Microsoft Matches Snow Leopard Price With Windows 7, But Only for Students

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/18/microsoft-matches-snow-leopard-price-with-windows-7-but-only-for-students/)

Microsoft yesterday launched a Windows 7 campaign website (http://www.win741.com/) announcing a discount program (http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/en_US/DisplayHomePage) aimed at college and university students, bringing the cost of Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for eligible customers down to $29.99 to effectively match Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard pricing. The offer, which expires January 3rd, 2010 is valid for the download version of Windows 7, and users wishing to purchase a physical disk will be required to pay an additional $13.00.- You qualify if you have a valid .EDU e-mail OR an e-mail address through one of the educational institutions listed here (http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/ContentTheme/pbPage.Schools).
- You are enrolled in coursework, current proof or enrollment may be required in the United States.
- Your PC is able to run Windows 7 - use this tool (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx) to check. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!Microsoft's full terms and conditions (http://drh.img.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/ContentTheme/pbPage.Terms) note that students must be actively enrolled in at least 0.5 course credits at the time of purchase and may be required to provide proof of enrollment. As noted (http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/09/17/student-offer-for-windows-7.aspx) on the Windows 7 Team Blog, pre-orders are available in the US immediately, with the UK to follow on September 30th. Students in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korea and Mexico will be able to take advantage of the program once Windows 7 launches on October 22nd.

At its October 22nd launch, Windows 7 will carry much higher non-promotional prices of $119.99 (upgrade) and $199.99 (full) for the Home Premium edition, $199.99 (upgrade) and $299.99 (full) for the Professional edition, and $219.99 (upgrade) and $319.99 (full) for the Ultimate edition. A comparison (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare-editions/default.aspx) of the various versions[/url] is available to assist customers in deciding which version is right for them.

Article Link: Microsoft Matches Snow Leopard Price With Windows 7, But Only for Students (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/18/microsoft-matches-snow-leopard-price-with-windows-7-but-only-for-students/)

[phineas]

Well Yea of course only for students, somebody's got to keep the cash flow going for Balmer, and don't forget the M$ stores coming to a town near you :eek:

[runeasgar]

I don't have to decide which version of my operating system is right for me.

It's $29 and not feature restricted.

Gee, what a thought.

[djellison]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

[darrellishere]

Will This Be Available In The Uk?????????? :)

[stridemat]

Guess Microsoft have suddenly realised their future market is at uni/ college and realised that students cannot afford to upgrade and will probably just pirate it anyway.

Snow Leopard has made Windows wake up I think!

[stridemat]

Will This Be Available In The Uk?????????? :)

it says in the article yes, on the 30th September.

[JonHimself]

Didn't see any non-US schools (well that's not true, but I didn't see any of the major Canadian schools). It sounds great if they can say that Win7 is only $30 but unfortunately it's a small audience (relative to the audience that can purchase Snow Leopard for $30).

[Farplaner]

I have a hard time figuring out how this gets the front page treatment.

Either way, apples vs oranges.

[SFStateStudent]

Will this be available in the USA; and if my grade falls below a 2.0 will I have to pay back the $29? lol :p

[zombitronic]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

I agree. Seems like Page 2 news.

I have an XP machine but I don't know if I want to move to 7. Even for $30. XP works the way I want.

With Mac upgrades, it feels like evolution of the OS. With windows, it just feels like disconnected change. Just my opinion.

[donlphi]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

I think it's an attempt to show the direct competition...

MAC OS X 10.6: 29.99
WINDOWS 7: 29.99 (limited features, 2 years license, etc)

ZuneHD vs. iPod Touch

I don't visit MacRumors & PCRumors, just MacRumors. I don't mind hearing about the competition. It sort of gets me excited to start speculating what Apple's next move will be.

Perhaps a price drop for students $.99
:rolleyes:

[macobsession11]

ya who really gives a crap what Microsoft is doing! Apple is still the best. Microsoft is always trying to keep up with Apple but they don't got nothing on us lol. lets start talking about Apple and not Microsoft.

[stylewriter]

I wouldn't mind having a legal copy of Windows 7.

I don't want the Home-Premium version though, it disables the XP compatibility mode. Does anyoen see how to get the Professional version?

Anyone know if this is the Full or Academic version? The academic version can't legally be used on a computer that you use to make money...

[spillproof]

Interesting move my Microsoft. I never thought they would do something like this. Tempting.

[johnnyjibbs]

What a bunch of losers. They finally realised about the price but too bad they still have all those confusing editions.

Must protect the $$$ somehow.

[ngenerator]

Is this $29 for an upgrade version or the full version? (Sorry, I can't get on the website at work)

[Saladinos]

Great move!

I get it free from MSDN-AA, but whatever. I'm definitely not going to resell it, oh no. Not a chance.

[bigcat318]

My college offered a disc version of XP Pro for 5 dollars back when I started in 2004. So this isnt really even a deal as far as student pricing goes.

[vaderhater245]

They should make a full version available to us at a slightly higher price so some of us can bootcamp it.

[wbeasley]

just wait til they all start to realise what an XP upgrade involves... a clean install.

no way am I going to do that.

how are you going to find all the programs you installed and their software keys? it's not the major programs that take the effort. all the little utilities you sometimes use, the plug-ins, the codecs... that's what takes the time to reinstall and leaves you pulling your hair out.

clean installs are not something you do lightly. i had a hard drive crash recently on a PC. it was fairly painless to reinstall XP but i've yet to find the spare time to get all the other things, the bits that do the worthwhile stuff, installed again.

MS had better rethink it's path if it wants to convince the majority of XP users this is progress: create a tool that goes through the registry and works out what to keep and how to make it painless. That should keep em busy for a few more years. LOL.

Have just upgrade to Snow Leopard. Only glitch? the bluetooth mouse had problems but that's now fixed. 1 hour all up. no drama.

[slapppy]

Is this $29 for an upgrade version or the full version? (Sorry, I can't get on the website at work)

No its not for that silly Ultimate Version.

[progx]

Guess Microsoft have suddenly realised their future market is at uni/ college and realised that students cannot afford to upgrade and will probably just pirate it anyway.

Snow Leopard has made Windows wake up I think!

Actually, many students will just pirate the Ultimate Edition anyway. Why pay $30 for something that's going to be restricted. Not to mention Snow Leopard is available for $30 for ALL Intel based Mac owners.

Just like Zune HD, Windows 7 will never be able to beat Apple's simplicity and giving people what they NEED and WANT. Sorry MS. Google and Apple are the coup that will end the plague of Windows.

[windowpain]

300 bucks for just the os...damn.
Does it come with a free netbook?

[stylewriter]

I wouldn't mind having a legal copy of Windows 7.

I don't want the Home-Premium version though, it disables the XP compatibility mode. Does anyoen see how to get the Professional version?

Anyone know if this is the Full or Academic version? The academic version can't legally be used on a computer that you use to make money...

Evidently they aren't academic versions, so they should sell well on eBay

https://windows7.digitalriver.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayOrderInformationPage&SiteID=mswpus&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE#q4

[Lesser Evets]

Microsoft is still the greatest comedy act on the face of the earth.

Scratch that.

They are second to the people who buy their products and love them.

[angemon89]

Awesome. This is a no brainer purchase for me. :D

[daneoni]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

I have a hard time figuring out how this gets the front page treatment.

Either way, apples vs oranges.

Because its also www.pcrumors.com

Back on topic this might actually make me get Win 7

[inkswamp]

So just home premium then? The summary says the pro version too but I don't see that on the special offer page.

[stylewriter]

I only get the option to buy Win7-Home-Upgrade, with no option for either Win7-Pro-Upgrade or to get a disk...

[twoodcc]

more proof that apple is making a difference. and more proof that microsoft just copies what they do

[angemon89]

BOOOOO, it's the upgrade version.

[KnightWRX]

Interesting move my Microsoft. I never thought they would do something like this. Tempting.

You must not have ever visited a student COOP then. This is about the same level of news as "The sky is blue". :rolleyes:

Microsoft have always sold heavily discounted software to students.

[milbournosphere]

I would think that if Microsoft learned anything from Vista, it would be to fix their pricing disaster. This day in age, to even get a decently functioning copy of 7, you will need to look into Home Premium edition, and a clean install (which Microsoft recommends) will set you back $200, and this is for a gimped version of the OS! To get a non-feature-limited version of the OS, it will run you $300. Their version setup is ridiculous. If they would have learned their lesson, they would have either cut it back to one version (familiar, anyone?) or at least take it back to two versions, like in the XP days. I shake my head when I think of this. They may have made vast improvements in the OS itself, but I won't consider it a good OS until they do away with this needless versioning (is that a word?) system that they have going on.

[RMo]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?.

Other than the fact that Microsoft and Apple are competitors, and Microsoft just lowered the price of their soon-to-be-upgrade to (concidentally? I think not) match the price of Snow Leopard?

Yeah, I don't think Apple has anything to do with this. :D

But I know what you mean, and it could be considered more like Page 2 news.

[HONDAxACURA]

DO NOT BUY IT FELLOW MACRUMORS!

Teach Microsoft a lesson. They cannot keep copying Apple to survive!

Boycott Windows 7!!!

[idiosyncratic i]

This is a really smart move by MS. At $200, pirating it would be a complete no-brainer. At $30, some students might actually be tempted to get it the legal route. A fair number of $30 sales is a whole lot better than no $200 sales.

[KnightWRX]

Other than the fact that Microsoft and Apple are competitors, and Microsoft just lowered the price of their soon-to-be-upgrade to (concidentally? I think not) match the price of Snow Leopard?

They did ? Unless you mean to tell us students are Microsoft's only customers, then I think you need to reread this article.

Windows 7 is still as expensive as it was yesterday for most of the population.

[jrpvt]

I wouldn't mind having a legal copy of Windows 7.

I don't want the Home-Premium version though, it disables the XP compatibility mode. Does anyoen see how to get the Professional version?

Anyone know if this is the Full or Academic version? The academic version can't legally be used on a computer that you use to make money...

I got to the Professional upgrade version by clicking the Need to Join Your School's Network Domain link after you get the offer for Windows Home Premium. Then an offer for 7 Professional came up. I'm going to preorder it now.

[arkmannj]

So, I'm looking at the process right now.
it's 29.99 for the Win 7 Home Premium (Upgrade version)
and it wants you to pick 32bit or 64bit. don't they just put both installers on the same disk ?
just mark this as another thing I love about Mac OS X ..one freaking version, (not home, pro, ult.) and then after finding your version you get to pick 32bit or 64bit.

Plus for Snow Leopard I got the physical media as part of the cost.
It may only be 29.99 but without Win XP support and all the extra hassle of MS It still just might not be worth it for me to get it.

[a.gomez]

very nice!... I got the 49.99 preorder promotion at newegg but my cousin can take advantage of this.

I've been using the W7 Enterprise 90 days IT sample on my MBA for the past few weeks and it is rock solid on it, it was a mess with Vista.

now not going to be a big deal when I need to switch over to windows at work :)

[Indyrs2]

I get Windows 7 Ultimate on a physical disk from my university for 20 bucks. This is so stupid becasue most schools have these deals already. Like office for free. Im lucky my school gives me CS4 for free:).

[KnightWRX]

I got to the Professional upgrade version by clicking the Need to Join Your School's Network Domain link after you get the offer for Windows Home Premium. Then an offer for 7 Professional came up. I'm going to preorder it now.

Do you even need to join your school's domain ? I sure as hell wouldn't, just in case one of the domain admins finds the GPO MMC snap-in and starts deciding what I can and can't run on my personal computer.

[Enigmafan420]

Thinking this may make people buy even MORE Macbooks/MBPs because basically for the price of a MB you get two computers.

Even I WOULD BUY Win 7 for bootcamp for $30! :)

[stylewriter]

I got to the Professional upgrade version by clicking the Need to Join Your School's Network Domain link after you get the offer for Windows Home Premium. Then an offer for 7 Professional came up. I'm going to preorder it now.
Odd... but ya that worked.

[Eidorian]

Students usually get a discount from their schools.

This is much more widespread with the requirements just being an e-mail from an educational institution.

[maconspace]

I'm sure we'll need a new version of Parallels to run Windoze 7. Any word on that?

[KnightWRX]

Students usually get a discount from their schools.

This is much more widespread with the requirements just being an e-mail from an educational institution.

And proof of current enrollment. It's not that much broader.

[Eidorian]

And proof of current enrollment. It's not that much broader.Depends on where you go. I have yet to find a school that doesn't have some discount program with Microsoft.

[BklynKid]

I might have to buy this for $30. Gotto check and see if my old student email address still works. :D

[ltcol266845]

I agree. Seems like Page 2 news.

I have an XP machine but I don't know if I want to move to 7. Even for $30. XP works the way I want.

With Mac upgrades, it feels like evolution of the OS. With windows, it just feels like disconnected change. Just my opinion.

uhh... Try Windows 7. Really. Its pretty darn cool. I just built a new PC and its fast, stable, and has some really nice UI tweaks. If it had Expose, It would be perfect.

For me, I just ordered this upgrade. Glad I waited before pre-ordering! No extra charge even to switch to Professional. Love it. Thanks M$, really!

[deputy_doofy]

As others have mentioned, windows 7 professional (retail) is available right now through the MSDNAA program. Cost is $0. I'm Running in VirtualBox, but that's it.

[*LTD*]

If students comprised the bulk of MS' market this would actually be interesting.

Anyway, it's a good way to promote and move product.

[Eidorian]

If students comprised the bulk of MS' market this would actually be interesting.

Anyway, it's a good way to promote and move product.Oh they do. I remember plenty of kids rushing to get XP and build their computers as soon as they could for $10 on the OS.

[jav6454]

They should make a full version available to us at a slightly higher price so some of us can bootcamp it.

Agree here. Although one can pirate Vista and then use the legal disk or installation of Win7 on that. It's not a very good route by idiotic Microsoft just makes this an upgrade rather than the full version.

With Apple we get for $29 an Ultimate and the complete disc which means of our Macs screw up or we put in a new shinny SSD all we have to do is pop in the CD and that's it. On the Microsoft route we need to install Vista (if you even have the recovery discs) and then use the freaking upgrade version of the crippled down in feature version of Win7. Yes MS is so much simple :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

BOOOOO, it's the upgrade version.

See above

I only get the option to buy Win7-Home-Upgrade, with no option for either Win7-Pro-Upgrade or to get a disk...

Students should have access to Pro also.

So, I'm looking at the process right now.
it's 29.99 for the Win 7 Home Premium (Upgrade version)
and it wants you to pick 32bit or 64bit. don't they just put both installers on the same disk ?
just mark this as another thing I love about Mac OS X ..one freaking version, (not home, pro, ult.) and then after finding your version you get to pick 32bit or 64bit.

Plus for Snow Leopard I got the physical media as part of the cost.
It may only be 29.99 but without Win XP support and all the extra hassle of MS It still just might not be worth it for me to get it.

It's Microsoft. It's to much for their greed to let go a full version rather than the upgrade.

[KnightWRX]

Depends on where you go. I have yet to find a school that doesn't have some discount program with Microsoft.

Wait, are you saying it's not much more widespread that it used to be ? :D

[ltcol266845]

I'm sure we'll need a new version of Parallels to run Windoze 7. Any word on that?

Already does and has for quite a while. They started support back with the first Public Beta release.

[definitive]

can you do a clean install of this windows 7 without having a previous version? i read in their faq that you can do a custom install on to a new drive, but it wasn't too clear to me...

[buxtone17]

Setting aside the $29 upgrade for students, I've never understood...

1. Why Microsoft charges so freaking much for Windows.

2. Why Microsoft creates like 97 different versions of each of their operating systems and other softwares.

Would you like Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Vista Super Mega Ultimate or Vista Intergalactic?

And how about this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx).

Some of the "features" are "Best choice for laptops", "Have more fun on your PC" and "Additional programs and features".

Come again?

[ltcol266845]

It's Microsoft. It's to much for their greed to let go a full version rather than the upgrade.

Yeah, you can most certainly use the Upgrade edition for a clean install. They even talk about it in their Upgrade Advisor section. You simply click "custom install" during installation and that's it. Just like with Snow Leopard, which defaults to an Upgrade install unless you do some finagling.

[KnightWRX]

On the Microsoft route we need to install Vista (if you even have the recovery discs) and then use the freaking upgrade version of the crippled down in feature version of Win7.

When did they change this ? Because for the last 15 years, upgrade discs worked the same as full discs, the only difference being during installation, it would prompt you to insert a valid product CD just to check that you qualified for upgrade.

[chadabshier]

It is a little hidden, but you need to click "click here" on the yellow bar that says: "Need to join your school's network domain? Click here"

That pops up a window to order the Pro version.:)

[Corrosive vinyl]

so let me get this right:
1. it has to be a pre approved school (I don't see any Virginia universities listed, including my own; and what about community colleges?)
2. If you want the physical disc you have to pay $43 instead of $30
3. You have to download and run a program that will tell you if your computer will work with the new OS, and if it doesn't you have to get a new one or upgrade which will cost $$
4. It is the home premium version, with missing features
5. Why is this better then $30 for the full install disc of the mac OS

[jav6454]

Yeah, you can most certainly use the Upgrade edition for a clean install. They even talk about it in their Upgrade Advisor section. You simply click "custom install" during installation and that's it. Just like with Snow Leopard, which defaults to an Upgrade install unless you do some finagling.

When did they change this ? Because for the last 15 years, upgrade discs worked the same as full discs, the only difference being during installation, it would prompt you to insert a valid product CD just to check that you qualified for upgrade.

Long story short: My Hp laptop crashed and HDD died. Tried using the upgrade CD I bought on new HDD and no luck (not even custom install). Had to contact HP for the recovery discs for XP and then re upgrade.

That was a 5 day hassle. This is Vista BTW

[bytethese]

I don't have to decide which version of my operating system is right for me.

It's $29 and not feature restricted.

Gee, what a thought.

Well, at least it's only 2 options. :)

Program Description: Eligible students are allowed to purchase one license of the product below:

1. Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium

OR

2. Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional

[Chaos215bar2]

Do you even need to join your school's domain ? I sure as hell wouldn't, just in case one of the domain admins finds the GPO MMC snap-in and starts deciding what I can and can't run on my personal computer.

That's not the point. Only Professional is able to do this, so clicking this link gets you to the page where you order Professional. It's the same price, so there's absolutely no reason not to. I think they're just hiding it a little so that everyone doesn't go and buy the Professional version.

[MH01]

This is awesome news for students who bootcamp.

[marcre]

not very many colleges on that list. Maybe they're going to keep adding to it though.

[jaw04005]

I don't know why so many of you are complaining about the different versions. You don't need anything beyond Windows 7 Professional, which is included in this offer.

This time around, no one needs Ultimate unless you're in a specific type of corporate environment that requires additional security features. It's not like the Vista launch were if you wanted Media Center and Remote Desktop in the same package, you had to buy Ultimate.

[Boesky]

MS released it for free on the torrents.

[KnightWRX]

not very many colleges on that list. Maybe they're going to keep adding to it though.

The list is only for people without a .EDU domain e-mail. If your college doesn't have a .edu and doesn't give out free e-mail, I have bad news for you...

[Wierd Fishes]

Hello. Student Here.

Just thought I might let you know that every student at my university has had access to the full version of Windows 7 Professional for free since September 14th.

Suckers =P.

[MacMonster1985]

The Zune and this have absoluetly nothing to do with Macrumors and yet they are front page news. Just more troll bait.

[haravikk]

I managed to get my (legit) copy of Windows 7 Professional through my university's MSDNAA scheme, which I only just qualify for (as I graduated in July so my account expires soon), so I at least got it for "free" (to me).

The consumer prices that Microsoft are asking are ridiculous. For $170 or whatever you get very little besides a performance bump and some bling, while Snow Leopard is delivering a ton of very exciting new technologies, as well as a similar performance bump and a little less bling (but refined bling) for $25.

Windows 7 should be $25 for the "ultimate" version in all market segments, not just for students. It's ludicrous to think that anyone might pay so much for so little, when for 50% more you could get the damned thing on a brand new netbook!

[MH01]

Setting aside the $29 upgrade for students, I've never understood...

1. Why Microsoft charges so freaking much for Windows.

2. Why Microsoft creates like 97 different versions of each of their operating systems and other softwares.

Would you like Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Vista Super Mega Ultimate or Vista Intergalactic?

And how about this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx).

Some of the "features" are "Best choice for laptops", "Have more fun on your PC" and "Additional programs and features".

Come again?

because M$ does not sell hardware. SL might as well be free given the amount apple makes on the hardware. SL might as well be free, its not like u can use it on another PC.

Read the link mate you send, its quite clear why they have different versions. Bit pointless installing ultimate on a netbook.......

[MacMonster1985]

I managed to get my (legit) copy of Windows 7 Professional through my university's MSDNAA scheme, which I only just qualify for (as I graduated in July so my account expires soon), so I at least got it for "free" (to me).

The consumer prices that Microsoft are asking are ridiculous. For $170 or whatever you get very little besides a performance bump and some bling, while Snow Leopard is delivering a ton of very exciting new technologies, as well as a similar performance bump and a little less bling (but refined bling) for $25.

Windows 7 should be $25 for the "ultimate" version in all market segments, not just for students. It's ludicrous to think that anyone might pay so much for so little, when for 50% more you could get the damned thing on a brand new netbook!

MS is a software company. If they sold everything for cheap, where would they get money from. Apple gets their money from the hardware sales. MS does it from the software sales.

[Enigmafan420]

MS released it for free on the torrents.

LMAO-Course I haven't tried that route since XP came out and I needed another copy, but I seem to remember activation issues with the copy I uh-ahem "obtained".

[HLdan]

I don't have to decide which version of my operating system is right for me.

It's $29 and not feature restricted.

Gee, what a thought.

Exactly, I just love how MS treats their customers like their dumbasses. Snow Leopard gives you the full experience with all the networking tools and drive encryption, the same as Windows 7 Ultimate, but SL is $29 and W7 gives the students the home premium version for $29. FAIL. And before any MS fanboy mentions that the students don't need more than home premium, the point is that MS is trying to advertise W7 for $29 against SL as if it's the same package and it's not.

[krye]

Ah, Microsoft, how you always manage to drop the ball. You always start out with the best of intentions, and then screw it up at the end.

So, you'll drop your price to $30 in direct response the extreme success of Snow Leopard, but only for students, and only on the electronic download, and only till Jan.

Wow, thanks for nothin' Micro$oft.

[LagunaSol]

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

Even trolls need a home. Yes, it's sad that MacRumors has become the place to fight about Apple vs. Microsoft. Strange, strange times.

Even stranger is the fact you won't hear the Microsoft apologists screaming about $300 Windows OS prices, while to them everything Apple does is a ripoff.

[definitive]

I managed to get my (legit) copy of Windows 7 Professional through my university's MSDNAA scheme, which I only just qualify for (as I graduated in July so my account expires soon), so I at least got it for "free" (to me).

The consumer prices that Microsoft are asking are ridiculous. For $170 or whatever you get very little besides a performance bump and some bling, while Snow Leopard is delivering a ton of very exciting new technologies, as well as a similar performance bump and a little less bling (but refined bling) for $25.

Windows 7 should be $25 for the "ultimate" version in all market segments, not just for students. It's ludicrous to think that anyone might pay so much for so little, when for 50% more you could get the damned thing on a brand new netbook!

lol are you serious?

[Mattie Num Nums]

The list is only for people without a .EDU domain e-mail. If your college doesn't have a .edu and doesn't give out free e-mail, I have bad news for you...

Yea me too, you chose a college living in the dark ages.

[wingsabr]

smooth move MS. not only does apple continue to blow you away with their iPod, iPhone and other innovations, they are now forcing you to give huge to discounts to everybo....wait for it, students only? WTH man?

I have win7 RTM and it's nice but it should have been a service pack, not a full release. Oh well, you continue to force people away from your products while you continue to lose market share and once my laptop dies you will lose another (clearly you don't really care or else you would have made this upgrade $29 for everyone)

[MacMonster1985]

Exactly, I just love how MS treats their customers like their dumbasses. Snow Leopard gives you the full experience with all the networking tools and drive encryption, the same as Windows 7 Ultimate, but SL is $29 and W7 gives the students the home premium version for $29. FAIL. And before any MS fanboy mentions that the students don't need more than home premium, the point is that MS is trying to advertise W7 for $29 against SL as if it's the same package and it's not.

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

[stuffradio]

just wait til they all start to realise what an XP upgrade involves... a clean install.

no way am I going to do that.

how are you going to find all the programs you installed and their software keys? it's not the major programs that take the effort. all the little utilities you sometimes use, the plug-ins, the codecs... that's what takes the time to reinstall and leaves you pulling your hair out.

clean installs are not something you do lightly. i had a hard drive crash recently on a PC. it was fairly painless to reinstall XP but i've yet to find the spare time to get all the other things, the bits that do the worthwhile stuff, installed again.

MS had better rethink it's path if it wants to convince the majority of XP users this is progress: create a tool that goes through the registry and works out what to keep and how to make it painless. That should keep em busy for a few more years. LOL.

Have just upgrade to Snow Leopard. Only glitch? the bluetooth mouse had problems but that's now fixed. 1 hour all up. no drama.

I guess you don't know what Magic Jelly Bean is...
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

[wingsabr]

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

I sold my 360 a long time ago and bought a ps3, it paid for itself with a bluray player and not having to pay 60 to use their free service the sony offers for...FREEEEEE!!!!

[LagunaSol]

"You are being charged up the rear for a mediocre OS. Cancel or Allow?"

[kcroyalsfan]

Well in the battle of Mac os vs Win 7 I would say Mac hands down. Found this link to pretty much states why on #31: www.whattowhen.com

[KnightWRX]

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

In the consumer's defense, Microsoft used their money from other monopolies in order to purchase exclusive titles and time based exclusives or DLC exclusives for the Xbox, forcing people that wanted those titles to purchase a console with a 50% failure rate.

Too bad Sony tried to stay out of the exclusives for money game.

[MacMonster1985]

I sold my 360 a long time ago and bought a ps3, it paid for itself with a bluray player and not having to pay 60 to use their free service the sony offers for...FREEEEEE!!!!

Well done. PS3 is the mac of the console world. Well worth the extra price. Xbox is like a PC, you never get any gaming done as it's always breakign down.

[Foxglove9]

$320 for Windows 7, wow, Apple prices aren't looking too steep right now.

[sbrhwkp3]

more proof that apple is making a difference. and more proof that microsoft just copies what they do


This.

[creon]

I remember people saying that 7 would be a FREE service pack and that SL was the epitome of Apple to charge us.

Looks like THEY were wrong. Where is your FREE service pack now Microsoft?!

[kcroyalsfan]

I sold my 360 a long time ago and bought a ps3, it paid for itself with a bluray player and not having to pay 60 to use their free service the sony offers for...FREEEEEE!!!!

I just had a battle with xbox, and I lost I told them I was just going to buy a ps3 if they wouldn't fix mine and they said OK. With the free online play its pretty much only 50 dollars more to have a console that works + Blue Ray. Easy Decision.

[catmonkey]

Maybe it's not standard practice but here in the UK at De Montfort University I was able to download Windows 7 professional for free through the MSDNAA this morning, same as I did with Windows Vista Business last year for a few programs I need for my course that don't have OS X counterparts (doing Multimedia Computing.) There are no limitations or catches to the license either.

For what it's worth it's been my first experience of Win7, yeah sure it's better and the new taskbar, or rather 'superbar' makes me feel more at home but I was still relieved to know I could boot back into Snow Leopard which is keeping my MBP ticking over beautifully. The most painful part was installing it as an upgrade, 3 restarts, many failed attempts at getting the installer working in the first place, taking just over 2 hours and having to reinstall Office 2007 Compared to pressing 3 buttons, 1 restart & being done 30-40 mins later with SL with no issues.

[ChrisA]

Students, remember the age old advice "buy low sell high". MS just gave us a roadmap for future prices. Even if you don't want this some sucker will. Buy it now for $29, don't install it then re-sell it after the price goes up.

[LagunaSol]

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

"Thank you sir! May I have another?" My brother is on his 3rd 360. You're right - any other product on the market would have been completely shunned by consumers with such an abysmal reliability rate. But gamers keep coming back for more with the 360, like a dog that's repeatedly kicked yet keeps smiling and wagging its tail. Odd.

I have a Wii, but with the new $299 PS3, I'm jumping onboard the Sony train.

[MacMonster1985]

"Thank you sir! May I have another?" My brother is on his 3rd 360. You're right - any other product on the market would have been completely shunned by consumers with such an abysmal reliability rate. But gamers keep coming back for more with the 360, like a dog that's repeatedly kicked yet keeps smiling and wagging its tail. Odd.

I have a Wii, but with the new $299 PS3, I'm jumping onboard the Sony train.

You should tell your brother off for being such an idiot.

[creon]

Well done. PS3 is the mac of the console world. Well worth the extra price. Xbox is like a PC, you never get any gaming done as it's always breakign down.

I have a Mac and a 360 because I buy what works. Now, I know the rampant Red Ring of Death but the new chips have fixed that. The LIVE experience beats the pants out of PS3's online gaming. I have already bought a Blu-Ray so the factor everyone goes to is null and void

I find it funny that people always mention that as the first point to make; did they know it is a GAME CONSOLE not an Blu-Ray player? Great, I get it, your machine can play Blu-Ray discs but what about the games available for it like one of the best, if not the best, selling series of Halo? And then I would ask about the online play and its reliability. Lastly, I would ask about the free demos and downloadable content available on their PS3.

So, go ahead and watch your Blu-Ray while I enjoy my 360.

[CQd44]

You should tell your brother off for being such an idiot.

Maybe he just likes the games?

[MacMonster1985]

I have a Mac and a 360 because I buy what works. Now, I know the rampant Red Ring of Death but the new chips have fixed that. The LIVE experience beats the pants out of PS3's online gaming. I have already bought a Blu-Ray so the factor everyone goes to is null and void

I find it funny that people always mention that as the first point to make; did they know it is a GAME CONSOLE not an Blu-Ray player? Great, I get it, your machine can play Blu-Ray discs but what about the games available for it like one of the best, if not the best, selling series of Halo? And then I would ask about the online play and its reliability. Lastly, I would ask about the free demos and downloadable content available on their PS3.

So, go ahead and watch your Blu-Ray while I enjoy my 360.

And enjoy giving your money to M$. You're contributing to what will eventually be another M$ monopoly.

Maybe he just likes the games?

You don't need to keep going back to a Micro$**** console with a 50% failure rate to play games.

[layte]

Hurray! Yet another Microsoft thread on MSrumors for a small but vocal segment of the Mac 'community' to pat themselves on the back and feel smug.

In other news, Microsoft have been giving software away free to Students under MSDN-AA agreements and very cheap offers to those not covered for decades.

[rwilliams]

DO NOT BUY IT FELLOW MACRUMORS!

Teach Microsoft a lesson. They cannot keep copying Apple to survive!

Boycott Windows 7!!!

Sorry man, I'm not interested in teaching anyone a lesson, whatever that means. I want a great OS for the PCs I have left at home, and Windows 7 is that OS.

[LagunaSol]

You should tell your brother off for being such an idiot.

He bought a PS3 last week. :D

[MacMonster1985]

He bought a PS3 last week. :D

Great News. One less MS user.

[iSamurai]

Good to see MS turning up the heat for competition. In the end we benefit :)

But really, thanks but no thanks. Sometimes I run Windows virtually for some engineering programmes and that's about it. I think XP can still do that.

[knewsom]

Step 1: Steal Operating Systems.

Step 2: ?????????????

Step 3: PROFIT!



:p

[Vkrati]

Have you guys actually seen the webpages. It looks actually really bad made. And why do they not use the Microsoft domain name as a start. It more looks like a scam to me... Anyone else having this thought?

[LagunaSol]

And enjoy giving your money to M$. You're contributing to what will eventually be another M$ monopoly.

Fortunately the chance of Microsoft dominating console gaming evaporated long ago. The lowly Wii has been owning this generation, and now that the PS3 is $299 - including Blu Ray, wireless networking, and free online gaming - how many people are going to continue buying the Xbox? You'd have to be nuts. Microsoft is not going to be able to buy enough exclusive titles to keep this thing going (though they are trying).

Like the Zune, the Xbox is just another money burning quest for street cred with the cool kids.

[Rhalliwell1]

I get 2 free copies of professional through my universities MSDN Alliance. :)

[Richard1028]

Setting aside the $29 upgrade for students, I've never understood...

Would you like Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Vista Super Mega Ultimate or Vista Intergalactic?Sometimes the inability of the "mac mind" to comprehend the glaring differences between Apple and MS is embarrassing.

There exists with MS a different pricing structure because unlike Apple... where their OS can only run on their machines (which they also sell)... MS must make their $$ on just the OS. It's that simple. Why is this so difficult for people to fathom?

It makes perfect sense to offer different versions and adding the words, "pro, studio or basic" to a software title with different feature sets and price them accordingly. This has been around forever and is very common even in the mac world.

Comparing the end-user computing experience is one thing but some of you macheads sound pretty stupid criticizing the marketing strategies of a company who has 88% market penetration throughout the known universe.

We need a "pom-pom" room for all the fanbois here.

[tongteh]

i just want to know if it's the 32bit version or 64bit at $29.99?

[Eminemdrdre00]

300 bucks for just the os...damn.

You pay more than $300 just for the OS everytime you buy a mac...

I jumped on this deal yesterday though as soon as I saw Major Nelson tweet it out!

i just want to know if it's the 32bit version or 64bit at $29.99?
You have the choice at checkout, you can pick the 32bit or 64bit version.

[alent1234]

i don't think i've ever met anyone who pays retail price for Windows except maybe Mac users who run it on their Mac's. It's included with every new PC you buy and the home build people buy the OEM versions which are 1/4 the price of retail. it's cheaper to just pay for technet every year and get WIndows and Office available for download any time you want

[ri0ku]

this is pretty good but pointless... since i recieved it already for free through uni microsoft academic alliance.... UK

[Apollo33]

Actually, many students will just pirate the Ultimate Edition anyway. Why pay $30 for something that's going to be restricted. Not to mention Snow Leopard is available for $30 for ALL Intel based Mac owners.

Just like Zune HD, Windows 7 will never be able to beat Apple's simplicity and giving people what they NEED and WANT. Sorry MS. Google and Apple are the coup that will end the plague of Windows.

Do you even know ANYTHING about Windows 7? Pretty much the only thing Ultimate has over Professional is BitLocker encryption. Which sucks. It can be easily avoided by anyone that has physical access to your system.

Windows 7 is nothing like Vista in terms of version differences. Professional has everything Home Premium has and more.

Also, you're wrong about Snow Leopard pricing. Snow Leopard only works on Intel processors, but the first Intel Macs had Tiger... not Leopard. Tiger users are SUPPOSED to pay for the Mac Box set. Otherwise they're in violation of their license. In addition, Snow Leopard isn't that much of an upgrade over Leopard. Hence the low price. No one with Leopard would pay $100 for Snow Leopard.

Still, though. This is a horrible deal for students. Especially seeing as several websites have already covered how students can get 8 licenses of Windows 7 for just $19 by joining ACM. I got 10 Windows 7 Professional licenses through my IEEE student membership. (IEEE student membership for the remainder of this year is just $15.)

[diamond.g]

Snow Leopard gives you the full experience with all the networking tools and drive encryption, the same as Windows 7 Ultimate, but SL is $29 and W7 gives the students the home premium version for $29.
SL does full drive encryption? I thought it only encrypted your home folder. :confused:
And enjoy giving your money to M$. You're contributing to what will eventually be another M$ monopoly.
We all gave MS money (assuming you have iPhone/iPod Touch/Snow Leopard) for Exchange Active Sync.

I like the PS3 as much as the next person, but its online service really isn't as good. It have taken 3 years for it to almost catch up to MS in features (where is my cross game chat Sony :mad:).

[NoExpectations]

I have a Windows business app that I have to access, does Bootcamp support Win7? $30 wouldn't be so bad if I can find someone in college :)

[haravikk]

lol are you serious?
I am.

Why do people buy the Windows OS boxes? They do it to upgrade existing systems, but as far as an upgrade goes Windows 7 is not worth $170, no way.

Keep charging the same for the folks bundling the OS with machines, that's where most sales of Windows come from anyway, but who in their right mind spends $170 on something that barely qualifies as a new product?

[OllyW]

i just want to know if it's the 32bit version or 64bit at $29.99?

Because it a download you get to choose either. You can pay extra for it on DVD, which comes with both versions but you can only install one.

[lathode]

I'm sure it's already been pointed out in this thread, but first of all MS makes their money from software, not hardware like Apple, so it's a given it's going to cost more. Simple as that. Secondly most people don't care to upgrade from what they have, they'll probably run 7 when they eventually buy new PC's. Third, people who do pay full price for the OS (people who build their own systems) buy OEM software which is half the price of retail. $100-120 for the OS is hardly a big deal. And a side note, M$ really? I guess all the PC people should go around saying Crapple :rolleyes:

[LagunaSol]

I have a Windows business app that I have to access, does Bootcamp support

Why reboot when you can just run your Windows app in VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop and then get right back to work on the Mac side without pause?

Works perfectly for me...

[Apollo33]

Setting aside the $29 upgrade for students, I've never understood...

1. Why Microsoft charges so freaking much for Windows.

2. Why Microsoft creates like 97 different versions of each of their operating systems and other softwares.

Would you like Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Vista Super Mega Ultimate or Vista Intergalactic?

And how about this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx).

Some of the "features" are "Best choice for laptops", "Have more fun on your PC" and "Additional programs and features".

Come again?

First and foremost: Windows is a software company. Unlike Apple, Windows depends on software sales (and software support costs for businesses) to bring in profit. Apple, however, is a hardware company. They simply make the software to run on the hardware. Hence why they don't seem as worried about users pirating versions of OS X. Those users have (theoretically) already purchased a Mac.

As to the second question: That was a thing they did with Vista, which was very stupid. They've learned from it. With Windows 7, there's Home Premium which has a limited feature-set that should be enough for most Home users. Then there's Professional for more techy or business users... which (unlike Vista Business) still retains ALL the features from Home Premium. Yeah, there's Ultimate but the only notable feature not included in Professional is BitLocker, which most people probably don't care about (and isn't that great). (Oh, and they call their business volume license thing "Enterprise"... but they've had it for each version of Windows and it's pretty much the same as Ultimate, so it's not worth mentioning.)

So really there's only Home and Professional now. Just like with XP. Nice and simple.

[LagunaSol]

I guess all the PC people should go around saying Crapple :rolleyes:

Um, they do.

[NoExpectations]

Why reboot when you can just run your Windows app in VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop and then get right back to work on the Mac side without pause?

Works perfectly for me...

True...many thanks.

[dernhelm]

Setting aside the $29 upgrade for students, I've never understood...

1. Why Microsoft charges so freaking much for Windows.

2. Why Microsoft creates like 97 different versions of each of their operating systems and other softwares.

Would you like Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Vista Super Mega Ultimate or Vista Intergalactic?

And how about this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx).

Some of the "features" are "Best choice for laptops", "Have more fun on your PC" and "Additional programs and features".

Come again?

That page is a riot! Could you imagine some poor sucker wanting to upgrade from Vista? They're obviously trying to steer you away from Home Basic (with checkmarks only on "most secure windows ever", "quickly find what you need", and "easier networking connectivity"). It isn't even best for laptops. And it doesn't have Aero? Holy cow! They can't even throw in their UI layer on Home Basic?

So I spend $199.95 (+TAX) to get something that makes it easier to network my computer (which unless I'm missing something, it already is if I'm reading your web page), gives me the most secure windows ever (which is a little like saying claiming you're the most trustworthy wall street securities trader involved in a Ponzi scheme ever), and gives me the ability to quickly find what I need (which I think at this point, amounts to being able to find a .EDU address so I can download this for only $29.95 - about what it's worth).

If Apple doesn't make some switchers out of this, I'd be surprised.

[cmwade77]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

Windows 7 runs great on a Mac, and since my Wife is a student, I might just get this for $29.99 to keep my options open for software that will only run on Windows (there's not much of it that I still use, but there is some that I use once every two to three months).

Also, it should be noted that while it makes it easier if you have a .edu email address, there is an option for you, if you don't.

[Apollo33]

Exactly, I just love how MS treats their customers like their dumbasses. Snow Leopard gives you the full experience with all the networking tools and drive encryption, the same as Windows 7 Ultimate, but SL is $29 and W7 gives the students the home premium version for $29. FAIL. And before any MS fanboy mentions that the students don't need more than home premium, the point is that MS is trying to advertise W7 for $29 against SL as if it's the same package and it's not.

Isn't this article stating that Students can get Professional for the same price? Which is only missing BitLocker encryption?

Also, if you think drive encryption is going to keep hackers out of your data... you might want to think again. Go watch some Hak5... you will be enlightened. In one episode they demonstrated how to get around BitLocker and other drive encryption schemes.

I find it amazing how Apple fanboys are easily lulled into a false sense of security. Yeah, my OS X install is likely safer than my Win 7 install... but I'm still not so cocky as to believe it's invulnerable to viruses. (granted, I don't have antivirus protection installed on OS X... but I don't go around clicking stupid links either)

As stated multiple times in this thread (by myself and others) this $29 isn't even the best deal available to students. It's just the most publicized.

[1enckore]

Oh ma... my school provide free copies to student Premium one too.. some of you should check with your schools you may get it for little or nothing...I got adobe suite that cost 2k from my school for $250.00 yeap...

MS. That is not a deal. maybe you should provide us with everything for 29 buck more or less why the timeline.. really struggling now..

[alent1234]

First and foremost: Windows is a software company. Unlike Apple, Windows depends on software sales (and software support costs for businesses) to bring in profit. Apple, however, is a hardware company. They simply make the software to run on the hardware. Hence why they don't seem as worried about users pirating versions of OS X. Those users have (theoretically) already purchased a Mac.

As to the second question: That was a thing they did with Vista, which was very stupid. They've learned from it. With Windows 7, there's Home Premium which has a limited feature-set that should be enough for most Home users. Then there's Professional for more techy or business users... which (unlike Vista Business) still retains ALL the features from Home Premium. Yeah, there's Ultimate but the only notable feature not included in Professional is BitLocker, which most people probably don't care about (and isn't that great). (Oh, and they call their business volume license thing "Enterprise"... but they've had it for each version of Windows and it's pretty much the same as Ultimate, so it's not worth mentioning.)

So really there's only Home and Professional now. Just like with XP. Nice and simple.

the best feature of Ultimate is the virtual XP mode. only thing is that you have to have a CPU that is VT compliant and Intel screwed that up so you have to check.

i run x64 WIndows 7 and that means my checkpoint VPN client won't work. it works in x86. so i downloaded the virtual XP mode and it works very fast. a lot faster than the beta

[Winni]

300 bucks for just the os...damn.
Does it come with a free netbook?

No. But unlike Snow Leopard, it will run great on a six years old computer.

[definitive]

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

oh, so it's ok for apple to charge $1.5k+ for outdated compute hardware?

give me break

[cumanzor]

As stated multiple times in this thread (by myself and others) this $29 isn't even the best deal available to students. It's just the most publicized.

I thought most students could get it for free via msdnaa. I know I can, and I'm not even in the US.

What do you expect? Look at their Xbox 360 console? People are perfectly happy to go back to it even after multiple failures, knowing well in advance of it's 50% failure rate. They are willing to pay for Xbox Live, something which should have been free in the first place. MS will treat the consumers as idiots as long as they're willing to be treated as idiots.

I agree that the Xbox 360 is a piece of **** hardware wise. But you have to understand the target market. It's a video game console, the people who bought a 360 instead of other console have their own reasons: exclusive games, exclusive features in Xbox Live, etc. They will come back because of this and because of mere brand loyalism.

I don't understand your reasoning about XBL being free. Apple charges for MobileMe, right? Someone has to pay to keep the XBL services up. I mean, ****, there is a huge amount of people using the service at any given time.

I love my PS3 and I don't see myself buying a 360 anytime soon, but I have to accept the fact the XBL is, atm at least, better than PSN.

[definitive]

Oh ma... my school provide free copies to student Premium one too.. some of you should check with your schools you may get it for little or nothing...I got adobe suite that cost 2k from my school for $250.00 yeap...

MS. That is not a deal. maybe you should provide us with everything for 29 buck more or less why the timeline.. really struggling now..

http://news.techworld.com/security/3201863/snow-leopard-less-secure-than-windows-says-hacker/?pn=1

[Sambo110]

Lol, download copy.

[Apollo33]

That page is a riot! Could you imagine some poor sucker wanting to upgrade from Vista? They're obviously trying to steer you away from Home Basic (with checkmarks only on "most secure windows ever", "quickly find what you need", and "easier networking connectivity"). It isn't even best for laptops. And it doesn't have Aero? Holy cow! They can't even throw in their UI layer on Home Basic?

So I spend $199.95 (+TAX) to get something that makes it easier to network my computer (which unless I'm missing something, it already is if I'm reading your web page), gives me the most secure windows ever (which is a little like saying claiming you're the most trustworthy wall street securities trader involved in a Ponzi scheme ever), and gives me the ability to quickly find what I need (which I think at this point, amounts to being able to find a .EDU address so I can download this for only $29.95 - about what it's worth).

If Apple doesn't make some switchers out of this, I'd be surprised.

I've already pointed out that the whole Vista version structure was flawwed. They changed it for Windows 7.

Pretty much you have two choices now, which are Home Premium and Professional (unless you're stupid and feel that you NEED Ultimate, which only really adds BitLocker on top of all the features in Professional.)

Professional has everything from Home Premium and then some.

The Vista Home Basic thing you rip on in your post was really only offered to Emerging Markets, AFAIK. Think small towns in Africa. I don't think you could have purchased it in the States.

Also, you say that Win 7 isn't worth more than $30... Well, I'd say an upgrade from ANY version of Windows (XP or Vista) to Windows 7 is worth more than an upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Yeah, I like the built-in Cisco VPN support... and it's nice that Apple finally realized it was stupid to charge extra for basic media player functionality (how many people were actually stupid enough to purchase Quicktime Pro?)... and Exchange 2007 support is a nice feature, I guess... if you use Exchange. Otherwise it's fairly light on the features. Yeah, Stacks are better... and everything has very MINOR tweaks... but it's not really worth much. Windows 7 is clearly more polished than Vista, and thus has a justifiable upgrade price in my mind. Snow Leopard doesn't. Oh, right. It's 64-bit... but that didn't make my system magically run faster. Oh, and I've been running 64-bit since I installed Vista on my MBP last year. Wow, did Apple just COPY Microsoft? Turn on your photocopiers, Cupertino. Microsoft is releasing a new version of Windows.

[djellison]

clean installs are not something you do lightly. .

They're something you should do ANY time you change the OS. I did it for SL. There are many SL related problems which you will find "It's OK - I did a clean install and that fixed it"

[Apollo33]

No. But unlike Snow Leopard, it will run great on a six years old computer.

Hah. Good point. Any Mac made prior to 2006 can't run Snow Leopard. A fact most people seem to be forgetting. In addition, the first of those Intel Macs are required to pay for the Mac Box unless they've already purchased Leopard.

It seems like a good scheme to get anyone still using a PPC Mac to upgrade their hardware... which seems like something a hardware company (like Apple) would do.

And, well, a new $2000 laptop clearly isn't a bad deal... while spending $200 on a Windows upgrade is. (note: I purchased my MBP for that much... and this is even AFTER the student developer discount)

I'm not complaining about hardware costs, just trying to clarify that people judging Windows based on its cost are really just being silly, especially when the main source of income for Apple is hardware.

Also, I should note that the upgrade cost for Tiger users is $169 (which does include iWork and iLife 09)... So really, $200 isn't that bad of a deal. (Home Premium upgrade is just $120 if you don't need all the extra features of Professional)

[VenusianSky]

Not a student, but I'll settle with a free copy of 7 Ultimate from the free public launch event at the end of the month. I got 3 free copies of Vista Ultimate last year from several MS events.

Oh, and before the bashing begins, Windows 7's actual version number is 6.1, not 7. 7 is really just a minor upgrade to Vista. It is more aimed towards people that did not go to Vista from XP. Win7 is basically an improved Vista. It doesn't have enough new features to warrant a major version number.

[Apollo33]

They're something you should do ANY time you change the OS. I did it for SL. There are many SL related problems which you will find "It's OK - I did a clean install and that fixed it"

I didn't do it with SL and haven't had any problems... but I did just do a clean install of Leopard to a new harddrive a few weeks prior...

[diamond.g]

Not a student, but I'll settle with a free copy of 7 Ultimate from the free public launch event at the end of the month. I got 3 free copies of Vista Ultimate last year from several MS events.

Oh, and before the bashing begins, Windows 7's actual version number is 6.1, not 7. 7 is really just a minor upgrade to Vista. It is more aimed towards people that did not go to Vista from XP. Win7 is basically an improved Vista. It doesn't have enough new features to warrant a major version number.

That isn't entirely true. MS retained the major version of 6 to keep application compatibility.

[SkippyThorson]

ya who really gives a crap what Microsoft is doing! Apple is still the best. Microsoft is always trying to keep up with Apple but they don't got nothing on us lol. lets start talking about Apple and not Microsoft.

Holy Fanboyism... I like Apple, but ask yourself honestly how much of that is your peers talking... Kids...

I love how not one SUNY school is on that list. Hello, East Coast anyone? Microshaft is a joke.

I'll take advantage of this - only because I like the thought of getting something from them for more than 75% off of retail. A price that should be the standard from one of the largest companies this side of the nebula - complete with the UFO of Fail.

[Apollo33]

Not a student, but I'll settle with a free copy of 7 Ultimate from the free public launch event at the end of the month. I got 3 free copies of Vista Ultimate last year from several MS events.

Oh, and before the bashing begins, Windows 7's actual version number is 6.1, not 7. 7 is really just a minor upgrade to Vista. It is more aimed towards people that did not go to Vista from XP. Win7 is basically an improved Vista. It doesn't have enough new features to warrant a major version number.

As I've said before, Windows 7 is more of an upgrade to Vista than Snow Leopard is to Leopard. Just because Apple decided to up the version number doesn't mean much.

I mean, heck, Quicktime is at just version 7 on Windows and prior-OSX installs. Yet, for Snow Leopard, it is at version 10. Further proof that version numbers mean nothing. In fact, Office 14 is really only the 13th version of Office. They changed the codename for obvious reasons.

Also, the build number for Windows 7 (which is the number that REALLY matters) is 7600. Meanwhile, the current version of Vista is 6002.

[ucfgrad93]

Not a bad move by Microsoft. That said, the audience is too limited, features are limited, and it just adds to the jumble of confusing options for customers who want Windows 7.

[FightTheFuture]

come on guys, this is only $29! for the price of a shareware app you get an operating system! i'll place this order just in case i need to bootcamp into windows someday.

[dernhelm]

I've already pointed out that the whole Vista version structure was flawwed. They changed it for Windows 7.

Pretty much you have two choices now, which are Home Premium and Professional (unless you're stupid and feel that you NEED Ultimate, which only really adds BitLocker on top of all the features in Professional.)

Professional has everything from Home Premium and then some.

The Vista Home Basic thing you rip on in your post was really only offered to Emerging Markets, AFAIK. Think small towns in Africa. I don't think you could have purchased it in the States.

Also, you say that Win 7 isn't worth more than $30... Well, I'd say an upgrade from ANY version of Windows (XP or Vista) to Windows 7 is worth more than an upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Yeah, I like the built-in Cisco VPN support... and it's nice that Apple finally realized it was stupid to charge extra for basic media player functionality (how many people were actually stupid enough to purchase Quicktime Pro?)... and Exchange 2007 support is a nice feature, I guess... if you use Exchange. Otherwise it's fairly light on the features. Yeah, Stacks are better... and everything has very MINOR tweaks... but it's not really worth much. Windows 7 is clearly more polished than Vista, and thus has a justifiable upgrade price in my mind. Snow Leopard doesn't. Oh, right. It's 64-bit... but that didn't make my system magically run faster. Oh, and I've been running 64-bit since I installed Vista on my MBP last year. Wow, did Apple just COPY Microsoft? Turn on your photocopiers, Cupertino. Microsoft is releasing a new version of Windows.

Sorry, you'll have to spew your misinformation somewhere else. I have an MSDN membership through work and I've been using windows 7 for a while now (Ultimate since I get it for free).

Here are my download choices right now on MSDN.

Windows 7 Enterprise (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Enterprise (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Basic (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Starter (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x86) - DVD (English)

I would say a good deal more than just home and professional. Any idea what starter is? The difference between Ultimate and Enterprise? There appears to still be Home Basic and Home Premium, do you finally get Aero in Basic? Why do I have to choose between x86 and x64?

Perhaps you'd like to explain to me how this tangled mess of options is any better than before.

On the mac, my options are Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server. If I want 64 bit kernel I boot with cmd-opt-64 (or just switch to 64 bit kernel in the preferences). On Windows, if I bought 32 bit now I'd have to purchase 64 bit in the future if it turns out I really did want a 64 bit kernel.

Window 7 is nothing more than an less annoying, faster, better Windows Vista. There is no "feature" in there worth paying $200 for. People will, because they're updating from XP (most smart people gave Vista the skip). From XP, you get some features in Vista worth paying for. From Vista, there are few new features - all they did is polish what they already had.

[FieryFurnace]

I guess most people here have never heard of MSDNAA.
You can get all Windows versions (XP, Vista, 7 and Server) some Office and a lot of those programming software for free.
Over the years I have downloaded 2xXP, 4xVista and I'm about to download Win7 Pro in both 32bit and 64bit - all free and legal.


I never got any free software(e.g. Snow Leopard) from Apple,... :rolleyes:

[seashellz]

Ha! Apple making MS squirm=
Dollars to donuts the price would have remained the same-or knowing MS-been pumped up except for the competition making them look foolish-and greedy.


The age of the dinosaur is over
MS is not going to make it into the 21st Century for long

[someone28624]

I'm gonna grab a copy for boot camp.

[Niiro13]

That page is a riot! Could you imagine some poor sucker wanting to upgrade from Vista? They're obviously trying to steer you away from Home Basic (with checkmarks only on "most secure windows ever", "quickly find what you need", and "easier networking connectivity"). It isn't even best for laptops. And it doesn't have Aero? Holy cow! They can't even throw in their UI layer on Home Basic?

I think Home Basic was always for the people in the third world countries or those who cannot afford Home Premium who just needed an updated version of the OS. Home Premium was always the "normal" version.

Anyway, I find it interesting that Microsoft would do this. Sure, they're trying to match Snow Leopard, but isn't Snow Leopard just Leopard with tweaks and stuff while Windows 7 was built from the core? Developers of Windows should be raging :/. Unless they only get paid by like hour instead of partly from commission.

[KnightWRX]

Also, I should note that the upgrade cost for Tiger users is $169 (which does include iWork and iLife 09)... So really, $200 isn't that bad of a deal. (Home Premium upgrade is just $120 if you don't need all the extra features of Professional)

200$ is not that bad of a deal when on the Apple side, you get iLife '09 AND iWork '09 along with the OS ?

Again, you give 30$ more to Microsoft for much less software, and it isn't that bad of a deal...

Denial much ?

And why would you need a 2000$ laptop ? The 599$ computers from Apple run Snow Leopard just fine.

[WestonHarvey1]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

Windows 7 is the Mac's primary competitor. I don't see how that shouldn't be interesting to the Mac community.

[diamond.g]

Sorry, you'll have to spew your misinformation somewhere else. I have an MSDN membership through work and I've been using windows 7 for a while now (Ultimate since I get it for free).

Here are my download choices right now on MSDN.

Windows 7 Enterprise (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Enterprise (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Basic (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Starter (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x86) - DVD (English)

I would say a good deal more than just home and professional. Any idea what starter is? The difference between Ultimate and Enterprise? There appears to still be Home Basic and Home Premium, do you finally get Aero in Basic? Why do I have to choose between x86 and x64?

Perhaps you'd like to explain to me how this tangled mess of options is any better than before.

On the mac, my options are Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server. If I want 64 bit kernel I boot with cmd-opt-64 (or just switch to 64 bit kernel in the preferences). On Windows, if I bought 32 bit now I'd have to purchase 64 bit in the future if it turns out I really did want a 64 bit kernel.

Window 7 is nothing more than an less annoying, faster, better Windows Vista. There is no "feature" in there worth paying $200 for. People will, because they're updating from XP (most smart people gave Vista the skip). From XP, you get some features in Vista worth paying for. From Vista, there are few new features - all they did is polish what they already had.
Retail you are only supposed to see 3 versions. Ultimate, Pro, and Home Premium. Enterprise is Volume license only. Starter is supposed to be for netbooks (why I dunno). It is supposed to be less confusing for the end user, not a MSDN/Technet user.

[Richard1028]

Holy Fanboyism... I like Apple, but ask yourself honestly how much of that is your peers talking... Kids...Sometimes I'm embarrassed to walk in public with my macbook. I feel like a geezer wearing the latest fashions. I still insist the average age of a mac user is 14.

Microshaft is a joke.Make that 13.

[balamw]

Retail you are only supposed to see 3 versions. Ultimate, Pro, and Home basic. Enterprise is Volume license only. Starter is supposed to be for netbooks (why I dunno). It is supposed to be less confusing for the end user, not a MSDN/Technet user.

Home Premium not Home Basic is the "mainstream" edition so it will definitely be available retail I'm not sure about Home Basic. [EDIT: I see you corrected that in your post].

It is also the version that MS is selling as part of their $149 "family pack" http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/31/microsoft-announces-pricing-for-windows-7-family-pack-upgrading/. So even for students there are still ways to get licenses for ~ $50.

This $29 deal is particularly a good deal for students who may need some of "pro"'s features.

B

[WestonHarvey1]

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to walk in public with my macbook. I feel like a geezer wearing the latest fashions. I still insist the average age of a mac user is 14.

Make that 13.

Hey, some people even think its cute to write "M$" on their resumés.

[dernhelm]

I think Home Basic was always for the people in the third world countries or those who cannot afford Home Premium who just needed an updated version of the OS. Home Premium was always the "normal" version.

Anyway, I find it interesting that Microsoft would do this. Sure, they're trying to match Snow Leopard, but isn't Snow Leopard just Leopard with tweaks and stuff while Windows 7 was built from the core? Developers of Windows should be raging :/. Unless they only get paid by like hour instead of partly from commission.

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty in to the Windows world here at work, so I get it. I was more laughing at the dysfunction of the page than anything else. What kills me is that Microsoft still doesn't get it. Windows 7 is really nothing more than what Vista should have been. To charge as much as they are for the upgrade really points to the fact that Microsoft just doesn't get it. Windows 7 is not a built from the core in any real sense of the word. It is built on Vista, they just trimmed it down a lot so it runs on lower-end hardware than Vista ever could.

Apple at least seemed to get it. The experience of Snow Leopard over Leopard is a lot like the experience of Windows 7 over Vista. It's faster, more polished and will perform better on hardware like the mac mini. Apple, however, seems to be willing to eat into their pile of cash and recover not much more than distribution costs for the media to get people to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Believe me, $29 a copy won't recover the R&D they put into Snow Leopard, unless they sold tens or hundreds of millions of copies (or something crazy like that).

Apple saw it as _strategic_ to eat into their cash reserves some and spur the adoption of Snow Leopard, not to counter Windows 7, but to give people little to no reason to stay on Leopard. Snow Leopard has under the surface changes that the next versions of iLife, iWork, Final Cut, Photoshop, etc will be able to make use of, which could make the experience of working on a mac leaps and bounds above what you could get on a windows machine.

Apple understood Snow Leopard as an investment in infrastructure and refused to turn it into a money grab. It's too bad Microsoft didn't see Windows 7 the same way.

[Apollo33]

Sorry, you'll have to spew your misinformation somewhere else. I have an MSDN membership through work and I've been using windows 7 for a while now (Ultimate since I get it for free).

Here are my download choices right now on MSDN.

Windows 7 Enterprise (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Enterprise (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Basic (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Professional (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Starter (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x86) - DVD (English)

I would say a good deal more than just home and professional. Any idea what starter is? The difference between Ultimate and Enterprise? There appears to still be Home Basic and Home Premium, do you finally get Aero in Basic? Why do I have to choose between x86 and x64?

Perhaps you'd like to explain to me how this tangled mess of options is any better than before.

On the mac, my options are Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server. If I want 64 bit kernel I boot with cmd-opt-64 (or just switch to 64 bit kernel in the preferences). On Windows, if I bought 32 bit now I'd have to purchase 64 bit in the future if it turns out I really did want a 64 bit kernel.

Window 7 is nothing more than an less annoying, faster, better Windows Vista. There is no "feature" in there worth paying $200 for. People will, because they're updating from XP (most smart people gave Vista the skip). From XP, you get some features in Vista worth paying for. From Vista, there are few new features - all they did is polish what they already had.

You clearly don't know much about Windows 7 versioning and this post proves it. As stated on Wikipedia: "Windows 7 will be available in six different editions, but only Home Premium and Professional will be available for retail sale in most countries."

Go to Amazon. You'll find Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.

You can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions for a full breakdown if you really want to.

However, as I mentioned in the post you quoted... Home Basic is for EMERGING MARKETS, you twit. It's a crippled version of Home Premium sold really cheap to people in "third-world" countries that can't afford to have the latest hardware.

Starter is even more crippled than Basic, possibly for Netbooks or lesser devices.

Enterprise is Ultimate for businesses, as I already mentioned in one of my posts. Wikipedia even states that it removes the games included with Windows 7... so it's not intended for consumers.

Thus it really comes down to Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.

Professional has all the features of Home Premium and adds useful stuff like XP mode (which is essentially a built-in XP virtualization... you need the hardware to run it).

Ultimate has all the features of Professional and adds BitLocker and VHD booting and a few other minor things that no one really needs. If people think they need Ultimate, maybe they should look into a Server version. Since most of the features exclusive to Ultimate are also in Windows Server 2008 R2.

I've got 10 free licenses for Professional and have no real desire to run Ultimate... I'd never use the extra features.

[AdeFowler]

Sorry - what does this have to do with Mac?

This place is more obsessed with Zune and Win7 than anywhere else on the web.

+1.

I'm sick of every other story on page 1 being about Microsoft.

[Eidorian]

Retail discs should be coming with both x86 and x64 on the same disc.

[rumplestiltskin]

Let's start with me saying that I bleed in six colors and I'm a Mac consultant.

Now I'll opine about Window7. It works. It sucks way less than Vista and, in fact, runs okay on an old Sempron-powered Acer laptop with 1GB of RAM.

Snow Leopard is light years ahead of Windows7 but, for millions of Vista users who are afraid to make the jump to a new OS (and the hardware needed to run it), Windows7 is a good solution.

I bought the $29.99 W7 package for my HP notebook. (I teach so I also have a ".edu" eMail.)

[Apollo33]

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty in to the Windows world here at work, so I get it. I was more laughing at the dysfunction of the page than anything else. What kills me is that Microsoft still doesn't get it. Windows 7 is really nothing more than what Vista should have been. To charge as much as they are for the upgrade really points to the fact that Microsoft just doesn't get it. Windows 7 is not a built from the core in any real sense of the word. It is built on Vista, they just trimmed it down a lot so it runs on lower-end hardware than Vista ever could.

Apple at least seemed to get it. The experience of Snow Leopard over Leopard is a lot like the experience of Windows 7 over Vista. It's faster, more polished and will perform better on hardware like the mac mini. Apple, however, seems to be willing to eat into their pile of cash and recover not much more than distribution costs for the media to get people to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Believe me, $29 a copy won't recover the R&D they put into Snow Leopard, unless they sold tens of millions of copies (or something crazy like that).

Apple saw it as _strategic_ to eat into their cash reserves some and spur the adoption of Snow Leopard, not to counter Windows 7, but to give people little to no reason to stay on Leopard. Snow Leopard has under the surface changes that the next versions of iLife, iWork, Final Cut, Photoshop, etc will be able to make use of, which could make the experience of working on a mac leaps and bounds above what you could get on a windows machine.

Apple understood Snow Leopard as an investment in infrastructure and refused to turn it into a money grab. It's too bad Microsoft didn't see Windows 7 the same way.

Uh... What you don't seem to get is that Apple can recoup their development costs for Snow Leopard on hardware sales. Certainly they're making a lot from selling hardware... And Snow Leopard can only LEGALLY be run on Apple hardware. (on Intel Macs, specifically) I mean, I paid over $2000 for my MBP. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that's purchased an expensive MBP.

Also, with reference to Final Cut... Apple just released updates to Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio PRIOR to Snow Leopard's release. Neither included 64-bit applications (or code that was otherwise enhanced for Snow Leopard) AFAIK.

You may want to do a bit more research before you open YOUR mouth from now on.

[ungraphic]

I love competition from the big guys. Gives the consumer better products and better prices.

With that said, screw all you anti-microsoft mac fanboys. :)

[Erwin-Br]

Hello. Student Here.

Just thought I might let you know that every student at my university has had access to the full version of Windows 7 Professional for free since September 14th.

Suckers =P.

Nothing in life is for free. You indirectly pay for your Windows 7 Professional through your tuition.

[dernhelm]

You clearly don't know much about Windows 7 versioning and this post proves it. As stated on Wikipedia: "Windows 7 will be available in six different editions, but only Home Premium and Professional will be available for retail sale in most countries."

Go to Amazon. You'll find Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.

You can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions for a full breakdown if you really want to.

However, as I mentioned in the post you quoted... Home Basic is for EMERGING MARKETS, you twit. It's a crippled version of Home Premium sold really cheap to people in "third-world" countries that can't afford to have the latest hardware.

Starter is even more crippled than Basic, possibly for Netbooks or lesser devices.

Enterprise is Ultimate for businesses, as I already mentioned in one of my posts. Wikipedia even states that it removes the games included with Windows 7... so it's not intended for consumers.

Thus it really comes down to Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.

Professional has all the features of Home Premium and adds useful stuff like XP mode (which is essentially a built-in XP virtualization... you need the hardware to run it).

Ultimate has all the features of Professional and adds BitLocker and VHD booting and a few other minor things that no one really needs. If people think they need Ultimate, maybe they should look into a Server version. Since most of the features exclusive to Ultimate are also in Windows Server 2008 R2.

I've got 10 free licenses for Professional and have no real desire to run Ultimate... I'd never use the extra features.


So you can't count. And this post proves it.

Starter if you want a netbook (they do sell those here in the US, correct?)
Home Premium x86
Home Premium x64
Professional x86
Professional x64
Ultimate x86
Ultimate x64.

I still count 7. Way too many.

BTW - save the pejoratives for someone who values your opinion.

[Bobo Decosta]

Apple should reply with a $0,99 offer for students to upgrade to Snow Leopard :D

[Erwin-Br]

Uh... What you don't seem to get is that Apple can recoup their development costs for Snow Leopard on hardware sales. Certainly they're making a lot from selling hardware... And Snow Leopard can only LEGALLY be run on Apple hardware. (on Intel Macs, specifically)

Exactly! Power PC users got screwed so they are forced to buy a new system if they want to upgrade their OS. *Ca-chingggg!*

[ericinboston]

I have an XP machine but I don't know if I want to move to 7. Even for $30. XP works the way I want.


I'm with ya...been using XP since it came out and honestly, I can't think of what it is missing. I use it literally 16+ hours a day on numerous laptops, netbooks, desktops, and servers.

I don't need a prettier Start Menu or some other facelift.

When core computing architecture and technology updates come (USB 3.0, true dual-core apps tools, and "the next sliced-bread" comes along) then I will update.

It's not a Mac vs. PC thing...I just think us Windows XP users really have no NEED to upgrade. If we did have a need, we would have been screaming about something missing for the past 9+ years and either moved to Linux or Mac or Vista. Very few people have made that change by choice (meaning, new pc buyers were forced Vista).

I can see myself using XP for the next 5+ years easily.

-Eric

[ungraphic]

I can see myself using XP for the next 5+ years easily.

-Eric

Unlike Apple, you'll actually get support from Microsoft for that amount of time for Windows XP.

[Apollo33]

Retail discs should be coming with both x86 and x64 on the same disc.

The retail boxes will include both... but I think that just means they'll include both x86 and x64 discs. With my MSDN-AA membership... I had to download 32-bit and 64-bit versions separate. While they could fit them both on a dual-layer disc, it's probably far simpler (from a user perspective) to label them clearly on the disc. Then let the user decide which one to insert. The install process doesn't have a selection screen for "Would you like to install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7?"

Keep in mind, however, every disc (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate) has the same contents. The serial number is what determines the version. This is to simplify the upgrade process for a user with Home Premium that decides they should have gone with Professional.

[balamw]

Retail discs should be coming with both x86 and x64 on the same disc.

I sure hope so, given that the 50% preorder deal did not allow one to specify which version!

NOTE: In Vista all of the 32 bit installs shared a common install disc and the 64s had another (differentiated by product key only), I read that all that differentiates the different Windows 7 editions is just a config file on the disc.

B

[stylewriter]

It's nice that this isn't an Academic version.

The license for "Office Home and Student" precludes you from using it for any commercial use. The same applies to Academic versions of Windows.

MSDNAA versions of software are all academic.

[Eidorian]

The retail boxes will include both... but I think that just means they'll include both x86 and x64 discs. With my MSDN-AA membership... I had to download 32-bit and 64-bit versions separate. While they could fit them both on a dual-layer disc, it's probably far simpler (from a user perspective) to label them clearly on the disc. Then let the user decide which one to insert. The install process doesn't have a selection screen for "Would you like to install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7?"

Keep in mind, however, every disc (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate) has the same contents. The serial number is what determines the version. This is to simplify the upgrade process for a user with Home Premium that decides they should have gone with Professional.Like balamw said, the images are probably both on the same disc and there doesn't appear to be a differentiation in serial keys this time. The major difference being the installation scripts.

Each key will activate the proper version.

[Erwin-Br]

"You are being charged up the rear for a mediocre OS. Cancel or Allow?"

"You are being charged up the rear for standard hardware components no different from the components found in a much cheaper PC. Confirm by entering your password below..." :D

[RazHyena]

I wouldn't mind having a legal copy of Windows 7.

I don't want the Home-Premium version though, it disables the XP compatibility mode. Does anyoen see how to get the Professional version?

Anyone know if this is the Full or Academic version? The academic version can't legally be used on a computer that you use to make money...

Woah, wait. So only the Professional version will have XP compatibility mode?!?

[dernhelm]

Uh... What you don't seem to get is that Apple can recoup their development costs for Snow Leopard on hardware sales. Certainly they're making a lot from selling hardware... And Snow Leopard can only LEGALLY be run on Apple hardware. (on Intel Macs, specifically) I mean, I paid over $2000 for my MBP. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that's purchased an expensive MBP.

Also, with reference to Final Cut... Apple just released updates to Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio PRIOR to Snow Leopard's release. Neither included 64-bit applications (or code that was otherwise enhanced for Snow Leopard) AFAIK.

You may want to do a bit more research before you open YOUR mouth from now on.

I'm not saying Apple isn't making money. I'm saying they aren't making money on Snow Leopard sales. Of course, some of the sales of a new mac is accounted for in the cost of developing the OS. But there is a reason that Apple usually charges $129 for OS upgrades, and this time they didn't.

It isn't like they bumped the costs of all their hardware $100 over the last couple of years to make up the difference.

With reference to Final Cut, they are also selling bundled iLife and iWork suites without SL style enhancements. I know Final Cut is yet upgraded to make use of SL technologies, that isn't what I said. What I said was that in the future they will be, and because of that, there is a significant possibility that the user experience will be a lot better than it could have been otherwise.

BTW - I'm not opening my mouth, I'm typing. I don't generally type with my mouth open.

[dernhelm]

I sure hope so, given that the 50% preorder deal did not allow one to specify which version!

NOTE: In Vista all of the 32 bit installs shared a common install disc and the 64s had another (differentiated by product key only), I read that all that differentiates the different Windows 7 editions is just a config file on the disc.

B

I hadn't heard that. It does make things a little better for MS. But it would still mean you might have to "reinstall" windows to switch from 32 to 64 bit kernel. Suboptimal, but probably acceptable.

[Apollo33]

So you can't count. And this post proves it.

Starter if you want a netbook (they do sell those here in the US, correct?)
Home Premium x86
Home Premium x64
Professional x86
Professional x64
Ultimate x86
Ultimate x64.

I still count 7. Way too many.

BTW - save the pejoratives for someone who values your opinion.

Wait, what... You're imagining things? I had a feeling you were crazy.

In my first reply to your post, I said "Pretty much you have two choices now." Which is something I still stand behind.

Either Home Premium or Professional. Ultimate has no real benefit over Professional, unless you're looking for Server functionality... and then you should look into Windows Server 2008 R2. (There's Snow Leopard Server too, in case you didn't know.)

Starter is only sold to OEMs. You can't upgrade to it. I said it "might be for netbooks" not that it would ever make it to market here. I mean, Microsoft (and consumers) would probably rather see Home Premium on Netbooks.

Your whole x64 and x86 thing is crap, since every retail box includes both. Check Amazon from now on before you spout your misinformation.

Also, the REASON behind providing both x86 and x64 is a logical one. Compatibility. It's a problem several of my apps had when I switched to Snow Leopard. Sure, most ran fine in 32-bit mode... but a lot still haven't been updated with 64-bit support. Windows is all about legacy compatibility (which is what adds to the bloat and most of its flaws). I've run 64-bit Windows since Vista... and I've never had any issue. At least Microsoft GAVE users the choice. Rather than forcing them to stick with 32-bit, and then forcing them to pay for a 64-bit version in the next release. (Like Apple did.)

Microsoft's offered 64-bit since XP. Hence why Vista's 64-bit was decent, and why Windows 7's 64-bit shouldn't give anyone any major issues.

The 64-bit version of Vista and Windows 7 will load 32-bit applications, no problem. The real issue with 64-bit Windows XP was lack of drivers.

Clearly, that cuts your choices back down to:
Home Premium
Professional
Ultimate (which, as I've said... if you want those extra features, look into Windows 2008 Server R2)

And thus, for consumers (who probably don't give a damn about servers), you get:
Home Premium
Professional

[supmango]

just wait til they all start to realise what an XP upgrade involves... a clean install.

no way am I going to do that.

how are you going to find all the programs you installed and their software keys? it's not the major programs that take the effort. all the little utilities you sometimes use, the plug-ins, the codecs... that's what takes the time to reinstall and leaves you pulling your hair out.

clean installs are not something you do lightly. i had a hard drive crash recently on a PC. it was fairly painless to reinstall XP but i've yet to find the spare time to get all the other things, the bits that do the worthwhile stuff, installed again.

MS had better rethink it's path if it wants to convince the majority of XP users this is progress: create a tool that goes through the registry and works out what to keep and how to make it painless. That should keep em busy for a few more years. LOL.

Have just upgrade to Snow Leopard. Only glitch? the bluetooth mouse had problems but that's now fixed. 1 hour all up. no drama.

The problem is that Microsoft cannot simplify anything without making a major change in how it works at a fundamental level. So simply copying registry keys over would probably cause a BSD equivalent in Windows 7.

I for one think it is hilarious that Microsoft thinks it can recoup its user losses in the college student age range. I have been running a Windows 7 RC copy for 3 months, and it has been pretty frustrating anytime I decide I want to install an older program. Not that this is atypical for any previous Windows version, it just hasn't improved any (shocker :eek:). As a result, I have not used it that much (except to find ways to make it crash, also not that hard to do). It is sad because their marketing campaign will probably work, people will start complaining, and no one at Microsoft will give a rip. They just can't seem to get the point that restricting features and half a$# coding is ludicrous and will drive the intelligent users away. Maybe that's their goal.:D Market to the sub 100 IQ and leave the 101+ to Apple. That would reduce the complaints.

[Apollo33]

I hadn't heard that. It does make things a little better for MS. But it would still mean you might have to "reinstall" windows to switch from 32 to 64 bit kernel. Suboptimal, but probably acceptable.

Heck, only Xserves load into Snow Leopard's 64-bit kernel by default. If I want the 64-bit kernel... I have to hold 6+4 on boot. Suboptimal? I think so.

However, it's probably a good decision by Apple to default to 32-bit on most systems... Since, well, driver support isn't great for Apple's 64-bit kernel since it just came out. Try running 64-bit Snow Leopard with NTFS-3g, for example.

64-bit support for Windows 7 is something you shouldn't really have to worry about. They've worked on 64-bit support since XP. It sucked on XP, was better for Vista... There's no real reason to switch to the 32-bit kernel. Unless you have some really rare hardware or something that only runs under the 32-bit kernel. But maybe you'd just be better off upgrading that piece of outdated hardware.

Speaking of outdated hardware... Snow Leopard only runs on Macs released since 2006.

[iMJustAGuy]

uhh... Try Windows 7. Really. Its pretty darn cool. I just built a new PC and its fast, stable, and has some really nice UI tweaks. If it had Expose, It would be perfect.

For me, I just ordered this upgrade. Glad I waited before pre-ordering! No extra charge even to switch to Professional. Love it. Thanks M$, really!

If it had Expose people would say that they are copying apple.

[supmango]

Wait, what... You're imagining things? I had a feeling you were crazy.

In my first reply to your post, I said "Pretty much you have two choices now." Which is something I still stand behind.

Either Home Premium or Professional. Ultimate has no real benefit over Professional, unless you're looking for Server functionality... and then you should look into Windows Server 2008 R2. (There's Snow Leopard Server too, in case you didn't know.)

Starter is only sold to OEMs. You can't upgrade to it. I said it "might be for netbooks" not that it would ever make it to market here. I mean, Microsoft (and consumers) would probably rather see Home Premium on Netbooks.

Your whole x64 and x86 thing is crap, since every retail box includes both. Check Amazon from now on before you spout your misinformation.

Also, the REASON behind providing both x86 and x64 is a logical one. Compatibility. It's a problem several of my apps had when I switched to Snow Leopard. Sure, most ran fine in 32-bit mode... but a lot still haven't been updated with 64-bit support. Windows is all about legacy compatibility (which is what adds to the bloat and most of its flaws). I've run 64-bit Windows since Vista... and I've never had any issue. At least Microsoft GAVE users the choice. Rather than forcing them to stick with 32-bit, and then forcing them to pay for a 64-bit version in the next release. (Like Apple did.)

Microsoft's offered 64-bit since XP. Hence why Vista's 64-bit was decent, and why Windows 7's 64-bit shouldn't give anyone any major issues.

The 64-bit version of Vista and Windows 7 will load 32-bit applications, no problem. The real issue with 64-bit Windows XP was lack of drivers.

Clearly, that cuts your choices back down to:
Home Premium
Professional
Ultimate (which, as I've said... if you want those extra features, look into Windows 2008 Server R2)

And thus, for consumers (who probably don't give a damn about servers), you get:
Home Premium
Professional

Even following your argument, there are still more choices for Windows users than Apple users. And that is a bad thing since most people end up needing random features intermittently on their home based computer that are only available on the "professional" version.

As a side note, all my applications run find after the snow leopard upgrade. Cannot say the same thing on any previous windows upgrade.

[supmango]

Woah, wait. So only the Professional version will have XP compatibility mode?!?

Its pretty funny that XP compatibility mode is needed if you ask me.

[Apollo33]

Woah, wait. So only the Professional version will have XP compatibility mode?!?

Yep. But don't worry. Pretty much all of your applications should run fine. I've never even loaded XP compatibility mode. 32-bit applications will install to "Program Files (x86)" on 64-bit Windows, and they still load just as well as they did before.

In any case, it's essentially just an XP virtual machine that runs in the background when you need to run legacy applications. (Or you're just feeling like running a particular application in XP... for whatever reason.)

[jmcguckin]

Bit pointless installing ultimate on a netbook.......

not that I disagree, but why not instead offer a single version of the OS with all features included on the disk, then at the point of installation allow the user to decide what they want included on their computer and/or to go with suggested settings based on the capabilities of their hardware? no, that doesn't make any sense, let's just offer a half-dozen astronomically-overpriced crippled versions and an even more over-priced seventh version that installs all the options regardless of whether you want or need all of them... thanks, but I'll take my streamlined, fully-customizable Snow Leopard install disc/process over this malarky any day.

(as a disclaimer, I'm not anti-Windows, but Microsoft just can't seem to break the habit of making a joke out of their OS releases)

[supmango]

Yep. But don't worry. Pretty much all of your applications should run fine. I've never even loaded XP compatibility mode. 32-bit applications will install to "Program Files (x86)" on 64-bit Windows, and they still load just as well as they did before.

In any case, it's essentially just an XP virtual machine that runs in the background when you need to run legacy applications. (Or you're just feeling like running a particular application in XP... for whatever reason.)

This has not been my experience at all with Windows 7.

[Apollo33]

Its pretty funny that XP compatibility mode is needed if you ask me.

You shouldn't really. It's primary focus is for businesses running legacy applications. You know, stuff that hasn't been updated since 2000 or something.

For the average consumer, XP compatibility mode is pretty much useless. You even need specific Intel processors to use it. (which is a issue people were finding out with their Sony VAIOs... the processor should have supported it, but Sony disabled it for one reason or another)

I haven't tested it on my MBP... but I'd assume it works.

[2002cbr600f4i]

Just ordered my copy... (Nice that I'm in Grad School and can get stuff like this cheap. :) )

I just wish installation wouldn't be such a NIGHTMARE in that you have to install an older version first since it's just the Upgrade edition...

WHY MS can't get with the program and consolidate into a single version that is always a full version CD that can either do a clean or upgrade install (like, oh, OSX does) I don't know... Idiots.

[Apollo33]

Even following your argument, there are still more choices for Windows users than Apple users. And that is a bad thing since most people end up needing random features intermittently on their home based computer that are only available on the "professional" version.

As a side note, all my applications run find after the snow leopard upgrade. Cannot say the same thing on any previous windows upgrade.

And this is why there's the "Windows Anytime Upgrade." As I've said... each retail disc contains ALL the data needed for any version. So if you purchased Home Premium for $120 (which is less than Snow Leopard's $169 Mac Box price -- if you're a Tiger user... which would probably be the equivalent of an XP upgrade) but decided you need the $200 Professional version, you can pay the difference and Microsoft gives you a new key.

You then insert your Windows 7 DVD... and it installs all the features from Professional. Besides, for consumers that don't know what version to get... They would probably be fine with Home Premium. People that would use Professional's features would probably know that they need Professional. The average Windows user is not the average Mac user... They're not completely clueless.

Also, what applications didn't run for you in Windows 7? I'm curious.

I am a bit disappointed that I can't run 64-bit kernel mode for Snow Leopard (which isn't even enabled by default, despite being an advertised feature) because NTFS-3g and MacFuse haven't been updated.

[dernhelm]

Speaking of outdated hardware... Snow Leopard only runs on Macs released since 2006.

I have a 3 yr old iMac that running SL that is faster now than when I had Tiger on it. I also have a 5 yr old powerbook that I can't run SL on, so I know about SL compatibility with Intel only hardware.

That's the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple will switch platforms and will carry support for older systems forward up to a point, and then stop when it stops making financial sense to support that hardware.

Microsoft feels obligated to carry forward old technologies even when no one else is still using them. Witness Visual Studio 2010 and its incredibly poor performance that much of the VS team has publicly stated is due to the requirement that they still support old antiquated technologies.

It's a trade-off. Apple's strategy is to cut ties after a "reasonable" time has passed so they can move forward quicker. Microsoft would rather support everything they've ever produced so as not to alienate anyone.

You obviously prefer Microsoft's strategy, I don't fault that. But Apple wouldn't be Apple if they tried to adopt that strategy. So I for one am glad they don't.


I am a bit disappointed that I can't run 64-bit kernel mode for Snow Leopard (which isn't even enabled by default, despite being an advertised feature) because NTFS-3g and MacFuse haven't been updated.

Then contribute to those projects. I'm sure you could get them going!

[inkswamp]

The Zune and this have absoluetly nothing to do with Macrumors and yet they are front page news. Just more troll bait.

You appear to be new here so I'll assume you're genuinely confused by this and not intentionally trying to stir up trouble.

I've been following this site for many years and big headlines about direct competitors to Apple's most popular products have appeared on page 1 for as long as I've been around. I'm not sure what Arn's criteria is for which stories make it there, but it's nothing new and certainly is not troll bait. You should probably lurk for a while at get a feel for the site before jumping in with this kind of reaction.

[Apollo33]

Just ordered my copy... (Nice that I'm in Grad School and can get stuff like this cheap. :) )

I just wish installation wouldn't be such a NIGHTMARE in that you have to install an older version first since it's just the Upgrade edition...

WHY MS can't get with the program and consolidate into a single version that is always a full version CD that can either do a clean or upgrade install (like, oh, OSX does) I don't know... Idiots.

The reason behind that is simple: Upgrade is for upgrades only. They don't want you buying a Mac (without Windows installed) and then buying Windows 7 Pro Upgrade, because you haven't paid the same licensing fees as other Windows users.

Apple, on the other hand, uses the same install for both upgrade and non-upgrade versions. Since you NEED Apple hardware to install it on. Apple doesn't really care, then, if you install Snow Leopard upgrade on a Tiger machine. (I mean, maybe they care a _little_ bit... but you've still purchased an Intel Mac... so I'm sure they don't hate you too much for it.) It's not that they trust you, but that they don't care.

[Apollo33]

I have a 3 yr old iMac that running SL that is faster now than when I had Tiger on it. I also have a 5 yr old powerbook that I can't run SL on, so I know about SL compatibility with Intel only hardware.

That's the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple will switch platforms and will carry support for older systems forward up to a point, and then stop when it stops making financial sense to support that hardware.

Microsoft feels obligated to carry forward old technologies even when no one else is still using them. Witness Visual Studio 2010 and its incredibly poor performance that much of the VS team has publicly stated is due to the requirement that they still support old antiquated technologies.

It's a trade-off. Apple's strategy is to cut ties after a "reasonable" time has passed so they can move forward quicker. Microsoft would rather support everything they've ever produced so as not to alienate anyone.

You obviously prefer Microsoft's strategy, I don't fault that. But Apple wouldn't be Apple if they tried to adopt that strategy. So I for one am glad they don't.

Right. I like the stability of OS X. I'm not putting it down. I'm just saying, as you have, that Microsoft and Apple are inherently different.

Apple is hardware. Microsoft is software. Microsoft wants to keep business users happy (you know, the people that they make the most money from)... but a lot of big businesses are unfortunately using legacy software, so they can't just drop support for it.

My point was simply this: Apple WANTS people to buy more hardware. Look at the latest iPod event. iPod nano saw a huge update... since, well, it hasn't really changed much (with the 4th gen, they seemed to revert to the 2nd gen design). Meanwhile, the iPod touch didn't receive a camera, probably because Apple wants iPod touch users to also purchase an iPod nano. (hence their comparison of the iPod nano to the Flip Mino camera) Next year we'll probably see an iPod touch with a camera.

Hence Snow Leopard dropping PPC support.

Microsoft wants people to buy more software, obviously. They don't really make anything off of hardware sales.

[supmango]

And this is why there's the "Windows Anytime Upgrade." As I've said... each retail disc contains ALL the data needed for any version. So if you purchased Home Premium for $120 (which is less than Snow Leopard's $169 Mac Box price -- if you're a Tiger user... which would probably be the equivalent of an XP upgrade) but decided you need the $200 Professional version, you can pay the difference and Microsoft gives you a new key.

You then insert your Windows 7 DVD... and it installs all the features from Professional. Besides, for consumers that don't know what version to get... They would probably be fine with Home Premium. People that would use Professional's features would probably know that they need Professional. The average Windows user is not the average Mac user... They're not completely clueless.

Also, what applications didn't run for you in Windows 7? I'm curious.

I am a bit disappointed that I can't run 64-bit kernel mode for Snow Leopard (which isn't even enabled by default, despite being an advertised feature) because NTFS-3g and MacFuse haven't been updated.

The applications are some proprietary ones that were made for XP (in 2003). They are not available to the public. They ran ok in compatibility mode, but still had intermittent errors that I never had in XP.

Why do you need 64 bit on a Mac? Everything I have works fine in 32 bit. Snow Leopard made them work faster, even in 32 bit. I booted my Mac in 64 bit as a test and only one application did not work. I didn't notice any significant performance increase. That is quite a bit different than my experience with Microsoft's first attempt in XP, and even in Vista. I expect point updates in 10.6 will address many more compatibility issues. What applications didn't work for you in 64 bit mode?

[Richard1028]

To charge as much as they are for the upgrade really points to the fact that Microsoft just doesn't get it.Yeah right - MS is tanking as we speak. Releasing Win7 at inflated prices is going to be the final coffin nail.

LOL!

I really don't understand this blind MS hatred among the mac sheep. Does what they do diminish your OSX experience in any way?

Apple, however, seems to be willing to eat into their pile of cash and recover not much more than distribution costs for the media to get people to upgrade to Snow Leopard. To charge as much as they are for the upgrade really points to the fact that Microsoft just doesn't get it.Unlike Apple, MS doesn't sell the PC's their OS runs on you dolt. And yeah, I'm sure the board at Apple is "eating into their pile of cash" and doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. You obviously don't own any investment stock. LOL!

Apple basically takes what Windows users consider a service pack, sprinkles an icy slurpee on a spotted cat, puts a "zero" in the release number and magically it's worth $30.

Believe me, $29 a copy won't recover the R&D they put into Snow Leopard, unless they sold tens or hundreds of millions of copies (or something crazy like that).Any facts to back up this self proclaimed nonsense? As an Apple shareholder I've got plenty to debunk this.

I'm an avid OSX user but this Apple worship and "MS is Satan" mantra is just freaking scary. I'll never understand it. When Windows7 is released, my mac will work the same as it did the day before. If it starts to erode Apple's puny market share (and it will) then that only means Apple will make OSX better for me and much sooner. If anything, you misguided macheads should be singing praises to any company that puts pressure on Apple to do things cheaper, smarter and faster for their end users.

[RMo]

They did ? Unless you mean to tell us students are Microsoft's only customers, then I think you need to reread this article.

Windows 7 is still as expensive as it was yesterday for most of the population.

Sorry (and I did read the article, thankyouverymuch), when I was editing my comment to rearrange my words, I must have deleted the word "students."

In any case, my main point is that it's clear the price is no coinicidence. :)

[dernhelm]

I'm an avid OSX user but this Apple worship and "MS is Satan" mantra is just freaking scary. I'll never understand it. When Windows7 is released, my mac will work the same as it did the day before. If it starts to erode Apple's puny market share (and it will) then that only means Apple will make OSX better for me and much sooner. If anything, you misguided macheads should be singing praises to any company that puts pressure on Apple to do things cheaper, smarter and faster for their end users.

Sorry. I'm not a misguided machead. I work in .Net every day. I get Microsoft strategy, and I don't hate windows. I just think that Windows 7 is overpriced. SL and Windows 7 are both "maintenance releases". Apple's priced theirs accordingly. Microsoft didn't.

I don't own Apple stock or Microsoft stock. But I have a lot of reasons that I want Microsoft to do well. Overpricing an OS upgrade (that I would like to see gain broad acceptance, so I could rely on it being installed on most of my users hardware) doesn't help that.

[AppleNewton]

sooooo they still dont get it?

Well to me atleast.....still all these different versions?
just throw one release out and upon install can choose their poison...or something.

a half assed attempt to match snow leopard at the least lol.

[Eidorian]

Sorry. I'm not a misguided machead. I work in .Net every day. I get Microsoft strategy, and I don't hate windows. I just think that Windows 7 is overpriced. SL and Windows 7 are both "maintenance releases". Apple's priced theirs accordingly. Microsoft didn't.

I don't own Apple stock or Microsoft stock. But I have a lot of reasons that I want Microsoft to do well. Overpricing an OS upgrade (that I would like to see gain broad acceptance, so I could rely on it being installed on most of my users hardware) doesn't help that.The Windows 7 upgrade price slashed pre-order didn't count?

I don't like the upgrade license but they did have the discount offer for weeks.

[VenusianSky]

Woah, wait. So only the Professional version will have XP compatibility mode?!?

Professional and Enterprise have an XP Virtual Machine mode which installs and runs applications in a full XP VM. All versions have Compatibility Mode which makes Windows Vista/7 appear to the application like a previous version of Windows. This is not the same as Virtual XP mode.

[Bengt77]

I filled in my personal information, even though I'm not in any of the countries listed, in the hope I am still eligible. The site said I'll be contacted within one to two weeks. Here's to hoping I am eligible too, somehow.

[LaDirection]

To me, they're both free downloads, so the prices are already matched.

[VenusianSky]

Also, the build number for Windows 7 (which is the number that REALLY matters) is 7600. Meanwhile, the current version of Vista is 6002.

In this case, yes the build number is the prevalent number. With Windows XP and Vista, the major number did increase from 5 to 6. My guess is that the next version of Windows will be 8.x, rather than 6.1.8xxx.

[aethelbert]

What total garbage that this discount only applies to students and not the faculty that teach them.

[Richard1028]

But I have a lot of reasons that I want Microsoft to do well. Overpricing an OS upgrade (that I would like to see gain broad acceptance, so I could rely on it being installed on most of my users hardware) doesn't help that.Understood.

I just bought a Dell Inspiron for somebody 3 weeks ago. Even they were selling Win7 for $30 as an add-on. No student crap involved.

The bloated pricing structure of MS is no different than the sticker shock you see with a new car. Nobody (except an idiot) would ever pay that price though. It only serves to emphasize what a great value you got when you find everybody is really selling it much cheaper.

[Richard1028]

What total garbage that this discount only applies to students and not the faculty that teach them.All you need is an EDU email addy. What teacher doesn't have one of those?

[dernhelm]

The Windows 7 upgrade price slashed pre-order didn't count?

I don't like the upgrade license but they did have the discount offer for weeks.

Hey slashing prices always helps. So does $29 for students willing to jump through hoops. But all that says to me is that even Microsoft thinks the pricing may be too high - but they've structured things so they can't do anything real about it.

[jmcguckin]

If anything, you misguided macheads should be singing praises to any company that puts pressure on Apple to do things cheaper, smarter and faster for their end users.

remind me again how releasing an OS refresh at price points no lower than $199 "puts pressure on Apple to do things cheaper, smarter and faster"? since it's clear your entire post was based solely on your views of OS X vs. Windows, I don't want to hear that hardware/other devices have anything to do with it...

please don't read me wrong, I've actually had the chance to test out Windows 7 pretty extensively (i.e. more than just a "look-around"), and to Microsoft's credit, they have released a very solid, nice-looking OS that is clearly a much-needed improvement over Vista (with minimal UI changes akin to Snow Leopard compared to Leopard)... but regardless of the fact that Microsoft charge what they do for their OS due to their being a primarily software-based company, the main turn-off to me about either of the latest versions of Windows is that I'd have to plunk down $300 just to have a full-featured version of either- especially considering the much more appealing $129 (Leopard)/$29 (SL) price points that Apple sell their OS's at- with all the best included as optional in case you want/need it.

while I understand Microsoft's "buy-as-you-go" mentality toward "unlocking" certain features in an OS after putting down the extra money to do it, it's just not a mindset that does well in the eyes of just about anyone who's used to the "everything included at no extra cost and at your option if you want/need to install it" setup of OS X.

[aethelbert]

All you need is an EDU email addy. What teacher doesn't have one of those?
Yes, I am aware, but by the rules it only applies to students. While I myself am not a faculty member, I have several in my family that wouldn't upgrade a Windows version at anything close to full price.

[usasalazar]

Click here to check out more info on Windows 7

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/microsoft-offers-students-cut%11price-infuriating-crap-200909182075/

[Eidorian]

Understood.

I just bought a Dell Inspiron for somebody 3 weeks ago. Even they were selling Win7 for $30 as an add-on. No student crap involved.

The bloated pricing structure of MS is no different than the sticker shock you see with a new car. Nobody (except an idiot) would ever pay that price though. It only serves to emphasize what a great value you got when you find everybody is really selling it much cheaper.The upgrade is free from what I can tell. Is it too hard to register for your free upgrade? :confused:

Hey slashing prices always helps. So does $29 for students willing to jump through hoops. But all that says to me is that even Microsoft thinks the pricing may be too high - but they've structured things so they can't do anything real about it.I could get Microsoft software on campus by just showing my ID. I don't understand what hoops you're talking about. To be honest I haven't encountered a campus without a discount program with Microsoft. Why fill all this out online when your school should have it taken care of for download or physical purchase on October 22nd?

Plenty of bizarre misinformed anger and FUD over this.

[rwilliams]

I'm with ya...been using XP since it came out and honestly, I can't think of what it is missing. I use it literally 16+ hours a day on numerous laptops, netbooks, desktops, and servers.

I don't need a prettier Start Menu or some other facelift.

When core computing architecture and technology updates come (USB 3.0, true dual-core apps tools, and "the next sliced-bread" comes along) then I will update.

It's not a Mac vs. PC thing...I just think us Windows XP users really have no NEED to upgrade. If we did have a need, we would have been screaming about something missing for the past 9+ years and either moved to Linux or Mac or Vista. Very few people have made that change by choice (meaning, new pc buyers were forced Vista).

I can see myself using XP for the next 5+ years easily.

-Eric

More power to you, but I am so sick of looking at Windows XP. The OS is 8 years old, and while it's very stable and works well, I just can't stand using it anymore. The time to retire XP has arrived, and I will gladly remove it from my home (and hopefully work) PCs.

[bhjs1]

Most Canadian University Students enrolled in a science or engineering related program have access to the MSDNAA. I just downloaded a full version of windows 7 proffessional for free through the Carleton University department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering...

Check to see if your school has access.:D

[Richard1028]

The upgrade is free from what I can tell. Is it too hard to register for your free upgrade? :confused:Actually, it was impossible to register for a free upgrade back then. So yeah, I guess it was hard.

Doesn't matter. I saved 25% off the whole freaking order using the partner membership program combined with a coupon code.

You'll never see those discounts at Apple. Of course this Inspiron I ordered for the guy will probably only last 6 months. :D

[SkippyThorson]

Make that 13. / ...You'll never see those discounts at Apple....:D

12; dragging down an entire average one snide remark at a time.

...

Nice username. Arkanoid was a great game.

[Eidorian]

Actually, it was impossible to register for a free upgrade back then. So yeah, I guess it was hard.During the Windows 7 Technology Guarantee Program you should be offered a mail-in card and/or an online form to fill out.

If you purchased before that then you're out of luck and are stuck with Vista unless you purchase the upgrade disc yourself.


Doesn't matter. I saved 25% off the whole freaking order using the partner membership program combined with a coupon code.The ~$500 scratch and dent XPS 435 MT Core i7 920 comes to mind.


You'll never see those discounts at Apple. Of course this Inspiron I ordered for the guy will probably only last 6 months. :DThat depends on the user and some luck. I've had plenty of 10 year old dust covered Dells finally getting replaced.

The generic service machine I see right now is a Northwood Pentium 4 2.4 - 2.8 GHz from 2003 that's just finally getting around to being replaced.

[dernhelm]

The upgrade is free from what I can tell. Is it too hard to register for your free upgrade? :confused:

I could get Microsoft software on campus by just showing my ID. I don't understand what hoops you're talking about. To be honest I haven't encountered a campus without a discount program with Microsoft. Why fill all this out online when your school should have it taken care of for download or physical purchase on October 22nd?

Plenty of bizarre misinformed anger and FUD over this.

Not angry. Just disappointed in Microsoft's pricing structure.

I'm glad it is really easy and cheap for students to get this latest upgrade to Windows 7. This article made it sound like there were some hoops (wanted an EDU mail address, proof of this and that, etc.) If that's wrong, and you can just show up on campus and get Windows 7 for almost nothing, then I am very happy for you. It's been many a year since I was on a campus, so I didn't know.

I wish it were as easy and cheap for everyone. College students are exactly the target demographic of the product we make here.

[Richard1028]

Yes, I am aware, but by the rules it only applies to students. While I myself am not a faculty member, I have several in my family that wouldn't upgrade a Windows version at anything close to full price.

My wife is a faculty member at a local university as well as my brother. They never pay full price for anything and typically get better deals than students. (MS Office = $7, Vista = $9, etc.). Trust me, faculty folks have nothing to worry about. MS just uses the word "students" because its a bigger market.

Regardless. From the MS details page:

The following conditions serve to define student eligibility for the Promotion:
Individual must possess a valid e-mail address at a U.S. educational institution which contains the domain suffix .edu;

OR

Pre-Approved School List: Enrolled in a U.S. educational institution included on the pre-approved school list;

OR

Submission of school enrollment: Submit verifiable school enrollment via the validation process;


Nothing in this says an EDU addy AND student classification is required.

[psingh01]

Good publicity for MS without a lot of downside since many students can get Windows for free already through MS Academic Alliance.

[aethelbert]

My wife is a faculty member at a local university as well as my brother. They never pay full price for anything and typically get better deals than students. (MS Office = $7, Vista = $9, etc.). Trust me, faculty folks have nothing to worry about. MS just uses the word "students" because its a bigger market.
Some universities offer those discounts, others sell the software at retail, others not at all. Your family members are not a complete picture of everyone.

Nothing in this says an EDU addy AND student classification is required.
"Promotion Eligibility: This offer is good only to eligible students who attend an educational institution geographically located in the United States. This offer is non-transferable. Only one product may be purchased per eligible student (but not required)."

[rumz]

I got to the Professional upgrade version by clicking the Need to Join Your School's Network Domain link after you get the offer for Windows Home Premium. Then an offer for 7 Professional came up. I'm going to preorder it now.

Thanks for the heads up. I wouldn't care for Home Premium really, but $30 for Pro? I'll take it :) At first I thought maybe it was dependent on what school you attended... good catch.

[Eidorian]

Not angry. Just disappointed in Microsoft's pricing structure.

I'm glad it is really easy and cheap for students to get this latest upgrade to Windows 7. This article made it sound like there were some hoops (wanted an EDU mail address, proof of this and that, etc.) If that's wrong, and you can just show up on campus and get Windows 7 for almost nothing, then I am very happy for you. It's been many a year since I was on a campus, so I didn't know.

I wish it were as easy and cheap for everyone. College students are exactly the target demographic of the product we make here.You missed out on the few weeks of discount Windows 7 upgrades for everyone then? :confused:

[rumz]

I get Windows 7 Ultimate on a physical disk from my university for 20 bucks. This is so stupid becasue most schools have these deals already. Like office for free. Im lucky my school gives me CS4 for free:).

It only looks like its free (to you) ;) I wish I got that. I pay a few hundred bucks a semester in lab fees to pay for the software the school uses and I never use their labs to do my work-- wish I got a copy of CS4 for that.

[rumz]

Do you even need to join your school's domain ? I sure as hell wouldn't, just in case one of the domain admins finds the GPO MMC snap-in and starts deciding what I can and can't run on my personal computer.
You don't have to join it-- that's just functionality that Win7 Home Premium lacks, but Win7 Pro supports. So they're saying "click here if you need an OS that supports this feature", essentially.

[tempusfugit]

Guess Microsoft have suddenly realised their future market is at uni/ college and realised that students cannot afford to upgrade and will probably just pirate it anyway.

Snow Leopard has made Windows wake up I think!

wake up? more like shake frantically like a hypothermic child....

[SkippyThorson]

Some universities offer those discounts, others sell the software at retail, others not at all. Your family members are not a complete picture of everyone.


"Promotion Eligibility: This offer is good only to eligible students who attend an educational institution geographically located in the United States. This offer is non-transferable. Only one product may be purchased per eligible student (but not required)."

Correct - there are discounts out there that indeed apply to .edu email addresses, but not all of them are "anyone-who-possesses" sort of deals. Some are specifically noted that they include students only, and not faculty. Those that don't specify a student promotions' eligibility are usually just that - for the students alone.

There are many out there that exclude faculty. (Don't quote me, but wasn't the Buy A Mac, Get An iPod promo students only?) My suggestion is contact someone and try to locate any info - that's what I do. Online clauses are often so vague, it takes a translator. Even if they do speak shattered English.

[Chimpy]

I wonder what their criteria is for "eligible schools" is? Mine wasn't listed, so I asked them to add it. Should be interesting to see if they do so.

[Mattie Num Nums]

Heres what happens.

People see Microsoft and their immediate response to everything is...

The iPod is so much better than the Zube. M$ copies Apple at everything.

Give me a break how about some thought out arguments.

[dernhelm]

You missed out on the few weeks of discount Windows 7 upgrades for everyone then? :confused:

Nope. I get mine free. I'm not worried about the cost of Windows licenses for myself. So unless you're going to try to tell me that everyone else in the world bought Windows 7 licenses during the weeks of discount upgrades, the point is moot.

Microsoft is doing what it can here and there to make the price more reasonable for early adopters or students, etc. That's great. But the fact remains that there are a lot of PCs in hospitals and at businesses that now have less of a reason to expedite upgrading to Windows 7, because it will still cost them a bundle.

[Eidorian]

Microsoft is doing what it can here and there to make the price more reasonable for early adopters or students, etc. That's great. But the fact remains that there are a lot of PCs in hospitals and at businesses that now have less of a reason to expedite upgrading to Windows 7, because it will still cost them a bundle.Once the time to buy new hardware rolls around it'll just be OEM licenses again. We knew that. :rolleyes:

[borntomac448]

From everything that I have read, Windows 7 will be a staggering 16 GB. Now how is that going to work for everyone? That will take forever and a day even on a great connection.

[NeoMayhem]

From everything that I have read, Windows 7 will be a staggering 16 GB. Now how is that going to work for everyone? That will take forever and a day even on a great connection.

The ISO is only 2-3gb depending on the version (x86 or x64).

[dernhelm]

Once the time to buy new hardware rolls around it'll just be OEM licenses again. We knew that. :rolleyes:

So 2-3 years from now. Excellent. :rolleyes:

[Eidorian]

So 2-3 years from now. Excellent. :rolleyes:How is this any different than what has been done in the past?

I'm sure businesses are going to happily be dragged into Snow Leopard by Apple. They don't have a choice there.

[dernhelm]

From everything that I have read, Windows 7 will be a staggering 16 GB. Now how is that going to work for everyone? That will take forever and a day even on a great connection.

Windows 7 Ultimate fits on a standard DVD (around 3GB). Even if you downloaded both 64 bit and 32 bit, along with debugging symbols for both, you are in at less that 7GB. I'm not sure what you were reading, but 16GB seems pretty extreme.

[dernhelm]

How is this any different than what has been done in the past?

I'm sure businesses are going to happily be dragged into Snow Leopard by Apple. They don't have a choice there.

It isn't any different. That's my point. It may have been different if Microsoft had priced things differently, but now it won't be.

Nobody considers $29 exorbitant (I actually got it for less than that with my discount from my work). So even if you required Snow Leopard for your application it isn't like it's all that big a deal.

But who's being drug into Snow Leopard anyway? Right now there are no apps making use of GCD, OpenCL, or any of the other technologies inside of there. It isn't buying you much of anything except an arguable snappier UI and MS exchange support (which is late in coming IMHO anyway). There probably won't be a significant application that REQUIRES snow leopard for another 6 months, maybe longer. Are you suggesting that its onerous to plan for a $29 purchase 6 months from now?

[iAlex]

I pre-ordered mine this morning! $29 for Win 7 Pro 32bit! This is a no-brainier people. Despite the fact that I believe Windows is the model of dysfunction, I ordered a Samsung N110 Netbook ($349 Amazon w 9hr batt life). I'll use it at university specifically for note-taking, email, and surfing. However, I've dreaded the thought of having to wake up every morning knowing I'll be using a 10 year old OS (XP). So, for $29 I can get rid of it, and if Win 7 ends up being the pernicious, bloated, backdoor ridden, big-brotherware I suspect it is, I can go back to XP. At least I know how to lock it down reasonably well... blech. For $380 sadly, there is no Apple alternative. After I have the budget to buy a MBP, I can sell it on Ebay, and make money -or throw it on some random wincrap box, and run it wide open as a zombie machine for entertainment.

[Eidorian]

But who's being drug into Snow Leopard anyway? Right now there are no apps making use of GCD, OpenCL, or any of the other technologies inside of there. It isn't buying you much of anything except an arguable snappier UI and MS exchange support (which is late in coming IMHO anyway). There probably won't be a significant application that REQUIRES snow leopard for another 6 months, maybe longer. Are you suggesting that its onerous to plan for a $29 purchase 6 months from now?Everyone is being dragged to Snow Leopard and it only gets worse with new hardware.

You'll want to look here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=787967).

[polaris20]

However, I've dreaded the thought of having to wake up every morning knowing I'll be using a 10 year old OS (XP).

You must have had some special development version of XP. We still have another 2 or 3 years until XP is 10 years old.

[Mustafa Monde]

W7's price scheme is typical of MS. If they don't mind, I'll stick with Apple OSX professional edition, which is the same as the home edition and the student edition and the upgrade edition.

When is this released? Kind of early for an announcement isn't it. Oh yeah, they want to draw off the attention to the much superior Snow Leopard.

Let em have it, anyone who wants to jump into the MS snake-pit deserves everything they get--viruses and all.

[iAlex]

You must have had some special development version of XP. We still have another 2 or 3 years until XP is 10 years old.

Ok... an EIGHT year old OS, that makes ALL the difference. :rolleyes:

[supmango]

W7's price scheme is typical of MS. If they don't mind, I'll stick with Apple OSX professional edition, which is the same as the home edition and the student edition and the upgrade edition.

When is this released? Kind of early for an announcement isn't it. Oh yeah, they want to draw off the attention to the much superior Snow Leopard.

Let em have it, anyone who wants to jump into the MS snake-pit deserves everything they get--viruses and all.

Don't forget the infamous registry, disk defragmentation (or lack thereof), and drivers that never work as promised. No one could pay me enough to go back to having to fight that POS sorry excuse for an operating system. I use XP only for the proprietary applications I have to. Otherwise, I would perform torturous acts just to see how quickly I could make it crash (insert evil grin smiley).

[LagunaSol]

The average Windows user is not the average Mac user... They're not completely clueless.

O RLY? As the lucky guy my friends and relatives call when they have a Windows problem, I beg to differ with your assessment.

And those calls have decreased now that many of them have switched to Macs. Hmmm...

[ob81]

I like this move, and it is a great start. This is why I like competition. If Apple would never have blown up the way they did, microsoft would not have moved an inch on their ridiculous prices.

[whyapplewhy]

Will this version work with bootcamp on a Mac? Don't currently have a Windows system running on my Mac, but I think it would definitely be worth $30 for the few things that OS X can't do.

[dernhelm]

Everyone is being dragged to Snow Leopard and it only gets worse with new hardware.

You'll want to look here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=787967).

So your concern is that people purchasing new macs cannot request Leopard to be installed on it by Apple? Or that Apple does not guarantee that all new macs will ship with hardware where Leopard device drivers will be available if you wanted to go back?

That's the way it's been forever; that didn't change with Snow Leopard. If that were going to upset you, it should have done so way before now.

But BTW - I have a friend with a brand new iMac that installed Tiger on it just to try something out, and it worked great. So it isn't like Apple prevents you from going backwards, or that you there's no way it would work...

[HLdan]

Isn't this article stating that Students can get Professional for the same price? Which is only missing BitLocker encryption?

Also, if you think drive encryption is going to keep hackers out of your data... you might want to think again. Go watch some Hak5... you will be enlightened. In one episode they demonstrated how to get around BitLocker and other drive encryption schemes.

I find it amazing how Apple fanboys are easily lulled into a false sense of security. Yeah, my OS X install is likely safer than my Win 7 install... but I'm still not so cocky as to believe it's invulnerable to viruses. (granted, I don't have antivirus protection installed on OS X... but I don't go around clicking stupid links either)

As stated multiple times in this thread (by myself and others) this $29 isn't even the best deal available to students. It's just the most publicized.

The article is wrong, the $29 W7 price is for Home Premium. Check it out for yourself dude. Why would anyone choose the Home Premium when the Professional version offers the same plus more?http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/en_US/DisplayHomePage

Also, where in my post did I say anything about Bit Locker being fully protective of the users data? Those are your words but I can assure you Apple's File Vault encryption WORKS, almost too well.

[Eidorian]

So your concern is that people purchasing new macs cannot request Leopard to be installed on it by Apple? Or that Apple does not guarantee that all new macs will ship with hardware where Leopard device drivers will be available if you wanted to go back?

That's the way it's been forever; that didn't change with Snow Leopard. If that were going to upset you, it should have done so way before now.True enough. I don't have a concern about it. I can understand why a business would and rightfully so.


But BTW - I have a friend with a brand new iMac that installed Tiger on it just to try something out, and it worked great. So it isn't like Apple prevents you from going backwards, or that you there's no way it would work...I really hope you read the thread that I linked to and the Guide that I worked on because I really don't want to explain everything all over again, again.

[PCMacUser]

What a bunch of losers. They finally realised about the price but too bad they still have all those confusing editions.

Must protect the $$$ somehow.

Honestly, if you find this (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/windows-7/compare-editions) confusing, then God help us all...

[Nazi Lowrider]

Uh...

No.

Not for $29 anyway. You could, of course, pay a lot more...

I hear you. I am running vista 64 bit bootcamp, perhaps i can get the upgrade. who knows.