Upgrade to Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate), which will have the same treatment starting March 01, 2010. This expiry date for the RC version is more than 4 months after the October 22 launch date of Windows 7, which Microsoft hope is sufficient time for you to decide if you want to pay them.

Related posts:

1. Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac beta available Microsoft has released its sync software Windows Phone 7 Connector...
2. Apple Releases Safari 4 Beta for Mac OS X and Windows Apple on Tuesday released the first public beta for its...
3. Microsoft To Release Windows 7 On Oct 22 Microsoft will release Windows 7 on Oct 22, ahead of...

Microsoft posted on its Windows Team Blog the details of Windows 7 pricing and upgrade options. Windows 7 will be launched on October 22nd. Here is the summary:

Windows 7 Language Version Availability

• On October 22nd, Windows 7 will be available in the following 14 languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong).

• On October 31st, the remaining 21 languages will become available: Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Thai, Croatian, Serbian Latin, and Latvian.

Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program

Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program starts tomorrow June 26 till Jan 31, 2010. During this period, anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost.

Visit this link for details.

Windows 7 Pricing Is Cheaper Than Windows Vista

• Different market will have different pricing.

• US estimated retail prices for upgrade

  • Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
  • Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

• US estimated prices for full packaged retail product

  • Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
  • Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

• In Europe, there will be no retail packaged for the upgrade version. Instead you get the retail packaged for the full version but pay for the upgrade price.

Windows 7 Pre-Order Offer

• Microsoft is offering Windows 7 pre-order discount of more than 50% in selected markets. Different discount for different market, for limited period while supplies last.

• US and Canada: offer starts tomorrow June 26 till July 11. For the pre-order, Windows 7 Home Premium is USD $49.99. Windows 7 Professional is USD $99.99. Order from Best Buy or Amazon or Microsoft Store.

• Japan: offer starts tomorrow June 26 till July 5.

• UK, France, Germany: offer starts July 15 till August 14.

• For details: Windows 7 Pre-order Offer

Thank you Microsoft for such an unattractive pricing. Many Vista users will feel the pain as most of them view Windows 7 as a service pack of Windows Vista.

There is yet any info about licensing for running Windows 7 in virtual machine environment. And we expect Apple to support running Windows 7 via Boot Camp after Windows 7′s release on October 22.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Extends Windows XP Support till April 2014 In a surprised news, Microsoft has promised to provide support...
2. Microsoft To Release Windows 7 On Oct 22 Microsoft will release Windows 7 on Oct 22, ahead of...
3. Windows 7 to come in six different versions Microsoft has confirmed that there will be six SKUs for...

Microsoft has confirmed that there will be six SKUs for the Windows 7 OS. This follows long standing Microsoft tradition of having multiple version of its Windows OS, a practice widely-criticized and mocked for bringing confusion to the marketplace.

• Starter: Available to OEMs on new PCs. Missing Aero UI. Can run 3 applications concurrently.
• Home Basic: For ‘emerging markets’. Missing Aero UI.
• Home Premium: Available to OEMs and retail. Includes Aero UI, multi-touch capabilities, media features. Can create home network groups.
• Professional: Includes all of Home Premium features. Adds enhanced networking, Mobility Center and Presentation Mode.
• Enterprise: Available only in volume licenses. Includes all of Professional features. Adds Branch Cache, Direct Access and BitLocker.
• Ultimate: The same features as Enterprise, with limited availability to OEMs and retail.

It appears that Starter will find its way into netbooks, and we will not heard alot about Home Basic since its available in ‘emerging markets’ only, whatever that means. For most consumers, the choices are between Home Premium and Professional. It is simpler compare with Windows Vista and more akin to Windows XP options.

Windows 7 Professional is comparable to Mac OS X and is the version of choice if you are running the OS dual boot via bootcamp. It is still early to see which version will run best on VMWare Fusion, Parallel or VirtualBox.

Microsoft has mentioned that there will be uprade version for existing XP and Vista users. There is no information on product pricing and for the upgrade path from old Windows versions. During installation, Windows 7 will upgrade for you if you are running Windows Vista. There is no system upgrade option for Windows XP, you need to install fresh new Windows 7.

What is your view on the same yet many versions of Windows 7? Well, we were hoping one single version of the OS, just Window 7, similar to Mac OS X. If single version is not feasible, then the line up could be simpler. Starter, Home Premium and Professional could be merged into one version, with resource intensive features such as Aero UI disabled automatically during system startup. Ultimate should be dropped, instead make Enterprise version available to OEMs and retail.

Related posts:

1. VMWare Released Fusion 3 With Snow Leopard Optimization And Windows 7 Aero Support VMWare has released Fusion 3, a major version upgrade to...
2. Microsoft Announced Windows 7 Pricing And Upgrade Option Microsoft posted on its Windows Team Blog the details of...
3. Microsoft To Release Windows 7 On Oct 22 Microsoft will release Windows 7 on Oct 22, ahead of...