On June 25, Microsoft took the wraps off its Windows seven retail pricing. Bottom line: Should you preorder (U.S., Canada and Japan only for now), you can actually save much more than 50 percent over what comparable Vista versions cost. When you don;t, you;ll spend roughly the exact same for Windows 7 when you compensated for Vista at retail.(My ZDNet blogging colleague Ed Bott features a extra thorough take a look at the retail pricing for each Windows seven edition.)There;s nevertheless plenty we don;t know about Windows seven pricing, like just how much Microsoft is charging Computer makers per copy of Windows seven, which may perhaps have an influence on what Pc makers will charge for new Windows 7 PCs. Microsoft isn;t talking about no matter if it'll offer a Family members Pack for Windows seven and just how much that can price. (I asked; no dice.) And, as Bott mentioned, there;s no phrase on what the Anytime Upgrade pricing — for users who want to jump up to a extra feature-rich Windows seven SKU — will be.Microsoft also acknowledged on June 25 that the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program will kick off on Friday, June 26,
Buy Office 2007, as was expected. Participating Computer makers and retailers will be offering users who buy Vista PCs as of June 26 a coupon for a free duplicate of Windows seven once it's available, after October 22. The official details on how the program will work are available on Microsoft;s Upgrade Supply site.Some industry watchers had been predicting — and hoping — Microsoft would get a lot far more aggressive with Windows 7 pricing, especially given the state of the economy. Others had been anticipating Microsoft would likely hold pricing steady, even though Windows 7 already is shaping up to be lots far more popular than Vista.Microsoft is offering a retail price cut of 8 percent (for the upgrade version) to 17 % (for the full edition) for the Home Premium version of Windows 7. IDC analyst Richard Shim said that is a good start, and added he is expecting the preorders, with the 50+ % cuts to “likely fly off the shelves.”But given the fact that Microsoft sells new variations of Windows via Computer preloads and volume-licensing deals — not inside the form of retail copies — there are other far more pressing pricing matters.“The a lot more important question is what are the cuts like to the OEMs?” Shim said. “That;s where Microsoft makes a majority of their revenue when it comes to the OS. Last time around with Vista, OEMs weren;t too pleased with the multiple variations, the delivery delays and the removal of some significant features and they grumbled about it quite a bit. This time around, Microsoft may well want to try to win back some goodwill with OEMs.”Charles King Principal Analyst with Pund-IT praised the “global uniformity” of Microsoft;s Windows seven retail pricing, and said that Microsoft already has done lots to make pricing simpler and easier to understand than Vista;s. While he said he is expecting fewer users to want to downgrade to Vista or XP from Windows seven, King said he was curious how downgrades will be priced by Computer makers. Will users have to shell out added for “downgrade rights”? No word on that yet.What;s your take on Microsoft;s Windows 7 retail pricing?
[poll ID= 34]Other Windows seven pricing questions/observations?