Microsoft pilots Windows 7 family pack in Australia

""Those suckers that bought Vista Ultimate, myself included, are screwed," said yet another commenter. "There isn't a chance in hell that I am paying $219 for what should really be Vista SP2. We ..."

By SoStupid

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Sweetener offered to customers that already bought three licenses.

Microsoft has released what it is calling a "limited pilot" for Windows 7 where it packages three licenses for the Home Premium Upgrade edition of its latest operating system for $249.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available at retailers Betta Electrical, Bing Lee, David Jones, Dick Smith, Harvey Norman, JB Hi Fi, Myer, Officeworks, Retravision, The Good Guys and WOW Sight and Sound.

Microsoft said that customers who had already purchased three upgrade licenses prior to today might be eligible for some freebies.

It said they would get three wireless comfort desktops consisting of a wireless mouse and keyboard set.

To be eligible, they would need to show "a single receipt showing the purchase of three Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade licenses in a single transaction or up to three receipts showing the purchase of separate Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade licenses that were transacted on the same credit card", Microsoft said.

"We listened to the feedback from our customers and we are very pleased to announce that we are piloting Family Pack in Australia as part of our Christmas offers," said Jeff Putt, Windows consumer lead at Microsoft Australia.

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SoStupid

Dec 1, 2009 4:33 AM

"Those suckers that bought Vista Ultimate, myself included, are screwed," said yet another commenter. "There isn't a chance in hell that I am paying $219 for what should really be Vista SP2. We were promised 'extras' which we never got, now we are being excluded from the pre-order special. Anyway even at $49, it is still too much to pay."

The extras that commenter mentioned refer to "Ultimate Extras," one of the main features Microsoft cited in the months leading up to the 2007 release of Vista Ultimate to distinguish the operating system from its lower-priced siblings. According to Microsoft's marketing, Extras were to be "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications" that would be regularly offered only to users of Vista's highest-priced edition.

But users soon began belittling the paltry number of add-ons Microsoft released and the company's leisurely pace at providing them. Just five months after Vista was launched, critics started to complain.

Earlier this year, Microsoft dumped the feature, saying that it would instead focus on existing features in Windows 7 rather than again promise extras.

The furor over Vista Ultimate has even reached analysts' ranks. In May, Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft urged Microsoft to give Vista Ultimate owners a free upgrade to Windows 7. "It would buy them a lot of good will, and I don't think it would cost them much," Cherry said at the time.

Some of the commenters in the latest Computerworld stories about Windows 7 echoed Cherry.

"I am running Vista Ultimate and feel ripped off by Microsoft because ... [we] never received the extras we paid good money to get," said "Hellfire" in a long comment. "The very least that they should do is offer a heavily-discounted upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate to those that have lost money by purchasing Vista Ultimate."

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