Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks about Windows 7 at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in January.
(Zuma Press)Photos (1 of 1)
How to get Windows 7 for free
By Chris Gaylord | 06.25.09
When Windows 7 ships to stores on Oct. 22, a copy will cost you a few hundred dollars – unless you play your cards right.
Microsoft announced today that the basic “Home Premium” version will sell for $199.99 ($119.99 for an upgrade from Vista) and the high-end “Ultimate” edition will fetch $319.99 ($219.99 for the update). Nowadays, that’s half the price of an entry-level computer!
Fret not, antsy shoppers. Microsoft also rolled out a way to get Windows 7 for free.
Because Windows Vista got such a bad rap, the company wants people to move over to Windows 7 as soon as possible. The faster it can convert customers, the sooner it can bury all those Vista jokes and Apple commercials – not to mention buoy its operating system sales, which make up about 30 percent of Microsoft’s $60 billion annual revenue.
Here’s the deal: Anyone who buys a Vista computer between June 26 (this Friday) and Jan. 31, 2010, will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 shortly after it releases. This includes the important back-to-school rush that hits in August and any lingering Vista PCs that wind up under a Christmas tree this winter.
But, there is a catch. The program only works with participating manufacturers or retailers. Also, some stores or PC makers might still charge a small fee for the upgrade.
Starting Friday, Microsoft will keep a list of participants here. HP has already signed on for the free upgrades.
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2. don field | 06.26.09
I already own a windows 7 with home premium [vista]. It was myunderstanding that an upgrade for this system is in the works. Should I contact microsoft, or does anyone know what the status is for this machine. i purchased it in july 07.
3. Tom D. | 06.26.09
If you are going to upgrade, consider that the new Office applications are much heavier than the previous generation and you will need more RAM and a faster processor to maintain acceptable performance. Our office just upgraded from Office 2003 to Office 2007. Very slick and attractive, but frustrating waiting for applications to open and for major operations. Take Windows recommended minimums with a heavy grain of salt. When you buy that new PC, if the salesperson is recommending the fastest model with lots of RAM, they are not only trying to upsell you, you’ll really need the power. Maybe that’s why they are getting on board with the free upgrade. They are going to sell a lot of new hardware.
6. prentend to be a student | 06.26.09
Windows 7 will probably be available to university students for free if their school subscribes to one of the Microsoft Academic Alliance programs.
7. toast | 06.26.09
Instead of MS Office, please consider OpenOffice instead. It understands MS file formats and it’s free…
8. No geek | 06.26.09
The interface and help sections of OpenOffice.org seem to be made for computer geeks only. On top of that OpenOffice Writer crashes a lot, throughout all of its versions, at least on my computer. The only thing I could really recommend about Oo.o: it lets you export text documents into PDF.
9. milkyway | 06.26.09
Toast - say what you want about Microsoft the company, or Windows as an OS, but please spare me the Open Office talk. MS Office — especially Excel and Word — is very, very good software and worth paying for.
11. keithd | 06.26.09
I hope the US Army IT Chief has read this article and dump the plan to roll out that dud called Vista.
Because Windows Vista got such a bad rap, the company wants people to move over to Windows 7 as soon as possible. The faster it can convert customers, the sooner it can bury all those Vista jokes and Apple commercials – not to mention buoy its operating system sales, which make up about 30 percent of Microsoft’s $60 billion annual revenue.
I still don’t understand why they insist on selling Vista in order to get Win 7 for free! SO the Win 7 actual sales will be lower even though the actual deployment will be bigger. SOme strategy!
12. Jim | 06.26.09
My Vista machine works fine. I don’t need an upgrade.
My OpenOffice works great, too, on my Vista computer.
13. Bill | 06.26.09
Psst: Ubuntu Linux is free! You don’t need a virus catcher and it has its own firewall. I don’t let my Windows XP on the Internet. All that downloading is a real hassle. Ubuntu starts up much faster too. Less to load up.
14. Malcolm | 06.26.09
Maybe Open Office understands Word formats, but it doesn’t work the other way round. Word does not understand O. O., in my experience. I went for Open Office for a while but don’t use it now and can’t open the files with Word.
15. Tzeph | 06.26.09
Why pay for an OS at all? So you buy Vista or 7, you still have to buy the programs to run on it. Get Win 7 for free, but you still had to pay for Vista. It’s because they can’t get enough people to buy Vista, so they trick you into it, while making the PC manufacturers $$$ also.
Look, Unix systems have ALWAYS been better than Windows. Linux is open source and free, runs better, is WAY more secure, and all the extra software tools are free. You pay zip, no tricks, and you can mod it out however you want to your ability.
Gates, in my opinion was a crook, and Microsoft will always be about $$$. Why bother with em at all. Buy whatever PC you want, wipe the HD and slap a Linux system on it.
Yeah for KDE!!!!
19. scorchgeek | 06.28.09
Microsoft Office is good software, but it’s pretty darn expensive for some people. If you can afford it or get a good discount, I’d go ahead (I own it), but for people who don’t want to pay the $200 for the Standard version (give or take), OpenOffice is certainly worth considering.
And as a footnote–how often has Microsoft Office crashed, and then how often does OpenOffice crash? Some people automatically assume anything Microsoft didn’t make is junk–not me, and I use Windows and other Microsoft products myself.
20. scorchgeek | 06.28.09
“Definatly Open Office. That competition is why MS, I think is buying Sun.”
That is incorrect. Oracle is buying Sun, and Sun doesn’t make OpenOffice. Sun makes StarOffice, which is similar but costs money.
21. Susan | 06.28.09
I don’t know why Vista got such a bad rap. I have Vista and I love it! I’ve had it for a couple of years, and it’s the first system that I could make sense out of–it explains everything in plain English. It has also given me excellent security and, as a result, peace of mind. I know some people don’t like the User Account Controls, but they can be turned off. Mine are turned off, but it’s still a very secure system.
I don’t know anything about Windows 7, but if it doesn’t do the above things I’ve mentioned about Vista, then it’s no good for me.
22. Frank Pratt | 06.28.09
I’m not sure if all the complaints are about Vista, or about Office 2007 and its ribbons, or about the combination of the two (both of which were probably encountered at the same time)
23. Inge Casey | 06.29.09
All this talk about Vista and MS Windows 7 does not mention that there are 2 versions of Vista. One 32 Bit and one 64 bit version. If you run Vista 64 bit you have to be very careful what applications you install because not all run under vista 64 bit - no not even in (x86) mode. So far there is no mentioning on how Windows 7 will address this problem.
24. Julian | 06.30.09
Should give people a free upgrade to people who bought vista fullstop vista might have run “Fine and Great Amazing and whatever else” for average users just searching the net or typing a documents but most that wanted performance it was a bloody nightmare memory hog that caused alot to revert back to Winxp wasting there money. W7 is now what vista should have been its bloody fantastic i gota admit but im not gonna pay another 400+ aussie dollars when i dont feal i got what i paid for with vista at all
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1. Patrick | 06.26.09
You can also (if you don’t want to buy a new computer) purchase an OEM version of Windows 7. This is a deeply discounted version Microsoft sells to system builders.
You can qualify as a “system builder” to some online retailers just by buying a printer cable along with your OEM copy of Window 7 Premium. The discounts are around 25-50% off. This works right now for XP and Vista, but they may have plugged this little licensing work around for Window 7. I won’t post any links, since I kind look like a spam bot here.