Leaked Information Points at Free OEM Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7

[alexp999]

Tech ARP has managed to get a hold of a copy of a draft document, preliminarily named the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. It is said to have been distributed to Microsoft's OEM partners on 10th December giving them a month to provide feedback. Obviously nothing is set in stone yet, but Microsoft provided similar upgrade programs for Vista and XP. The extract follows:

The Windows 7 Upgrade Program is designed to assist Microsoft's OEM partners in minimizing the number of end users who may postpone acquiring a new computer because of the impending release of the Windows 7 operating system. This program allows OEMs to offer an upgrade to Windows 7 to end users who qualify.

This is a consumer-oriented program targeted at individual consumers and small businesses that have purchased eligible PCs during the Program Eligibility Period. End users will have to meet these requirements to be deemed eligible for the upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released :

• End users must purchase a new PC that is pre-installed with an eligible Windows Vista Operating System (OS), during the program eligibility window.
  
• The PC must have a valid Certificate of Authenticity (COA) attached.
  
• The only Windows Vista versions eligible for the program are:
  1. Windows Vista Home Premium
  2. Windows Vista Business
  3. Windows Vista Ultimate
  * Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Starter Edition, and Windows XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program.
  
• The Program does not support multiple upgrades for medium, large, or enterprise customers. Customers that want to upgrade multiple PCs should use the appropriate Microsoft Volume Licensing program. See www.microsoft.com/licensing for more details.
  
• The following are the only valid upgrade paths under the program:
  1. Windows Vista Home Premium -> Windows 7 Home Premium
  2. Windows Vista Business -> Windows 7 Professional
  3. Windows Vista Ultimate -> Windows 7 Ultimate

Do note that this is an optional program, so not all OEMs may choose to participate. OEMs that choose to participate in this upgrade program will have the freedom to determine how to best provide qualifying end users with the details.

Source: Tech ARP

[qwerty_lesh]

Thats really cool, if it happens, but sadly doubt the offer will be valid for OEM operating systems purchased last year, its going to be a buy at such between such date in 09 eh? :\
Damn shame too, Id love a free upgrade from my vista ult to 7 ult!

[ShadowFold]

I actually have an HP PC with Vista Home Premium. I will see if I can get a copy for my PC

[PCpraiser100]

Great, now I want them to give me a free copy for sending Beta feedback!

[amd64skater]

well i bought my computer last year in may i hope i can qualify for this

[newtekie1]

Anyone that has purchased their PC with Vista in 2008 or earlier, don't expect to get a free upgrade to Windows 7. In fact, chances are it will only be availble to PCs bought within 3-6 months of Windows 7's release.

This is going to be fore new PCs bought very close to the time of Windows 7 release. Basically it is so that the OEMs, like Dell HP and Gateway, don't get hit with a huge drop off of computer sales right before Windows 7 is released because of a lot of people wanting to wait to buy a new PC until Windows 7 is available.

[AsRock]

I seen this yesterday on the INQ and sounded to good to be true lol.

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Anyone that has purchased their PC with Vista in 2008 or earlier, don't expect to get a free upgrade to Windows 7. In fact, chances are it will only be availble to PCs bought within 3-6 months of Windows 7's release.

This is going to be fore new PCs bought very close to the time of Windows 7 release. Basically it is so that the OEMs, like Dell HP and Gateway, don't get hit with a huge drop off of computer sales right before Windows 7 is released because of a lot of people wanting to wait to buy a new PC until Windows 7 is available.

i would not be surprised but also MS has surprised me a few times with Win 7 and the progress.

[kiriakost]

Well nice trick .... there no other way to force the mass to get Win7 ..

They will give away some Win7 licenses , hopping that it will be created a minimum customers base , and they will start pray this base, to start to grow by it self .

XP - Vista , are worldwide as 70/25 ( Linux are 5%) .

Smart plan , but it will not work .

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by kiriakost

Well nice trick .... there no other way to force the mass to get Win7 ..

They will give away some Win7 licenses , hopping that it will be created a minimum customers base , and they will start pray this base, to start to grow by it self .

XP - Vista , are worldwide as 70/25 ( Linux are 5%) .

Smart plan , but it will not work .

You're very ignorant if you think that is what they are doing, and you know nothing of computer history, obviously. Microsoft does the same thing every time a new desktop OS is released, since at least Windows 2000.

"Force" How can anything optional before forcing anyone to do anything.

You're such a fanboy troll.

[kiriakost]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

You're very ignorant .... such a fanboy troll.

You are like one particle of sand , one particle in the billions scale .. worths to spent mental energy over your opinion ? .... Nop its not worth it .

Have a nice day.

[Triprift]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Anyone that has purchased their PC with Vista in 2008 or earlier, don't expect to get a free upgrade to Windows 7. In fact, chances are it will only be availble to PCs bought within 3-6 months of Windows 7's release.

This is going to be fore new PCs bought very close to the time of Windows 7 release. Basically it is so that the OEMs, like Dell HP and Gateway, don't get hit with a huge drop off of computer sales right before Windows 7 is released because of a lot of people wanting to wait to buy a new PC until Windows 7 is available.

In other words i woudnt be eligable bugger.

[BrooksyX]

Originally Posted by kiriakost

You are like one particle of sand , one particle in the billions scale .. worths to spent mental energy over your opinion ? .... Nop its not worth it .

Have a nice day.

Newtekie1 would tear you apart!
Also through observation of the forums I would say he knows a lot more about computers than you do.

[mdm-adph]

Jeebus -- everyone needs to shut up. None of you know half as much as you make it sound like.

[Easy Rhino]

the title of the article is a bit misleading. it makes it sound like those of us who own a copy of vista could get a free upgrade to windows 7. it should include something about OEM partners.

i am hoping that i don't have to pay for windows 7 if it comes out sometime next year. i cant believe i spent $200 on a OS that is going to be considered old after 3 years...

[GSG-9]

There is no way this will be for anyone who purchased Vista before say December 2008. It would be nice but its just not realisitic to hope to get it W7 for free when you bought Vista at release.

Originally Posted by kiriakost

You are like one particle of sand , one particle in the billions scale .. worths to spent mental energy over your opinion ? .... Nop its not worth it .

Have a nice day.

In that analogy everyone here is the same kind of sand and we all think your acting like an idiot who posted a comment with no baring.

[Ahhzz]

Originally Posted by PCpraiser100

Great, now I want them to give me a free copy for sending Beta feedback!

Wouldn't be the first time. I got a greatly reduced XP Pro, with bobble head doll and baseball heheh when I was working with an XP beta

[Ahhzz]

Agree with tekie above. MS has done this repetitively, and most likely will again. Some of our early business compaq laptops had the option on the hard drive, to start the install of Win98 or Win2000 in early 2000. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see MS do the free upgrade path again.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

the title of the article is a bit misleading. it makes it sound like those of us who own a copy of vista could get a free upgrade to windows 7. it should include something about OEM partners.

i am hoping that i don't have to pay for windows 7 if it comes out sometime next year. i cant believe i spent $200 on a OS that is going to be considered old after 3 years...

Thats why Microsoft sells Upgrade versions, though it does suck that we have to upgrade again so quickly. At least it isn't nearly as quick as the transition from Win2000 to XP.

[human_error]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

the title of the article is a bit misleading. it makes it sound like those of us who own a copy of vista could get a free upgrade to windows 7. it should include something about OEM partners.

i am hoping that i don't have to pay for windows 7 if it comes out sometime next year. i cant believe i spent $200 on a OS that is going to be considered old after 3 years...

Considering windows 7 is more of an incremental release from vista as opposed to significant re-writes i'd say windows 7 should cost less than vista did, especially since vista was in development for a lot longer than win7 has been thus needing more manhours/expenses.

OT- Anyone who is expecting to get a free upgrade from vista>win7 without buying a special OEM pc which carries the offer is living in a dream world, win7 is a natural evolution from vista and for most people is a worthwhile investment, there's no way a business will give away liscences to people who would buy them anyway, as has been said above this offer is designed to re-assure people looking at buying a new machine 6 months before win7 is out that when win7 comes out they won't have to fork out even more money for a new os so sales won't be damaged on vista machines just before the new OS arrives.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by human_error

Considering windows 7 is more of an incremental release from vista as opposed to significant re-writes i'd say windows 7 should cost less than vista did, especially since vista was in development for a lot longer than win7 has been thus needing more manhours/expenses.

They are still building off of cost of developing Vista, which I doubt they have even made up in the 3 years Vista has been out. Add to that the price of continuing development.

Since Win7 is replacing Vista, having the same price points isn't too bad. I assume most people moving from Vista will just by the much cheaper upgrade versions of Win7.

[human_error]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

They are still building off of cost of developing Vista, which I doubt they have even made up in the 3 years Vista has been out. Add to that the price of continuing development.

Since Win7 is replacing Vista, having the same price points isn't too bad. I assume most people moving from Vista will just by the much cheaper upgrade versions of Win7.

From my understanding microsoft is moving to release a new os every 3 or so years, instead of the longer release cycle of xp>vista which was 6 years. By doing this they can slowly implement significant changes in the OS requiring new driver and hardware designs, preventing the big shock some companies suffered with xp>vista such as creative who suddenly had to re-design their audio drivers for a completely different model.

In terms of sales if microsoft release a new os twice as fast as xp>vista (for the sake of argument, it will probably be a 4 year cycle, so not exactly twice as fast). They have half the man hour costs if they had the same size development team, if they cut the cost of the OS upgrades in half compared to before then they have halved their margins, however because they release twice as fast then over 2 releases they get the same profit margins as one large, slow release but their income has been more regular, combined with the fact that average joe will buy a new os upgrade if it's half the cost of a vista upgrade as that's not too much money (vista upgrade costs £75ish in a rip-off brick and mortar store, if it cost £40ish then a lot more people would buy it who normally would not shell out £75 on their current pc), so people who would not have upgraded due to high costs every 6 years will have upgraded twice (once every 3 years) at half the cost at the time so microsoft will have possibly made more money.

Sorry for the long post, final point i promise, the new faster release cycles also allows microsoft to gradularly increase hardware requirements for their os and allows them to become more agile in their development, allowing them to make arcitectural changes to the os a lot faster (certain arcitecture changes can't be put into service packs as they could break some large corporate customers' setups) so putting the changes in a new OS allows microsoft to add the changes more rapidly to peole who will gain from the change, whilst allowing customers who need more time to adjust to the new arcitecture to use the slightly older os while they adjust their setup accordingly.

[kiriakost]

Originally Posted by GSG-9

In that analogy everyone here is the same kind of sand and we all think your acting like an idiot who posted a comment with no baring.

You and ... you and your other you .. you are so many ... oh my .

[human_error]

Originally Posted by kiriakost

You and ... you and your other you .. you are so many ... oh my .

I'm not him/her and i agree with what he/she said. Please stop being a troll, i'll stop feeding you with replies now, if you're going to post please keep it on topic, which is about microsoft possibly offering free win7 upgrades to OEM machines bought later this year with vista on.

[kiriakost]

Originally Posted by human_error

Please stop being a troll, i'll stop feeding you with replies now

who cares ...

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

the title of the article is a bit misleading. it makes it sound like those of us who own a copy of vista could get a free upgrade to windows 7. it should include something about OEM partners.

i am hoping that i don't have to pay for windows 7 if it comes out sometime next year. i cant believe i spent $200 on a OS that is going to be considered old after 3 years...

Updated. Couldn't think of a better one at the time.

Hope its was open to all OEM licenses.

But I highly doubt it.