Pre ordering windows 7

Baldur

kwikbreaks wrote: »

A family pack covers 3 computers so for each computer I would expect the licence to be less but the overall price to be higher but so far it isn't available on pre-order and there is no price set.

Likely to be £150, according to this August report - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/351049/microsoft-confirms-150-windows-7-family-pack

alexlyne

My girlfriend has literally just finished her part-time MSc, and still has her ac.uk address. I was tempted to get a second copy of Win7 for our laptop after preordering a copy in July for £45. Now technically she is not enrolled, but do they actually check that? I assume not.. but would like to know.

Also, does anyone know with the student offer if the downloaded exe (that they say you get and run) can be burnt to a disk and used as an installer in the future? or would we have to also purchase the back-up DVD?

I assume that being in UK, we would not be getting an upgrade version, as they have been outlawed in the EU?

kevrod79

As far as I am aware no-one actually checks!

Kev

wallbash

alexlyne its worth a try .

As to the 2nd question , the disc is only another £9 plus postage

[Deleted User]

alexlyne wrote: »

My girlfriend has literally just finished her part-time MSc, and still has her ac.uk address. I was tempted to get a second copy of Win7 for our laptop after preordering a copy in July for £45. Now technically she is not enrolled, but do they actually check that? I assume not.. but would like to know.

From the t&c's;

Microsoft, Digital River International, Sarl, or an appointed vendor may contact you to verify that you are a current student or member of staff. If documentation is not provided indicating that you are a current student or member of staff, then you are not eligible for this promotional offer.

I assume that being in UK, we would not be getting an upgrade version, as they have been outlawed in the EU?

The version being offered is an Upgrade version.

spaceboy

I was told the upgrade version has been outlawed in the EU too. that's the reason we're getting the full version so cheap (cheaper than in the US).

[Deleted User]

spaceboy wrote: »

I was told the upgrade version has been outlawed in the EU too. that's the reason we're getting the full version so cheap (cheaper than in the US).

It was never 'outlawed' by anyone. The decision to not make available an Upgrade version but make available only Full Retail versions was made by Microsoft while they reached an amicable solution to the complaints regarding the bundling of Internet Explorer. Upgrade versions were always on the horizon, but rather than take focus away from reaching the RTM stage and potentially missing General Availability in Europe they chose the option that best benefited the consumer.

The EU have now accepted the 'Ballot Box' proposal, which I believe will be rolled out to users of Windows Vista and XP also.

alexlyne

So if it's an upgrade version, and we get a back-up disk, then we will have to provide proof of entitlement when reinstalling the software for any reason (I would want to start from scratch anyway, rather than upgrade). The GF has a Fujitsu laptop that her mum bought from somewhere, and while it has a license key for XP on it, not sure if they ever received any disks with it.. unless I just use one of my MSDN acquired disks ;-)

Still, on the plus side, it sounds like that a vendor may contact us after the order has been placed, and if we cant prove ourselves then they would cancel the order, no harm no foul (as long as they hadn't charged us).

JasX

Not if its anything like Vista, vendor will send you the upgrade regardless, they won't care what edition you have now if any.

If you have a blank / formatted hard disk and try to install an upgrade version it will fail when you try to activate it after install.

An install/reinstall of the upgrade version would require you to install a full version of your old windows first (much hassle) and THEN launch the upgrade installer from within a licensed version of windows.

Also the end product is likely to be alot rougher round the edges having installed one OS on top of another rather than a single clean install allowed by the full version.....

That being said there was a 'loophole' on the vista upgrade version where you could install vista from the upgrade disk as a licensed 30 day 'trial' then launch the upgrade installer from inside that version to workaround the licensing issue, still some more hassle over the full version but allowed you to install to a blank Hard Disk from scratch wiith only an upgrade key and was a 'cleaner' OS install.

alexlyne

OK, I read their faqs more slowly. Highlights are:

There is no difference between the Windows 7 software you will install from the online store versus in retail stores. However, if you need to perform a custom (clean) install on your PC, we recommend you purchase the back-up DVD.

If you decide to install Windows 7 on a PC running Windows XP, you'll need to do a custom installation. This is sometimes called a "clean install" because it erases the contents of your PC.

So I reckon that if we get W7 Pro 64bit, then we'll have no choice but to do a clean install.