Microsoft’s Windows 7 Beta will start to spontaneously reboot every two hours beginning on Wednesday, the company has warned users. The move is part of Microsoft’s usual effort to push users into upgrading by shutting down, then restarting, PCs equipped with previews. It’s also a less-than-subtle reminder that Windows 7 Beta will expire Aug. 1, when the operating system will stop, well, operating.
Consumers running Windows Vista Ultimate, who have blasted Microsoft for breaking promises to deliver a host of extras, are now knocking the company’s upgrade plans and discount pricing for Windows 7. Users commenting on several recent Computerworld stories about Windows 7 have let Microsoft have it, especially over the limited-time discount Microsoft is offering on pre-orders of Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Professional ($99.99).
Microsoft promised that by purchasing the pricey Ultimate edition of Vista users would get all kinds of extras. However, for many, those extras turned out to be little more than a few screensavers and a poker game, prompting some significant grousing. Now, that frustration has turned to anger after Microsoft offered its pre-order program for Windows 7. Through July 11, Microsoft is offering a steep discount for those moving to cheaper versions of Windows 7, but nothing for those who want to stay on Ultimate. Under the terms of Microsoft’s discount pre-order program, users can buy an upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional at roughly half the list price, but the Ultimate version is offered at the full $219 price.
While it’s true Windows 7 doesn’t arrive on retail shelves and new PCs until October, Microsoft has announced two programs designed to give a head start to those who know they want the new operating system. The Windows Upgrade Option, which runs through early next year, allows those buying a new Vista PC to get a free copy of Windows 7 after it hits shelves in October. The other program, which runs only through July 11, allows Windows XP and Vista users to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium for $49 or Windows 7 Professional for $99.
Lenovo is offering free Windows 7 upgrades to customers who buy a Windows Vista PC, following a similar deal from Hewlett-Packard. Lenovo said Friday it will mail a free Windows 7 license upgrade to people who buy a desktop or laptop with an eligible Vista version between June 26, 2009, and January 31, 2010. The offer applies to consumers and to companies that plan to buy fewer than 25 PCs. Larger organizations are being advised to take advantage of Microsoft’s volume-licensing program for their upgrades.
Microsoft’s program for preordering Windows 7 at a discount is proving quite popular, at least at Amazon.com.The program, which kicked off on Friday, allows people to order an upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium for $49, more than half off its $119 suggested price, or Windows 7 Professional for $99, half of its suggested price. Both options run only until July 11 and are also limited in terms of the number of copies Microsoft will sell at those prices, though the software maker won’t clarify what the limits are. (Users will get their copy of the operating system after it is made broadly available on October 22.)
Last Tuesday, Microsoft quietly shipped its second major update to Windows Vista, Service Pack 2. Like last year’s Service Pack 1 for Vista, this download combines a few new features with many smaller bug fixes and other refinements.
This morning, Microsoft revealed the last major missing ingredient to Windows 7, the upcoming replacement for the flawed Windows Vista: what it will cost.A post on the Redmond, Wash., company’s Windows Team Blog outlined four possible prices home users can pay in the United States:
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that prices for the Windows 7 computer operating system are largely in line with those for Vista, and that people who buy PCs before the new system goes on sale in October will get free upgrades. To drum up demand among people who aren’t in the market for a new PC, Microsoft also said it is taking limited pre-orders for Windows 7, selling some for as little as $50.
If you are thinking of buying a Windows Vista PC in the next day or so, you might want to hold off just a bit longer. Microsoft has said that it will have a program whereby Vista PC buyers will be able to get a free copy of Windows 7, but only if they purchase after a certain date. Well, that date would appear to be June 26.
Europeans who purchase Vista-powered PCs starting Friday will have to do a “clean install” of the free Windows 7 upgrade they’ll receive later this year because Microsoft has yanked Internet Explorer from the new OS, according to a Web site that regularly publishes accurate information about the company’s plans.
An exploit of a still-unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 has been added to a multi-strike attack toolkit, according to Symantec, a move that may mean attacks will increase soon.An exploit of a still-unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 has been added to a multi-strike attack toolkit, Symantec said late last week, a move that may mean attacks will increase soon.
AFTER REPEATED BEGGING, PLEADING, RANTING, CAJOLING, ranting — did I mention the ranting? — I persuaded the powers that be at Dow Jones to get me a new laptop last week. The words you are reading, in fact, were written on my sleek, new, black and silver HP EliteBook 2530p. I’ll miss my battered old ThinkPad x60; I literally wore depressions into the keys I used it so much. But the new one is faster, with four times the memory, a faster processor, a bigger drive and a brand spankin’ new copy of…Microsoft Windows XP.
Windows Vista’s market share growth has slowed since Microsoft released public versions of Vista’s successor, Windows 7, according to data published today by Web metrics company Net Applications. For the fourth month in a row, Vista’s gains in May were lower than its 12-month average. That stretch coincides with the availability of Windows 7 beta in mid-January, and with the one-and-only “release candidate” issued early last month.
If you get a PC running Windows 7 but can’t divorce yourself from Windows XP, Microsoft will give you 18 months to downgrade - not six. That’s the line from Microsoft, which said that downgrade rights will be available from the date Windows 7 ships - October 22, 2009 - to April 1, 2011. Downgrades cover just two editions of the impending operating system, for consumers and small businesses. You can only move from Windows 7 Professional to Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional, and from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows XP Professional.
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