Windows 7 Pre-Sales Remain Strong

Iknewitwin7 · 09 Jul 2009

Night Hawk said:

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!

I completely agree, and would also add that Vista sold fast because of MS's marketing strategy of the "Wow" campaign. It sold me :P

seekermeister · 09 Jul 2009

Jacen,

I think that you are correct. From what I read, if a person has Vista, the upgrade will install on top of it, but for XP, a clean install is required...which is what I prefer anyway.

I just finished preordering the Pro version. I thought about ordering the Ultimate version...until I saw the price. There doesn't appear to be all that much difference between the two, unless a person speaks something other than English, or feels that they have to have Bitlocker.

seekermeister · 09 Jul 2009

I think that I may have wasted some money on the Pro version, because the main reason that I opted for it, was that it spoke of having XP Compatability Mode, which sound as though it would be worthwhile for me. However, looking further, it appears that it will only work on some Intel processors and AMD hardware with AMD-V capability..mine doesn't. From what I quickly scanned, it is setup for Opteron servers, but I also found an article that said that they are going to offer it for desktop systems as well, but I haven't found any specifics regarding exactly what hardware it is going to require. Since I doubt that I can change my order, I guess that I will just have to bite the bullet, until I know more about what I will need. I didn't even realize that the compatability mode was a separate download, rather than being a integral part of the OS.

Jacen · 09 Jul 2009

seekermeister said:

Jacen,

I think that you are correct. From what I read, if a person has Vista, the upgrade will install on top of it, but for XP, a clean install is required...which is what I prefer anyway.

I just finished preordering the Pro version. I thought about ordering the Ultimate version...until I saw the price. There doesn't appear to be all that much difference between the two, unless a person speaks something other than English, or feels that they have to have Bitlocker.

Actually according to Winsupersite you can do either a clean install or install on top of Vista. Since I have 3 computers I bought one copy of Pro and one Copy of home premium. Ultimate seems like a waste unless you are really concerned about security or need another language. They probably did that on purpose to get more people to Pro. To me Pro is the new consumer Ultimate and Ulitmate is geared for Business.

Here is a link to the Windupersite.

http://community.winsupersite.com/bl...k-exactly.aspx

seekermeister · 09 Jul 2009

You are probably right, but I'm going to try to amend my order tomorrow, when their service dept. is open. I only speak English, and don't plan to upgrade my hardware anytime in the near future, so Premium looks just as good as Pro...but then, they aren't very good about telling us of every difference between versions, only the highlights.

Jacen · 09 Jul 2009

seekermeister said:

You are probably right, but I'm going to try to amend my order tomorrow, when their service dept. is open. I only speak English, and don't plan to upgrade my hardware anytime in the near future, so Premium looks just as good as Pro...but then, they aren't very good about telling us of every difference between versions, only the highlights.

That is exactly why I bought a version of Pro. I don't really know if they listed all the differences but I am hoping that the extra 50 bucks to carry a version of Pro is worth it. I also like the automatic backup feature in pro.

here is a link to a more detailed overview of the different features

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_skus_compare.asp

There really isn't that much difference between Premium and Pro but the couple of difference I think are worth the extra $50 now just incase you ever decide to upgrade later.

seekermeister · 09 Jul 2009

Thanks, that is definitely a better breakdown than what I had read. There still isn't alot of extras in the Pro version over the Premium, but there were a couple of things that caught my eye. I really don't know if I would ever use them, but EFS, backup to network, remote desktop host, offline files and location aware printing are things that I will have to look deeper into. There are some other differences, but I doubt that I would ever use all of the items that I listed.

Night Hawk · 09 Jul 2009

It's not the compatibilit mode but the new Virtual PC beta seen now with the XP Pro mode added to that. This allows for running older XP programs on virtual machine that wouldn't be compatible with 7 or Vista even.

The full version of any edition allows you to install Windows onto an essentially blank drive since the installer also includes the necessary drive tools in order to partition and format a bare drive. Even with Vista when performing an upgrade the 32bit 7 Pro would need the Vista 32bit Business or the 7 Home Premium 32 would need the Vista HP 32 there in order to see a direct upgrade.

You should read this page provided however on upgrading from Vista. https://om2.one.microsoft.com/opa/Va...caleCode=en-us

That's for the free upgrade or $10 charge seen at some places for the 7 upgrades from Vista bought at this time up until 7 is out since we are past the 7/1 date already. The upgrade for each edition however is explained in the Faq section as:

"How does the Windows 7 Upgrade Option work?

The Windows 7 Upgrade Option is available through participating PC manufacturers on selected PCs and through Microsoft on qualifying purchases of the Windows Vista packaged product. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option applies to Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate editions. Your Windows 7 upgrade will be to the comparable version: so you'll get either Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional (the upgrade to Windows Vista Business), or Windows 7 Ultimate, respectively. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option program runs from June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010. Individual manufacturers may choose to offer the option for a shorter period on their PCs. Offer details, prices, and upgrade delivery methods will vary. For details for new PC purchases, please check the manufacturer's web site. For purchases of retail packaged software, please go to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option fulfillment site for retail packaged software."
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy...aq-option.aspx

seekermeister · 09 Jul 2009

I'm not sure why, but I get the following error with your first link, regardless of the browser that I use (IE, Opera or Firefox) when I have cookies enabled in all of them.

In order to use this site, you must have Cookies Enabled on your browser.

Night Hawk · 09 Jul 2009

That link is where you enter the "proof of purchase" product key label information to verify you own a Vista disk. In IE go to tools>internet options>privacy>advanced and check off the "override automatic handling of cookies" box there to see if that helps.