Windows Anytime Upgrade: Digital Distribution To End
By HappyAndyK, 11 February 2008 - 17:18 27 comments
Microsoft had this to say on its website: "In an effort to streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience for our customers and open the program to additional markets worldwide, Microsoft and its partners have decided to end digital product key distribution on February 20, 2008."
With Windows Anytime Upgrade, customers could upgrade to another version of Vista by purchasing a digital product key. Microsoft has now decided to stop distributing product keys online. Those who now want to upgrade, will have to buy a Windows Anytime Upgrade Kit from a local retailer or from Microsoft.
The company told InfoWorld it was making the change based on feedback from users:
Customers have told us that this change will streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience, and that they would prefer to use the DVD and a standard 25-character product key to perform the upgrade—rather than the combination of the DVD and digital key.
Comments (27)
+njlouch - 11 February 2008 - 17:26
Not really "Any Time" then is it? I thought the whole point of this was that you could do this at any time, 2am when you realised you wanted a dreamscene - need Ultimate? Upgrade!
michael.dobrofsky - 11 February 2008 - 23:56
Exactly right! After clubbing and doing a tonne of mind-altering drugs at 2AM is the only time someone would realize they needed Dreamscene and Ultimate
Tantawi - 12 February 2008 - 12:23
I lol'ed
Titoist - 11 February 2008 - 17:29
Good thing too, though I believe it was a good idea, but what I found a waste was that the cost of getting a key was more expensive than purchasing it in the store. Like I got Vista Business... and the Anytime Upgrade asks for $120... while Ultimate is only $50 more than Business in retail stores.
+Chrono951 - 11 February 2008 - 17:30
"In an effort to streamline"?
How does making it harder to get a product key help the customer?
Slimy - 11 February 2008 - 17:41
Microsoft reportedly responded to customer feedback: http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft....al-product-keys
+Frazell Thomas - 11 February 2008 - 19:20
I knew this was soon coming as not only the customer feedback issues, but I'm sure Microsoft was getting a lot of yelling from their partners.
MS rarely sells products directly to their customers they usually have channel partners they use for that sort of thing. Windows is no exception. So you can't buy Windows directly from MS (and the partner makes a profit) and then MS sidesteps this channel with Anytime upgrade (the partner no longer gets a profit)... By giving the partners a chance to resell the upgrade kits they can make a profit again. This doesn't always translate to higher prices for the consumer (the profit margin for the partner) as the large partners can negotiate a better price and pass that on to consumers (hense why you can find retail versions cheaper than MS' MSRP at some resellers)...
Overall, I think it is a good move for partners and for consumers.
ahhell - 11 February 2008 - 18:33
No one was using the anytime upgrade feature anyway so Microsoft killed it.
Doli - 11 February 2008 - 18:38
Wrong
Doli - 11 February 2008 - 18:38
Thats good right? People who buy from Dell, HP, etc... can upgrade and dont have to deal the programs that are installed from restore disks.
GreyWolf - 11 February 2008 - 18:53
I don't get it... Why don't they just e-mail you the new product key? They did that when I purchased the upgrade version of Office 2003. I got the install key in e-mail and a disc a week later in the mail...
toadeater - 12 February 2008 - 00:53
They want their abysmal Vista retail sales to look better.
HawkMan - 12 February 2008 - 09:39
They want their abysmal Vista retail sales to look better.
Except they're not abysmal. but trolls wouldn't care about such minor details would they.
xendrome - 11 February 2008 - 19:43
Anytime I tried to do a "Anytime" upgrade it always took me to a list of stores where I could purchase the Anytime upgrade, and they would then mail you a DVD and key.
I thought it was supposed to be as easy as buying a key and putting it in, but no.
Maybe it's different in other areas, but I am in the US and thats what I always got...
Tews - 11 February 2008 - 20:47
I thought this would be a good idea, so I tried it ... upugraded to Ultimate .. got the liscense key in my Digital Locker .... easy peasy .... then waited almost a month for the Upgrade disc .... after numerous emails and phone calls it finally came ... then the second disk came then the THRD one!!!! ROFL!! Any one need a new Primium to Ultimate upgrade disk ... new in the box??? :cheeky:
Impact - 11 February 2008 - 23:01
All Vista DVDs have all versions on them. There is no "Premium to Ultimate" upgrade CD. You could have used your orginal DVD instead of waiting for the new one lol.
+Frazell Thomas - 11 February 2008 - 23:28
OEM Copies can have just one edition on them... Hense why an anytime upgrade disk is offered...
+Xerxes - 12 February 2008 - 00:18
EDIT: Nevermind, just dawned on me why, OEM disks quite often have the product key on the disk, so it can only ever install the edition tied to that product key...ok I got it now.
NOTE: I'm mainly refering to OEM manufacturers like HP, Dell etc I'm not sure about OEM disks that come with say a custom built PC, I'd asume those disks are the same as the retail ones without the packaging (and slightly different license restictions).
+Xerxes - 11 February 2008 - 22:09
It was never released here in Australia, so I couldn't careless they are shutting it down :P
+Smigit - 12 February 2008 - 12:46
yeah we just started gettng retail copies it seems and they are quite expensive. Ahh well.