[Razor VinT]

Microsoft has plans to allow PC makers to offer customers who buy Windows Vista machines as of July 1 free upgrades to Windows 7 once it ships.

It looks as if Tech ARP may have obtained internal Microsoft information on its Windows 7 Technical Guarantee program. The Web site says that Microsoft provided PC partners with a first pass draft of its Tech Guarantee documentation on December 10.

Windows Vista PCs must be purchased by end users … between July 1, 2009 through TBD (to be determined)” to qualify for the Windows 7 Tech Guarantee program. OEMs may choose to offer a shorter program period within the allowed date range.

Windows Vista Home Premium purchasers will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, the site says. Windows Vista Business users will get an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional. And users who buy PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate starting July 1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate.

News Source: Windows 7 Technical Guarantee program, via Mary-Jo Foley

[Freka]

Awesome because that is when I am buying a new laptop .

[Eye Pie Rate]

Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Good move, MS.

[thorden]

I am actually planning to buy a new laptop these days, should I wait till summer?

How much do you guys think Windows 7 wil cost?

[pakistanipower]

kind of hate the fact that its form july 1st and so on..when alot people bought pc's right around this time, i mean the whole black friday and so on..

but never the less still very neat move.

[Freka]

thorden, on Jan 6 2009, 07:44 PM, said:

I am actually planning to buy a new laptop these days, should I wait till summer?

How much do you guys think Windows 7 wil cost?

Wait till summer because not only Windows 7 is out but also a new chip is coming out for laptops and desktops, Intel Core i7 (quad).

[RickSOLET]

Great news!

[Edgar J.]

Waiting for Windows 7 release.

[chrisscorsese88]

To be honest, I like the way Vista looks more, so even if my dad gets 7 (he always buys a new computer vs. upgrading), I'll still be using Vista, which is fine with me.

[Liskiller]

Do you remember the Vista upgrade case? You couldn't use the upgrade DVD to do a clean install. Every time you had to first install XP and then use the Vista upgrade DVD to install Vista.

I hope Microsoft won't do this again.

[Culprit]

upgrading is stupid you should just wait till its released and then buy 7 and do a fresh install thats what i did for vista

[Abhi]

Culprit, on Jan 8 2009, 08:39 AM, said:

upgrading is stupid you should just wait till its released and then buy 7 and do a fresh install thats what i did for vista

For home users, upgrading might sound "stupid" to you, but when it comes to organizations and large companies, they mostly prefer upgradation.

[Abhi]

And moreover, as of now, only Windows Vista w/ SP1 can be upgraded to Windows 7 Beta.

[janus]

Upgrading is useful in several ways,

a: its usually cheaper to buy an upgrade rather than the full version, which i presume is why the upgrades are distributed to customers if they bought a PC with the upgrade option (as for vista-windows 7)

b: as Abhi says, companies prefer to upgrade as it is quicker and usually allows for quicker tranfer of documents and settings etc. (there is usually a utility to assist with this)

This post has been edited by janus: 08 January 2009 - 11:42 AM