Microsoft Windows 7 upgrade program begins July 1

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According to a draft announcement leaked to TechArp by a Microsoft OEM partner, the company is planning on allowing users who purchase new PC/laptop hardware (with Vista) from 1st July 2009 onwards, a free upgrade to Windows 7.

The draft states "Windows Vista PCs preinstalled with qualifying software must be purchased by end users between these dates. OEMs may choose to offer a shorter program period within the allowed date range." The dates are 1st July 2009 to general availability of Windows 7 which is currently un-announced.

Upgrade paths are also listed meaning those with Windows Vista Home Premium can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional and Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate.

A language version of the qualifying Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the same language version of the Windows 7 upgrade software.
The Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the associated edition of the upgrade software. For example, Windows Vista Home Premium K edition can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium K edition.
OEMs must ship media as defined in these permitted upgrade paths. No other upgrade paths are available and supported under the Program.
If an end user attempts to upgrade to an unsupported upgrade path, the end user may have to re-format the PC hard drive and/or may lose applications, files and settings available with the previous installed version of Windows. For example, the following upgrades are not allowed in the program :
- Upgrades from Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Starter
- Upgrades from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate
- Upgrades from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Ultimate

Microsoft has not officially released information on the upgrade program or final product SKUs and pricing. It's widely expected that Microsoft will confirm the product SKUs at CES this week. For all the latest Microsoft CES news please keep an eye on our CES section.

(1 reply) #1 jporter on 07 Jan 2009 - 12:57

I have Windows Vista Business 64bit version from MSDN account from school. My account will be closed soon, do you think it is possible to upgrade that version from MSDN to Windows 7 Professional 64bit?

#1.1 ir0nw0lf on 07 Jan 2009 - 14:17

jporter said,

Highly doubtful, this is sounding like it's for OEM's only.

(1 reply) #2 J400uk on 07 Jan 2009 - 13:17

My teacher told me about this scheme ages ago, I didn't believe her at first but seems she was right (for once :p).

#2.1 Krome on 12 Feb 2009 - 16:33

lol I am picturing her say this to your face, "I told you so!"

(6 replies) #3 cork1958 on 07 Jan 2009 - 14:40

Basically, this is MS admitting to how bad Vista is. They're saying, "Here people, get rid of that Vista, please!!"

#3.1 +dead.cell on 07 Jan 2009 - 15:17

Unfortunately, it took Vista to get to Windows 7. A total rewrite, driver issues, and so forth plagued Vista and give it the bad reputation many people know it for having. It's better now, but Windows 7 is looking to be a much bigger improvement than service packs can offer.

#3.2 PrEzi on 07 Jan 2009 - 15:24

dead.cell said,

cork1958: Why are you spreading crap like this ?
The same upgrade possibilities were offered for computers with XP OEM -> Vista too.
Besides Win7 codebase is also based on Vista.

#3.3 bluarash on 07 Jan 2009 - 15:42

It does have a slightly tweaked kernel and some interesting features. One of the more interesting I think is replacing GDI/GDI+ with Direct 2d. Unlike 3d, it is available to almost all applications. This is very much looking to be what Win98se was to Win95.

http://blogs.technet.com/thomasolsen/default.aspx

#3.4 C_Guy on 07 Jan 2009 - 18:11

So by cork's "logic", Microsoft was touting how bad XP was when they offered customers a free upgrade to Vista.

Nice attempt at a comment though. I guess.

#3.5 +M2Ys4U on 07 Jan 2009 - 18:15

cork1958 said,

*facepalm*

#3.6 Infusion- on 12 Feb 2009 - 20:35

No, more like this is basically cork1958 showing the world that he doesn't have the foggiest idea wtf he's talking about.

Thanks for the lulz cork!

(4 replies) #4 -Bryce- on 07 Jan 2009 - 15:34

why do people say vista is bad? i have it and have had ZERO issues with it...

#4.1 bluarash on 07 Jan 2009 - 15:39

I think basically because of the Bad Vista Campaign and others like it. There were also a number of real problems when it was first released. The slow copying of files comes to mind. Further, many device makers refused to provide driver upgrades for their products and somehow that translated into a Microsoft issue (i.e. Microsoft's fault).

#4.2 este on 07 Jan 2009 - 16:28

bluarash said,

Some people are hesitant to change as well - Vista is different from XP in many ways and some people will simply stick with what they know. But now they will have to make the transition over to Win7 once XP loses its support...

#4.3 +M2Ys4U on 07 Jan 2009 - 18:17

Ignorance breeds hate.

#4.4 Shadrack on 07 Jan 2009 - 23:19

I haven't had any issues with Vista either since its release other then the slow copy-file bug that was fixed in SP1.

I think the number one reason why people hate on Vista is that it was too little too late. There are no good reasons for corporations to upgrade from XP to Vista. It would just increase overhead with no real benefits.

The reason why people say Vista is a bad OS at this point comes down to FUD. The whole anti-Vista craze is the best example of FUD to date. The FUD originated from a series of very poor public Betas and RCs that Microsoft released prior to Vista going retail. The retail version of Vista was actually quite good, despite this, but the damage that the betas did to its reputation is unrecoverable.

(1 reply) #5 changturkey on 07 Jan 2009 - 18:01

I have home basic, so if I wanted 7, can I still buy the upgrade? I know I will have to format, but I don't mind.

#5.1 Neobond on 07 Jan 2009 - 20:33

Yes you will be able to buy the upgrade version that is cheaper than the "full" version

(2 replies) #6 +Chrono951 on 07 Jan 2009 - 18:04

I am hoping that they will provide people who bought Vista a cheaper upgrade path to 7 since it is not such a huge leap from Vista to 7 as it was from XP to Vista. Like you could register a retail serial key of Vista on Microsoft's store and get a discount on 7.

#6.1 mrp04 on 07 Jan 2009 - 21:38

Microsoft always offers "Upgrade" versions of Windows for those who already have a copy on their computer.

#6.2 Shadrack on 07 Jan 2009 - 23:25

I may be wrong about this, but did the Vista upgrade ever include a method of doing a clean install of the OS? The XP upgrade allowed users to do clean installs with just a "media" verification during the install iirc. If you had a Vista upgrade, the user had to do a full Windows XP install prior to installing Vista. If Windows 7 upgrade is the same, it is going to be a pain in the arse to reinstall your operating system. Especially considering Windows XP didn't include a lot of the RAID drivers that required the use of a floppy disk.

I may be (and hope that I am) incorrect on this.

Will Windows 7 OEM discs be available through Newegg as was Vista and XP discs? You couldn't beat that deal. Who needs Microsoft's support when you have awesome internet forums like Neowin?

#7 +dave164 on 07 Jan 2009 - 21:51

I've never achually checked something, does the Windows Experience Index go further then 5.9...

#8 excalpius on 07 Jan 2009 - 23:58

Not under Vista.

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