Windows 7 pricing, box art, and upgrade program leaked
No sooner did Microsoft officially reveal the Windows 7 release date than every other detail about the product seemed to enter the public domain, whether it was meant to yet or not. The pricing, box art, and details of the upgrade program from Vista have all leaked this week.
We hear nothing about Windows 7, at least anything real or official, for weeks, and then it all comes along at once. I’ve never thought of Microsoft as a bus company and its operating systems as buses before, but maybe I should start doing so.
This week saw the Microsoft Store confirm the Windows 7 box art leaked by Polish Web site, CentrumXP.pl, last month is real. Ars Technica first linked to the Microsoft page before I Started Something brought it’s existence to the attention of me and many others.
I like the new designs (pictured above); they show a progression towards a more naturalistic and personal style of branding, displaying a much more contemporary feel than recent efforts. Microsoft will deny it, of course, but a nod of recognition definitely has to go in Apple’s direction.
This week also saw a Best Buy memo leak to Engadget. The company note intended for employees reveals that the Technology Guarantee, that basically protects those consumers buying Vista-based systems in the months leading up to the Windows 7 release date, is due to begin on June 26.
It also reveals that on that same date, June 26, a pre-sale of Windows 7 upgrades will occur. Windows 7 Home Premium will cost $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional will cost $99.99. Retailers other than Best Buy will also be offering the pre-sale, which will last for 16 days until July 11. These prices are extremely low so probably only apply to the promotion rather than the final retail price. Although there’s no harm in dreaming.
The best line of the memo explains that “This new operating system isn’t just a ‘Vista that works.’” No, it’s not just that but the fact it’s being described as such by a computer retailer is quite telling.
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June 7th, 2009
Nod to Apple or not, anyone that buys a computer operating system based on the packaging design is a flaming idiot. Who cares what the boxes like like, the VAST majority will get Win7 either with a PC (and thus no packaging) or they will us MS digital distribution to purchase and download for upgrading.
June 7th, 2009
Interesting about the “Vista that works comment…
I have recently installed Windows 7 on a machine shared with a customised Xubuntu distro, booting from a GRUB bootloader. I find it intersting that Windows is identified on that list as “Windows Vista/Longhorn”.
So much for pretending it isn’t Vista!
I can distinctly remember reading about about Longhorn a decade ago in the Windows 95/98 era. Has it really taken all that time for it finally to have come to fruition, or has MS recycled the Longhorn name as the code word for all its long-term future potential OS releases?