Windows 7 - Windows 7 Pre-Sales Remain Strong

**raj1402** · 07-07-2009

Quote:

It won't be available for another four months, but consumers are already rushing to place their orders for Microsoft 's highly anticipated Windows 7 operating system and take advantage of early-bird discounts.

Amazon and other retailers have been taking pre-orders for Windows 7 since June 25th. For the third week in a row, the OS is Amazon's top seller in the software category, according to the Web merchant's Best Sellers list.

As of Tuesday, the list showed Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade as the top seller in software, followed by Windows 7 Professional Upgrade. Microsoft Office 2007 was ranked third, completing a win-place-show trifecta for Redmond.

In keeping with a Microsoft promotional campaign, retailers—including Amazon and Best Buy—are offering Windows 7 at discounts of more than 50% until July 11.
Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, for instance, is selling on Amazon for $49, or more than half off its suggested retail price of $119. Windows 7 Professional is going for $99, down from $199. That's good news for Microsoft, which saw Windows sales fall 16% in the most recent quarter.

Microsoft said it would defer recognition of 50% of revenue for sales made through the program until the fulfillment date of the purchases or until the program expires, based on whichever comes earliest. Microsoft said it expects to defer $200 to $300 million in such revenues during its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30th.

Microsoft has also disclosed an upgrade program through which consumers who purchase a Vista-powered PC can migrate to Windows 7 at little or no cost when the latter becomes available on Oct. 22.

**Night Hawk** · 07-07-2009

I won't have to read more! I already knew 7 will fly off shelves once out on 10/22! Once the beta was first on for a bit it didn't take long to come to that conclusion with XP and Vista being on as well for a large comparison.

Vista sold fast in 2007 at first due to the long gap between that and XP where people went for the new look. This time around 7 took the lead with more then a newer look but some serious improvements.

Of course with a tight economy or someone simply on a tight budget the promotional discounts will draw a larger percentage right off! 7 Home Premium for $50 while Vista Basic was $99- back in 2007. Which would you go for? Obviously the better edition of an improved version!

**holo88** · 07-08-2009

someone loan me $50, so i can increase MS's revenue

full price is a plan 'b', but i think im stuck with it. no funds till AFTER the 11th (when the 50% deal ends). i hate murphey's law

(<-note the rage in the smilies face)

**D1ABL0** · 07-08-2009

Windows 7 premium 50 bucks is a great deal
MS did the right thing
and it seems accounting did use calculators this time with this release

**Night Hawk** · 07-08-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by holo88

someone loan me $50, so i can increase MS's revenue

full price is a plan 'b', but i think im stuck with it. no funds till AFTER the 11th (when the 50% deal ends). i hate murphey's law

(<-note the rage in the smilies face)

If placed with a charge card or prepaid card nothing is charged until 7 is out when your card then sees the charge for 7 placed on it for payment. The preorder simply reserves a copy as well as applying the promotional discount so you don't pay the full price in October!

**holo88** · 07-08-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by Night Hawk

If placed with a charge card or prepaid card nothing is charged until 7 is out when your card then sees the charge for 7 placed on it for payment. The preorder simply reserves a copy as well as applying the promotional discount so you don't pay the full price in October!

hmm, theres -$75 on mine as of now. whats the worst they can do? say no?

guess i just assumed they'd do a 'dummy charge' or something.
(when they charge like 40 cents to verify an active account)

**Night Hawk** · 07-08-2009

Well that's precisely what the MS store page saw there. Individual vendors, retail outlets may have their own small fees to tack on at the present moment.

"Important Pre-Order Details

Make sure your PC is compatible with Windows 7. Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

Windows 7 will be available starting on Oct. 22, 2009.

Your card will not be charged until your order is shipped or the product is made available for download.(hmmm...)

Promotional pricing is available on Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional upgrade versions only. This promotional pricing is a limited time offer, while supplies last, and is limited to three (3) copies per edition per customer.

See the Pre-Orders section for additional details."
Windows 7 - Buy and download from Microsoft Store

**srq2625** · 07-08-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by holo88

someone loan me $50, so i can increase MS's revenue

full price is a plan 'b', but i think im stuck with it. no funds till AFTER the 11th (when the 50% deal ends). i hate murphey's law

(<-note the rage in the smilies face)

Just a thought - put it on a credit card. A reputable dealer (and I think all those involved with the pre-order campaign are such) won't charge your card until the product ships.

EDIT: Someone beat me to the punch on this. Oh well, great minds think alike.

Quote: Originally Posted by holo88

hmm, theres -$75 on mine as of now. whats the worst they can do? say no?

guess i just assumed they'd do a 'dummy charge' or something.
(when they charge like 40 cents to verify an active account)

You're thinking about what is called a "Pre-Auth" - it's a place holder against the expected charge. Gas stations do this - when you slide your card into the pump/register, the station calls it's card processing network and the network then connects to your bank and says, "Oh, by the way, I need you to hold out $XX for an upcoming, expected charge." The XX varies, but it's how the gas stations know they they will get paid for the gas. When you finish pumping, the gas station again calls their CC network and says, "Oh, you remember that pre-auth on this card? Well the charge is $YY." The network then cancels the pre-auth and posts the real charge transaction to your account. (You learn a lot when you write embedded system software for a point of sale (POS) device).

Anyway, the pre-auth should not appear on your account until just before the product (Windows 7) ships. It might not appear at all. I doubt there will be any activity on your account until the middle of Oct - I know there's been none on mine with respect to my pre-order.

**DrWho** · 07-08-2009

Night Hawk,
I'm sitting here laughing.........really!
I downloaded that "Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser" and it crashed when I ran it.

However, this PC was specifically built to test Vista, several years ago and today I'm running the Win-7 RC1 version on it. (I'm currently on my XP-Pro HD)

With both Vista Ultimate 64 and Win-7 64 I've seen no incompatibilities, with my hardware.

I just thought it was funny.

EDIT:
I logged in to Win-7 RC1 and ran the Compatibility checker again.
It installed and ran and reported that my Video card doesn't support Areo.
I'm running Win-7 now and everything is working fine. I doubt I really need to change Video Cards.

**mlevy** · 07-08-2009

On the payment issue. I contacted Newegg and specifically asked about this. I was told that I would NOT be billed until the item is in stock or ships...

Windows 7 - Windows 7 Pre-Sales Remain Strong

Windows 7 Pre-Sales Remain Strong problems?