back to article Microsoft reshuffles Windows 7 Family Pack

Microsoft has decided to rerun its Windows 7 Family Pack promotion, which was iced by Redmond at the end of last year. The software vendor said today that US customers would be able to buy the Family Pack edition of Microsoft’s current operating system on 3 October. Other parts of the world including the UK, Canada, France, …

COMMENTS

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  1. Cameron Colley
    WTF?

    '... runs out of "supplies"'?

    Erm, hasn't anyone told them that this is software and, as such, can be duplicated as many times as required? I think the keyspace (if that's the right word) for the license key generation software is probably large enough that they won't run out very quickly either.

    So, exactly what "supplies" could they run out of?

  2. AndyS

    once it runs out of “supplies”

    Rare stuff, these ones and zeros. Get 'em while their hot!

  3. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

    Runs out of supplies

    This is an artificial limit, because presumably it will only have one copy of the DVD. How difficult is it to print the COA and license key?

    And remember, if you upgrade an XP box using an upgrade license, you are no longer allowed to run XP on the system!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      so?

      I buy PC cases that genuine windows xp stickers on them....I'm good.

  4. Magnus_Pym

    Ha!

    "Microsoft said the promotion would end once it runs out of “supplies”.

    or

    Microsoft said the promotion would end once it get the headline sales figure it wants for the the next promotion puff piece it spurts out.

  5. Doug Glass
    Go

    Huh?

    RE: ' Microsoft wonk Ashley Brown said that US customers who splurge $149.99 on the pack would be given three upgrade licenses of the Windows 7 Home Premium edition of the software.

    “To take advantage of Family Pack, you’ll need a PC running a genuine copy of either Windows Vista or Windows XP that is capable of running Windows 7,” Brown said. '

    So on October 3rd it'll become possible to upgrade XP to Windows 7? May not be what he meant, but that's exactly what the quoted comment says.

    1. Test Man
      FAIL

      Nope.

      Read it again, it doesn't say you can upgrade from XP to Windows 7 "in-place" (which is what you're suggesting), it's merely saying you need a PC with XP or Vista on already, which has always been the case for the upgrade edition (with XP it'll put a fresh copy of Windows 7, but backs up the existing installation).

      1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        @Test Man

        When I read the conditions on the upgrade edition, it suggested that the license key for XP would no longer be valid once you had put the upgrade version on the system,

        I wanted to have a dual boot system, because one of my sons was not convinced that all his games would work on 7. I was worried that Microsoft would be able to cripple/disable the WinXP instance using Windows Genuine (dis)Advantage, so opted for the full retail version of 7, and a second hard disk.

        Ironically, I believe that he found everything worked, even from the original installation, so he has never started XP since 7 was installed!

        1. Peter Kay

          Yes, you're reading it correctly

          Once you've upgraded your XP or Vista license what you now hold is a full transferable Windows 7 license. It can be serially transferred to any number of machines, and ownership can if I remember correctly, be transferred to one other person.

          The old XP/Vista license, however, is now no longer valid.

        2. Annihilator
          Thumb Up

          Disable XP licence?

          It's only the conditions of the licence agreement that prevents you from running the XP instance - nothing technical prevents you from using it and the WGA still recognises the XP Product Key as valid. The only barrier is your conscience. But this has been true of every upgrade licence since as far back as I remember.

    2. fandom
      FAIL

      huh indeed

      “To take advantage" != "to automatically upgrade XP"

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, it doesn't

      You can use an Upgrade License to do a "clean" install of Windows 7. That's the way XP upgrades have worked since Win7 was released.

  6. Bruce Ordway

    Ashley Brown

    >May not be what he meant

    I thought Ashley was a she?

  7. BristolBachelor Gold badge

    Also upgrade useless Win7 Starter?

    Can I also use one of the licenses to upgrade the useless Win7 Starter on my netbook? If not I will have to look at upgrading it to XP instead :)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Someone needs to tell Pissy Weirld

    Their underworldlings still insist you can only upgrade from Vista, NOT XP.

    No I am not trolling, it just reminds me of some of the employees at my local branch.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Supplies..

    You goobers really don't understand do you? They pre-print X numbers of copies of the materials used to sell this package. Once the X numbers are depleated, sales over. End of story. It's not that they can't print more, it's just that's all they want to sell at this point. It's a limited offer. I'm sure you've heard of those before, right? Gees guys get a clue.

    If you understand now, thumbs down this post.

  10. marky_boi
    Gates Horns

    meh!!!!!!!!

    As soon as pricing started firming up for Win7 I made the decision to change to a Linux based disto. 2 Years on..... I'm finally there.... M$ has done me a favour, I am no longer beholden to a company's lock in nor must I follow their upgrades schedule...

    so for this story, it's a case of meh! 6 PC's in the house, upgrade costs $0, installs cost $0 uptime with no issues innumerable..

    1. N2
      Thumb Up

      Well done

      And you no longer have the Windows Genuine Dis-advantage shite to contemplate every time you stare at your hardware in disbelief that something so powerful could perform the simplest of tasks so slowly!

    2. Penguin herder
      Linux

      All but the schedule

      I agree with everything you said, except that Linux frees us from extenral schedules. Linux has actually increased my awareness of forced upgrades. That is a small price to pay for the freedom, security and ease of use. I also no longer see updates as a big hassle and potential problem.

      Re upgrades, I generally prefer to do clean installs, and probably just need to assemble a shell script that grabs the packages I want. Microsoft did me a favor with Vista.

  11. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Ahh yes the Win 7 crippled edition.

    You should have just bought a netbook with Ubuntu. Besides not being all crippled, it'll run faster too.

    1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Or even better...

      Or even better... try one of the low overhead Distros. For example, VectorLinux (or any of the others of course) runs like the clappers on older or slower hardware where the likes of Ubuntu makes the system feel like you're running Vista.

      1. Rogerborg

        On an EEE PC

        Ubuntu 10.04 runs as fast as the stock XP install - Vista or 7 isn't even a viable option. On my wife's crappy desktop, 9.10 utterly destroys Vista. We all have our own anecdotes.

  12. Jo 5
    Big Brother

    Never given them them a dime

    Ive been a Micorshite consultant for 15 years and never once paid for a personal home use license for one of their shite OS products in all those years. Its an evil evil company that has totally stifled innovation and competition for decades now. Don't bank roll them. You can find decent working safe copies of Windows xp, vista or 7 ultimate versions via bittorrent - dont fall for guff offers like this. They should be forced to release source code for Windows so that other companies can release windows clones and we are not locked into one companies stranglehold of what should now be an open standard.

    1. Penguin herder
      Thumb Down

      Forced?

      "They should be forced to release source code for Windows so that other companies can release windows clones and we are not locked into one companies stranglehold of what should now be an open standard."

      I can't stand Microsoft, and would enjoy seeing them get the market penetration pounding that they richly deserve, BUT, they should not be forced to release anything. Goverments are too damn big as it is, and that really is what you are suggesting: more government thugs with more power to do for us what would be criminal if we did it ourselves.

      As bad as Microsoft is, their control over you is limited to the extent that you voluntarily use their products (try that with government). Excercise your power of choice and Microsoft will lose its power over you.

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