they wouldn't be spending too much time/effort on it.

You obviously don't know how software development works. And besides, Microsoft have always released operating systems 3 or so years apart. XP --> Vista was the exception.

Here's the pricing for Aus:

Home Premium will set you back $199 for an upgrade, and $299 for the full version. Professional is $399 for an upgrade, $449 at retail, while the super-duper Premium edition of Windows 7 is $429 for an upgrade, or $469 retail.

Source

this is what other countries are paying:

* US: Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($99.99)
* Canada: Windows 7 Home Premium ($64.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($124.99)
* Japan: Windows 7 Home Premium (¥7,407) and Windows 7 Professional (¥14,073)
* UK: Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (£99.99)
* France and Germany: Windows 7 Home Premium (€49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (€109.99)

we are getting ripped off.

Yup, that is the general Awesome Tax.

We have to pay extra for all sorts of things because Australia is Awesome.

O well, just don't buy it.

wtf, so we pay $449 and US pays only $99?

perhaps we can just get someone in us to buy us a few copies and we pay the shipping fee..

But that person in the US will charge us the Awesome Tax. :(

not unless you have friends in the us.. ha

Microsoft is part of the evil regionalisation axis though - a US license isn't valid in AU.

This doesn't matter that much for consumers due to the low likelihood of audit / prosecution, but its a no-go for business.

f*** regionalisation.

DAMN IT!

A green light to steal it and feel justified. Rage against the machine.

i payed for dos6.22 ... wasn't that enough !!! :D i feel microsoft still owe me a few free o/s's yet.

payed

PAID

I've never payed for a copy of Windows and I still feel like they owe me something.

Windows 7 is pretty awesome so far though, I nearly buyed a copy of Vista when I couldn't find my XP disk from Uni but now I don't have to worry about it until June next year.

3dee's avatar shows his spelling rage!

I can't wait for windows 7. the whole xp emulator thing makes me how can i say it.. "wet in my pussy" - east bound and down lol

I love the way Europe won't be getting Internet explorer with there windows 7 hahaha.

Their.

Not sure if that's anything guaranteed at this stage.. sounds like it..

me either

The Vista-Win7 upgrade is now freely available to anyone who buys Vista according to the Microsoft site.

it's been in effect since last week. of course, there's a tonne of conditions that you have to read.

**edit**
bugger - the Aussie MS site just says 'get a great deal', and throws it over to the OEMs to figure out how much they'll charge people

( changed link to the Aussie version )

last edited by koopz at 19:39:27 05/Jul/09

cnet

The ultimate version of Windows 7 will go for AU$469 in Australia, or AU$429 for an upgrade, compared to the respective US prices of US$319.99 (AU$397.03) and US$219.99 (AU$273.38). Microsoft has hiked the prices of Windows 7 Ultimate slightly compared to Vista Ultimate.

Wasn't vista ultimate $800 when it first came out in Australia? If they're charging (only) $469 for Ultimate on initial release then I guess that's something.

edit:

Microsoft globally has also announced a limited pre-order program for Windows 7, under which customers in the US, Canada and Japan will be able to get the software at more than 50 per cent discount; but no such program has yet been announced in Australia.

So much for the free trade agreement. f*** the US, we need to boycott those a******s.

last edited by whoop at 20:30:30 05/Jul/09

no more military support, that'll f*** em...

can someone explain to me what the point of vista was?

actually what i want to know is, why is everyone so antsy about upgrading windows?
its not like buying a new game that you get to play for hours, if XP/Vista currently does what you want it to do.. why would you want to upgrade so badly?

can someone explain to me what the point of vista was?

UAC.

The ultimate version of Windows 7 will go for AU$469 in Australia, or AU$429 for an upgrade

Only $40 off for an upgrade? are you s***ting me? and here i was hoping the total price upgrade would be somewhere around a $100 or something..

f*** m$

Wait, there's more:

Microsoft has also announced that customers who purchase PCs with Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate versions from today will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 "for little or no cost" when it launches on 22 October.

i hope by "little" they weren't refering to that $430 price tag, or whatever it is for the professional...

last edited by The Match Fixer at 15:56:10 06/Jul/09

actually what i want to know is, why is everyone so antsy about upgrading windows?
its not like buying a new game that you get to play for hours, if XP/Vista currently does what you want it to do.. why would you want to upgrade so badly?

I don't want to upgrade at all. XP does me just fine though I decided to put vista on here for a while just because I can.

Eventually though MS will stop patching the older operating systems which means if there's any big holes in it that allow dodgy websites/advertisers to compromise your system, the holes will stay there and not get fixed. Also games will eventually stop supporting older OS's + direct x versions so eventually an upgrade is going to be required for one reason or another.

Eventually though MS will stop patching the older operating systems which means if there's any big holes in it that allow dodgy websites/advertisers to compromise your system, the holes will stay there and not get fixed.

8 April 2014

yeah we've got heaps of time before they stop patching us
I'm hoping Linux evolves far enough in the future that I wont have to upgrade my windows anymore

all it needs is native windows application support

The reason to upgrade to W7 over XP or Vista is the same reason you use to upgrade your CPU or graphics card. It's faster. Since installing the RC of W7 I've noticed a fairly decent speed increase in load times across the board and games are generally running much better.

I'm a big fan of W7 so far, not a fan of their pricing scheme. There is no reason to have more then one version of the OS available. The reasoning in the past was that the Ultimate version has a lot of bloat that will scare and confuse people but as someone who is easily scared and confused and never used an Ultimate anything before I can say that it seems no different in general use to what I would expect the basic version to be. It doesn't cost them more to create an Ultimate install disk then it does to create a Basic install disk. In fact, since they have to create the Ultimate version with all the bells and whistles anyway for their own use and for the business market it would actually cost them more to have a group of programmers strip away the Ultimate stuff to get the Basic and make sure the Basic still functions.

Apparently MS only provides support for 2 OS's at one time, so when windows 7 comes out those with XP are going to be on there own.

That's what i've heard anyway..

You heard wrong.

It doesn't cost them more to create an Ultimate install disk then it does to create a Basic install disk

It costs them extra to develop the features found in the Ultimate package. Your point is ludicrous - software pricing has nothing to do with the cost of the media, its irrelevant.

They are c***s for their shoddy regionalisation pricing schemes though. That s*** needs to die already.

technet ftw. All OS's available all the time........I've been evaluating Vista for 2 years now.......still can't decide :-)

Apparently MS only provides support for 2 OS's at one time, so when windows 7 comes out those with XP are going to be on there own.

That's what i've heard anyway..

XP support has been extended a number of times (I believe).

It has nothing to do with "ONLY 2 OPERATING SYSTEMS SUPPORTED AT ONE TIME" its just that its 7+ years old now, so they move on...

I'm not sure when XP support expires for good.... but i'd bet it would be after the Win7 release.

Microsoft Support Lifecycle for XP

2014, well there you have it.

It costs them extra to develop the features found in the Ultimate package. Your point is ludicrous - software pricing has nothing to do with the cost of the media, its irrelevant.

It only costs them extra if they wouldn't normally develop those features. But they do normally develop those features so it actually costs them money to strip those features out, test and repackage a different install. Of course the cost of the media is irrelevant, I'm not even sure why you think that was somehow a point I was making. However there is a significant cost involved in printing multiple different install versions and the idea that the features in the Ultimate version are things they wouldn't have developed anyway is asinine.

I guarantee that the pricing of the Basic version still covers the full development cost of the software, there's no way in hell it wouldn't.

I guarantee that the pricing of the Basic version still covers the full development cost of the software

True, but shareholders insanely expect a little thing called profit.

The Match Fixer - I said that before you posted.

True, but shareholders insanely expect a little thing called profit.

I would have thought that profit being factored into the cost would have gone without saying... I mean seriously how f***ing obvious is that?

You're being a twit deadly! quotefest time..

It only costs them extra if they wouldn't normally develop those features.

This makes no sense at all. I'm not even going to try and refute it specifically, just hold it up there by itself as an example of why you are wrong.

But they do normally develop those features

No. Windows XP Media Centre Edition much?

so it actually costs them money to strip those features out, test and repackage a different install.

Wrong. They make money on the editions, or as you note they wouldn't do it. Microsoft doesn't hate computer users and do things just to spite them, they want to make money.

Of course the cost of the media is irrelevant, I'm not even sure why you think that was somehow a point I was making.

Because you said it. "It doesn't cost them more to create an Ultimate install disk then it does to create a Basic install disk.".

However there is a significant cost involved in printing multiple different install versions and the idea that the features in the Ultimate version are things they wouldn't have developed anyway is asinine.

No, its decades-old microsoft practice that they develop extended applications and OS features specifically for more expensive editions of the OS to suit different clients. Its called a business.

last edited by Hogfather at 13:08:01 07/Jul/09

The Match Fixer - I said that before you posted.

I know, but it was confirmed with a link post your post.

You're being a twit deadly! quotefest time..

Nah but I think I know why you think that.

You think I'm saying that they should sell the Ultimate version at the Basic version price because you think I'm saying that it doesn't cost them any more to make the Ultimate version as it does to make the Basic. But that's not what I'm saying.

What I'm actually saying is they should just not sell the other versions because splitting it up into different distros is now an unnecessary overhead. With XP it made sense, they were merging their Server OS with their Desktop OS and wanted to hide the Server features that might scare away the normals with different distro versions. W7 Ultimate is very user friendly and has no need to be separated into different distros. Just selling that one version of W7 will cover all markets and make them far more money even if they sold it for less then the current pricing of the Ultimate version.