MS To Offer Free Windows 7 Upgrade To Vista Users 417
crazyeyes writes "With Windows 7 set for release in Dec. 09, Microsoft is getting ready with their free upgrade program, which allows Vista users to switch to Windows 7 when it arrives. The folks at TechARP have consistently scored accurate scoops on Microsoft software releases. They have now revealed Microsoft's upgrade plans, schedules and even screenshots of the upgrade process."
Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Funny)
Ballmer: Hmmm...I see. Alright, here's the plan: Revise the current Windows 7 Upgrade Program to allow OEMs to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista Ultimate - for FREE! And leak this to the tech community right away!!
Underling: Uh...sir, pardon me saying so, but won't that appear as an obvious ploy to sell more of our most overrated - and least worthwhile - product?
Ballmer: Yes...you may be right. Those basement dwellers can be pretty sharp...hmmm...I know! Add that free option for Vista Home Premium and Vista Business! We should make up, in additional sales of those, what "loss" we incur with the free upgrades. We should be able to minimize that by frightening the OEMs with scary "Program Compliance" requirements. We can also limit large business deployments by restricting the number of upgrades per mailing address. Finally, send a memo to the developers: Remove all the previously most-desired-by-the-tech-community features planned for Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional, so that these features ONLY exist in Windows 7 Ultimate...
Underling: Right away, sir!
(Ballmer throws a chair at the back of exiting Underling)
Underling: Ou--I mean, thank you, sir! May I have another?
Ballmer: You'll go far here, son...
Re:Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Later that month - Spike TV 3 AM EST
Vince: You get this great copy of Vista Ultimate for only $19.95. But wait, for a limited time we'll throw in a free upgrade to Windows 7. Order now and we'll also include a 'Sham-Woz' (just like a real 'Woz' but from Redmond) ...
Re:Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, they're (sic) is one thing more pathetic...
Re:Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, prodding somebody because they made one grammatical error is a little trite, but don't you think bitching about signatures is (at the very least) equally trite?
Re:Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Somewhere in Redmond... (Score:5, Funny)
Great idea!
--
mspohr is a dumbass
Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Don't you mean 7 times?
Re: (Score:2)
Or he could be counting:
1) Windows 2.0
2) 95
3) Bob
4) 98
5) ME
6) XP Home
7-12) Vista
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
How about:
1) 1.0
2) 2.0
3) 3.0
4) 3.1
5) 3.11
6) 95a
7) 95b
8) 95c
9) 98
10) 98SE
11) ME
12) 2k
13) XP Home/Pro
14) Vista Vanilla/Rocky Road
15) Seven!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Funny)
And you forgot VMS -> NT versions -> XP -> Windows 2003. OK, Microsoft didn't write VMS, but they surely stole wholesale from it for NT when they hired David Cutler, one of its authors.
But that would be uneth...ummm...nevermind.
Re: (Score:2)
12? Where does 12 come from?
My concern with upgrading my brother's 512meg Vista machine to a 512meg Win7 machine is that (1) I still don't think it will run any faster and (2) Win7 might not have the necessary drivers to operate the video/audio cards and therefore be impossible to use.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Informative)
dos 1
dos 2
dos 3
dos 4
dos 5
Windows 1
Windows 2
Windows 3.1
Windows 3.11
NT 3.5
ME
Bob
95
98
2000
2000 professional
XP Home
XP pro
Media Center
Vista Home
Vista Home premium
Vista Business
Vista Ultimate
I've used all of those to some degree except Dos 1 Dos 2 Windows 1
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:4, Funny)
You're a brave man to admit you used Bob.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Funny)
That's what she said.
Re: (Score:2)
I've used all of those to some degree except Dos 1 Dos 2 Windows 1
I have in fact owned DOS 1 and 2 as well as Windows 1.03 (the first real release)
Not only that, I developed software on all of them as well, even, CP/M.
Does anyone remmeber pip?
Re: (Score:2)
peripher interchange program. I remember an awful lot of ctrl/c though that got better with cpm+. Cpm+ also allowed me to use all of the 128 MB RAM that came with my CPC6128 as it allowed bank switching. Those were the days of WordStar, I used to know the adresses of all the free spots in the program code where you could put your own additions like printer control codes to allow WordStar to use italic or letter quality printing. That was programming in hex.
GP forgot to mention NT4.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Funny)
Can't fault a GP ... when you get to a certain age, memory is the second thing to go. .... I forget what the first thing is.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Funny)
Women.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Insightful)
You seem to have forgotten DOS 6.
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:4, Informative)
I was thinking the exact same thing, but, since I don't have the mod points to mod you "insightful", I'll add:
Not to mention 6.1 and 6.2 (to remove Stacker) :D
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Informative)
6.2 had DoubleSpace and introduced various other notable bits and pieces. Scandisk, which I suspect many Slashdot readers are familiar with, was introduced in 6.2.
Just some useless and ancient trivia for you
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You seem to have forgotten DOS 6.
Maybe, like me he switched to DR DOS (until it ate some important files).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that Win7 is supposed to have a smaller number of services running by default, and a number of optimizations to boot, you probably won't get worse perf on Win7. I can't guarantee better perf, but when you're operating with that little memory, *any* improvement in Win7's memory usage will have a noticeable effect (of course, if you are disabling unnecessary Vista services yourself you'll probably get a lot of the benefit).
As for drivers, you should be fine. They aren't changing the driver model for Win7, so Vista drivers will work with it.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
As for drivers, you should be fine. They aren't changing the driver model for Win7, so Vista drivers will work with it.
I beg to differ unless something is intentionally borked with the Win 7 beta. I can't get half my Vista drivers to work with my Asus laptop. I've tried 32 bit, 64 bit and Vista compatibility mode to no avail. I am not the only one having the driver issues according to the forums I've looked through.
I was pleasantly surprised on how many devices were supported just from the install disc however. I guess I will have to wait a little bit longer to fully convert to Win 7.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Fool me once, shame on you (Score:4, Informative)
However getting more RAM means either higher price because it has only DDR2 slots or upgrading motherboard - and while upgrading motherboard I'll have to upgrade CPU and graphics card.
DDR2 RAM is the cheapest RAM you can buy.
Suddenly it is not that cheap to throw more RAM on the problem.
2GB of DDR2 won't even cost you US$25. Heck, you can pick up 4GB for about $40.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As I read it, they're not offering free upgrades to people who already have Vista, they're offering free upgrades to people who are going to buy Vista between some point in the future and the release of Windows 7. It's the same thing they did with XP before Vista was released.
I'm not if they think as few people will take advantage of the offer this time around.
downgrade (Score:5, Funny)
and when we get frustrated by windows 7 not living up to the hype, will we get free downgrades back to XP?
Re:downgrade (Score:5, Funny)
did I just get modded '-1 troll' for bashing microsoft on slashdot?
should I have included a line about chair-throwing overlords or something?
Re:downgrade (Score:4, Informative)
This happens more often than you think. Just browse at -1.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rumor has it that MS now has a hundred sock-puppet accounts on slashdot...
Next to the hundred thousand vehemently anti-MS posters, I don't think that that would even be worth their time.
Service Packs (Score:5, Funny)
Aren't service packs always free?
Re:Service Packs (Score:5, Funny)
That's because the copyright has expired by the time they're released.
No News (Score:5, Informative)
Similar to previous upgrade programs. The goal is minimizing the number of end users who may postpone purchasing a new computer because of the next version of Windows will be released soon.
Buy an eligible new PC with Windows Vista (Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate) and get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it's released.
No free upgrade to anyone who currently has Vista, and the program doesn't exist yet so no free upgrade if you buy a new PC tomorrow.
No free upgrade for Windows XP...
Absolutely nothing unexpected here.
Re:No News (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No News (Score:5, Funny)
Are most PC's available now Windows 7 capable?
Maybe if MS introduced a sticker for which ones are...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Where did you get XP from... (Score:5, Informative)
* Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Starter Edition, and Windows XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program.
Misleading summary (Score:5, Informative)
If you buy a PC with Vista pre-installed after July 2009, you'll get a free upgrade to 7. Everyone else will still have to buy the upgrade. This is a common practice for software (I think they did the same thing for XP -> Vista); there's really not much to see here.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That makes sense.
It's probably at the request of OEMs who don't want customers to put off buying a computer to wait for a new OS.
The article might even say as much, if I bothered to read it.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Don't open it dude it is more valuable that way. Once you open it you loose the collectors value and just have a sub par OS.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
That's ok. I have a PC here stuck with Vista and I'm sure it will welcome Windows 7 pirated edition.
P.S: I would like to commend the people who made XP Pirated Edition, you are the best. I had to install XP on a PC of somebody who messed up his previous installation and XP kept on wining about SATA drivers(which I didn't have). Luckily, PE had a great version without any CD-key crap or driver mayhem. It's rather sad that the best Windows versions are made by pirates.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Luckily, PE had a great version without any CD-key crap or driver mayhem. It's rather sad that the best Windows versions are made by pirates.
Or you could have just used a newer genuine XP oem disk. SP2 and SP3 disks have SATA drivers, maybe even SP1 disks. If all you had was an original XP cd, you can slipstream your own XP SP3 disk pretty easily.
Or your friend could have made his recovery disk set and kept it after he bought the laptop, so that when this eventually rolls around, he's all set, and you wouldn't have had to fumble around for something that worked.
Or you could have ordered a replacement recovery disk set from the OEM. Granted its usually 15-20 bucks or so.
But its not like you don't have lots of options.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Informative)
Your BIOS is most likely set to have your SATA controller emulate an IDE example. Many BIOSes have this option. You lose hotplug, NCQ, and maybe some other features, but it's just the thing for compatibility.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft will have to have a pretty big change in ideology for them to ever compete with piracy.
Yeah, but most things are like that. Want a car?
Buy one? Ugh, work for a few years to save enough money, then go in plunk it down, and drive out.
Lease one? Ugh, plunk money down every month, and end up owning nothing?
Steal one? Walk up to a car you like, get in, drive away.
Toyota will have to have a pretty big change in ideology for them to ever compete with piracy.
What's the difference?
Stealing a car is harder than downloading something from usenet? Barely, especially if you aren't that particular about the car. And spending a few hours learning how to steal a car will 'pay off' far quicker than earning enough to buy one.
The big difference is that because stealing a car is theft, and having a stolen car is fairly visible, and its something the police actually pay some attention to, odds are if you try to use this method for your daily commute you will surely eventually be caught.
So effectively the practical difference between stealing cars and downloading pirate oses is primarily one of enforcement. The only thing that's going to motivate people like you not to pirate OSes is if the odds of being caught and punished were significantly raised.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:4, Insightful)
OH come on man! Name me anyone outside of IT that slipstreams their own disks?
So, knowing how to navigate usenet (and what usenet is), and the nettiquette there so you get the real goods instead of a disk full of viruses, knowing and using the specialized software to pull fragmented binaries of off usenet, knowledge of what a .rar even is (and what to do with it), reconstituting it into an iso or nrg or daa (and knowing what those are), and burning it to disk...
And the guy who can do all that can't slipstream his own disk? Oh come on man!
So your options are pay twice, or get an IT degree. That's not reasonable.
Any particular reason you edited out the simple and free option? Keep your original recovery media. Only recently have they stopped shipping discs with a lot of the cheapest PCs, but even there they have a 'make your own recovery disk' tool that usually prompts you within the first few days of using it and a pamplet in the box telling you to use it. If you don't want to pay twice or get an IT degree, follow the stupid wizard and make your recovery disks.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Pirates learn much quicker than MS management does. The versions that one can buy in easter Europe now include many useful programs such as WinRar by default. You usually buy a DVD which includes not only XP, but also MSOffice, Photoshop, several antivirus and antispyware products, firewalls, various tools and utils including local street maps, telephone books etc. And there is some kind of a package manager on DVD. And the worst thing is: no matter what's on DVD be it XP, Vista, Linux or some movie -- ever
Re: (Score:2)
Damn, reading the headline I thought I'd finally get my hands on Vista SP{working edition}. Guess I'll have to pay for it.
Re: (Score:2)
>>This is a common practice for software (I think they did the same thing for XP -> Vista); there's really not much to see here.
They said they did, but when I tried to claim the free copy of Vista (I bought an OEM version of XP right before Vista came out) they pretended they'd never heard of the program, or that I didn't qualify or something. (I don't recall, exactly.)
Of course, the silver lining is that this machine is still using XP.
What a shitty article (Score:5, Informative)
1. This isn't for arbitrary XP or Vista users; it is (assuming the rumor holds) a program which they will start at some point, so that if you buy a new computer during that time with Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate, you'll get an upgrade to Win 7 when it comes out. This is to reduce the number of people who hold of on buying a new computer until that time.
2. It isn't for XP users at all. There are eleven occurances of "XP" on the linked page, and all but one is in an ad: "* Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition, and Windows® XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program." (emphasis mine).
It's a bit cliche to complain about the editors reading the articles before posting them, but did the poster even read this one?
Re:What a shitty article (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Take my software... (Score:2)
...please!
Bad Summary -- RTFA. (Score:5, Informative)
You know, if you RTFA, it does state:
...and:
...and:
So let's recap: no free upgrades for XP users, you have to have bought a qualifying Vista-based system within an as-yet undetermined qualifying period, and even then you'll only be able to get a free upgrade from your systems OEM if they choose to participate in the program.
This looks like the standard upgrade protection that Apple typically offers to those who buy a new system just prior to the ship date of their latest and greatest OS. So in essence, there is nothing to be seen here. Please move along people.
Yaz.
Re: (Score:2)
In addition, if you've participated in the previous XP to Vista free upgrade program (which I did, not because I like Vista, but because hey, it came with the laptop, so why not), you'll know that the last time they did this, only about half the people who applied got their discs. Yay outsourcing the entire program to an inept company!
Honestly (Score:5, Funny)
I will wait for the "free upgrade" on the torrents
Not really an apology (Score:2, Flamebait)
When I first read this and the comments made about it I was thinking this was MS trying to make an apology for Vista. It looks instead like they are trying to provide assistance to the OEMs that are having an impossible time selling machines curs... er... PREINSTALLED with Vista because users want to wait for Windows 7 to get a new machine. (I don't blame them...)
So once again MS isn't looking out for the good of their customers, for the public, but for their business partners. *sigh* Just once you'd thi
Re:Not really an apology (Score:4, Insightful)
But here is the $45,000 question -will they count the sales of those machines as Vista sales, or Windows 7 sales -probably both....
I just know that they didn't take into account all the 'downgrades' to XP when counting Vista sales...not that it helped much considering Vista's DOA status.
-I'm just saying
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The funny thing is that you seem to be chanting the mantra of "Vista sucks", based on old negative press. I and many others who have been running Vista since July or so of 2007 have not found Vista to be all that bad on new hardware.
The key to the whole Vista sucks issue is looking at a system with bad drivers as an example of how good or bad the OS is. People with Creative Labs sound cards may assume that problems are due to Vista, without even thinking that Creative Labs can't write a driver to save
Of course its free (Score:3, Funny)
Since when can you charge for a service pack?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Since Mac OS X 10.1 .2 .3 .4
and
and
and
and...
duh (Score:2, Insightful)
will there be a system for custom build system wit (Score:2)
will there be a system for custom build system with oem vers of vista?
Same as when Vista came out, free upgrade to XP... (Score:2)
Same thing happened around the time Vista was coming out. You could buy Vista and get a free upgraded to XP. :D
Ok the opposite happened to. If you bought XP near the time Vista was coming out, you got vouchers etc for free Vista...
This is just business as usual to stop people from holding off on purchases until the new OS arrives.
in other news (Score:3, Funny)
meh...I'm using the Win 7 beta (Score:2, Interesting)
And it's nothing special. Running it on a laptop and desktop. It has bugs (reported), but Ubuntu actually feels better imho. So I'm likely to dump it soon, and since WoW runs with Wine, I'm really close to getting rid of all the hassles with MS. I've gotten alot of co-workers to switch, but convincing "great-aunt Sally" types is another thing.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It is possible, you may need a bit of patience here though... But once you have explained where "the internet", "the mail" and "the pictures" are, expect to have no problems anymore, at least no security-related.
And create nice big icons on desktop.
I have valid Licences back to DOS 1.1 (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm only missing Windows 1, 2 and me. And, of course, I did not buy Vista. Can't I at least have a free upgrade to Win 7? Please Billy Boy.
Exclusive Steve Balmer Email: (Score:4, Funny)
I got my 'free upgrade' 15 years ago ... (Score:2)
back when Windows 3.1 first came out. At the time, the upgrade was called 'Slackware Linux'.
Re:I got my 'free upgrade' 15 years ago ... (Score:4, Insightful)
gah..slackware 1.0..the pain, the PAIN~
Windows 7 is not really a free upgrade... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That would be the right thing to do (Score:2)
free upgrade program, which allows Vista users to switch to Windows 7 when it arrives.
Can't just admit they made a mistake and throw their user base a bone. Why is that so hard? Do the right thing for a change.
Windows 7 is really just Vista 1.5 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Windows 7 is really just Vista 1.5 (Score:5, Informative)
Its funny really. If they change the UI too much, people bitch that they changed it just for the sake of changing it, and thats its the same OS with a pretty face. If they change mostly the backend and whats under the hood, then people say "Its an overglorified service pack"
So I'll ask you. Have you actually looked at the extent of the changes they made to Windows under the hood? No, it didn't break much compatibility because they didn't change something that does, such as the driver subsystem. Still, the changes, for example the new service trigger engine, the user mode scheduler, the remoting system, the amount of new APIs added, the UI revamp (not like XP to Vista, but still quite significant), the software DX renderer, the upgrades to the enterprise service versions, the updates of many of the userland apps, the netbook and touchscreen features, yadah yadah yadah... overall, I'd dare say its one of the more massive updates to Windows in a long time, and greater than XP -> Vista in term of features. But yes, a lot of customers won't notice this, on top of people being comfy in the XP -> Vista release schedule (and their comfortable zone got shaken off as MS came back to the old release schedule), so they have to do this and give it.
Doesn't change how massive the update is, though.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Why is this getting so much play on /. recently? That's an edition that was available with XP and Vista, and had the exact same restriction. How soon people forget. And if XP and Vista starter editions are any indication, the Win 7 won't even be available outside of basically Asia and Africa.
Re:2 months to april (Score:4, Interesting)
Starter vs. Home is now backward (Score:3, Interesting)
And if XP and Vista starter editions are any indication, the Win 7 won't even be available outside of basically Asia and Africa.
In Windows XP and Windows Vista, "Home Edition" (XP) or "Home Basic" was for cheap boxes in the developed world, and "Starter Edition" (essentially Home Basic with a 3-app limit) was for less-developed countries. Microsoft has reversed the roles of these SKUs in Windows 7: "Starter Edition" is for netbooks and "Home Basic" is exclusively for LDCs. See press release [microsoft.com].
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
i doubt they could have done anything better.
Maybe offer a free downgrade to XP for all OEM Vista users that couldn't get the downgrade from the manufacturer?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what people don't miss one bit? Windows ME. When XP came along people abandoned ME like yesterday's roadkill sandwich. (And if that makes you hungry please seek help!) I don't know one person who misses ME and regretted moving to XP. XP was gold compared to ME, and while I haven't tried the beta I'm guessing it will be the same way for 7 vs Vista.
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Windows 1.0: SUCKED
Windows 2.0: SUCKED
Windows 3.x: AWESOME (for back then)
Windows 95: REVOLUTIONARY (copy of apple)
Windows 98: SUCKED
Windows 98SE: GOOD (comparatively)
Windows 2000: OKAY, then later GOOD (initially lacked consumer/non-NT program compatibility)
Windows ME: SUCKED
Windows XP: GOOD (supposed apple knock-off eye-candy + consumer program compatibility, although by this time new versions of consumer programs were updated to also be compatible with 2000, turn off a
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but there's one thing you can say about Windows 8...
Resistance is futile. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own.
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, i^2 was too negative, and its replacement, i^3 was imaginary AND negative... luckily i^4 had none of those problems...
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used 2000 until 6 months ago.
I wanted to upgrade to 64 bit and vista seemed the best move*.
While there are parts of vista that drive me up a wall(most I've turned off), overall I don't mind it. I was surprised at how I enjoyed the GUI.
* I have demands that require MS Windows.
Re:I see your free software and raise you? (Score:5, Funny)
Yup. WinAPI makes me horny as well.
*Ahhh*
MessageBoxW
*Mmnhhh*
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Or offer a free upgrade to Linux.
Re:To all who said that Vista didn't suck... (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, I've never seen Microsoft do this with any other version of Windows
Really? They did it with Vista:
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/08/free-windows-vista-upgrade-coupons-for.html [blogspot.com]
"Windows XP Users will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows Vista if they purchase a Vista-enabled PC starting October till the time Vista formally hits the store shelves."
They did it with Windows 2000:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/WorkingGroups/Users/CUC/2000/csejan00.htm [bristol.ac.uk]
"We have been told by our suppliers that a Microsoft technology warranty will apply to all copies of NT Operating systems bought after 1 January, 2000 and before the launch date (expected to be 17 February, 2000). So new system purchasers within those dates will have a free right of upgrade."
They did it with Windows Mobile 2003 from PocketPC 2002
"PDAs bought between 23 May and 23 September can be upgraded to the updated OS for free."
I'm having trouble digging up articles about upgrade rights or free upgrade programs from 2k to XP, and I honestly don't specifically remember there being a program for that one, but the point stands; while it might not be universally true, its certainly not uncommon for Microsoft to offer a free or 'cost of shipping' upgrades to people who buy a product in the weeks or months immediately before a new release is expected.