European Windows 7 preorders are live

Robert Hallock (Thrax)

July 16, 2009 4:32 PM ET in News, , ,

windows7As a reminder to our readers on the citrusy side of the pond, Microsoft opened the floodgates on discounted Windows 7 preorders last night. Chuffed to bring home a piece of l’action? Read on to find out exactly what you need to know.

Pricing

It’s true that Windows 7 is cheaper than Vista in most cases, but waiting until the October 22 launch makes you a dummkopf. Preordering can net you a discount of up to 70%, depending on your version and currency.

Euros

win7_euro_pricing

Pounds

win7_quid_pricing

Answering a few questions

Q: Are these prices for the upgrade version, or the full version?
A: As Microsoft cannot yet offer upgrade SKUs in the region, European buyers will be treated to a full copy of Windows 7, not an upgrade.

Q: Why can’t Microsoft offer upgrade licenses?
A: As a result of an ongoing anti-trust dispute between the European Commission and Microsoft, Microsoft has pulled Internet Explorer 8 from European copies of Windows 7. Microsoft never performed QA on upgrade procedures that did not include Internet Explorer, so the company cannot be sure if these upgrades would even work. The firm expects to qualify and release upgrade SKUs by December.

Q: So I can’t perform an upgrade install with a copy of Windows 7 purchased in Europe?
A: That’s correct; European users must reformat and perform a clean installation.

Q: How many computers can I install this copy of Windows 7 on?
A: Each Windows 7 license is good for just one PC at a time. The license may, however, be transferred to another PC as long as the new PC holds the sole installation for that license.

Q: Okay, where can I preorder?
A: Your best bet would be Amazon UK, Amazon DE or Amazon FR.

17 Comments:

  1. SPIKE09
    16 Jul '09, 8:57 pm

    picked up 2 preorders last night from Staple's, very few place's have the decent prices left

  2. dEVIANT
    17 Jul '09, 7:17 am

    Picked up mine from http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/566020

    £44.99 for Home Prem.

  3. Shorty
    17 Jul '09, 7:40 am

    I have mine too. Windows 7 professional. I actually believe in this OS.

  4. patrickcabenjamin
    17 Jul '09, 2:40 pm

    what the hell
    I can't afford that

  5. Shorty
    17 Jul '09, 3:14 pm
    Quoting patrickcabenjamin

    what the hell
    I can't afford that

    Then don't buy it.

  6. Snarkasm
    17 Jul '09, 4:44 pm

    Methinks Patrick must be having some money problems lately, between bitching about OS upgrade pricing and ad-removal pricing.

  7. Richard
    18 Jul '09, 9:41 am

    The preorder for professional is revised to 189.99 quid and not 89.99 :-(

  8. CyrixInstead
    18 Jul '09, 10:42 am

    Got mine. Amazon were out of pre-orders after only one day, as were Tesco Direct. I got mine from Dixons of all places!

    Can't refuse a whole new OS for £44.97, makes it incredibly cheap over its lifetime. I imagine that many, many of the Windows XP pirates will not be able to refuse such an enticing price, so Microsoft know exactly what they're doing!

    ~Cyrix

  9. CyrixInstead
    18 Jul '09, 10:43 am

    Oh, and eBuyer has the Professional edition for only £80!

    ~Cyrix

  10. MJO
    18 Jul '09, 6:54 pm

    Is it possible to preorder an Ultimate Edition with a nice discount?
    I really want an Ultimate Edition, but it seems that it is not available for preorder.

  11. Thrax
    18 Jul '09, 7:14 pm

    There is no ultimate edition pre-order, nor discount. Is there any reason why you want Ultimate? It's pretty useless. Do you need disk or USB encryption that badly? Those are the only "major" advantages it has over Professional.

  12. patrickcabenjamin
    18 Jul '09, 7:18 pm
    Quoting Snarkasm

    Methinks Patrick must be having some money problems lately, between bitching about OS upgrade pricing and ad-removal pricing.

    I'm still a teen

    I can't afford much

    my pocket money is low

    leave me alone

  13. shwaip
    18 Jul '09, 8:21 pm
    Quoting Thrax

    There is no ultimate edition pre-order, nor discount. Is there any reason why you want Ultimate? It's pretty useless. Do you need disk or USB encryption that badly? Those are the only "major" advantages it has over Professional.

    Do you have a link to a feature comparison between the different editions?

  14. Snarkasm
    18 Jul '09, 8:29 pm

  15. shwaip
    18 Jul '09, 8:34 pm

    tbh, it looks like i'd be fine with home, as long as I threw vnc on all my machines. Any other dealbreakers that are in pro but not home?

  16. Snarkasm
    18 Jul '09, 8:35 pm

    XP Mode (single-window XP virtualization) is on Pro, but not Home.

  17. shwaip
    18 Jul '09, 8:37 pm

    Thanks!

    XP mode in it's current implementation is terrible. I assume it'll get better, but even so I can just use VPC07 (which doesn't require a hardware virtualization-capable processor) for the _one_ program i have that doesn't run on 7.

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