Microsoft's Windows 7 Vista replacement plan

vista

OMG I BOUGHT A NEW HP 11MONTHS AGO. I HAD NO CHOICE OF COURSE AND HAD TO TAKE VISTA INSTALLED.
I HAVE LIVED WITH THIS LEMON FOR ALMOST A YEAR. AM I UNDERSTANDING CORRECTLY THAT I DON'T
RECEIVE A WINDOWS 7 UPGRADE UNLESS MY COMPUTER IS BOUGHT IN JULY 2009?

Vista and Windows 7

I've read all the comments and completely agree that Microsoft should GIVE the Windows 7 updates FREE to people who purchased Vista. There was a lot of expense to customers who purchased Vista - most of their old programs had to be upgraded to Vista-compatible format software. Some of the programs (Example: PhotoDeluxe) did not come out with an upgrade so the option was to purchase something else, or use the Microsoft photo editing software (which does NOT include some of the features the old PhotoDeluxe version did). Family Tree Maker software was another purchase. The first upgrade (2008) had so many problems that I purchased the upgraded version (2009)- not ANY better. At this point I'm stuck. I have two choices...(1) Go back to XP - which is very stable (2) Keep investing in Microsoft software which seems, at this point, to be a BLACK HOLE!

It's not about the retail OS product anyway!!!

ATTENTION blog responders! Microsoft doesn't make $ off the OS in retail package, hardly... when you look at how much revenue goes to Microsoft, retail product OS purchases represents such a small % it's almost a nuisance to even package the OS in retail form and put it out to retail distribution. That's not the case with the bread and butter (Office suites), but for OS, most computers are running the OEM copy (both consumer and corporate).

For this reason, MOST of the license revenue comes from either OEM sales through PC manufacturers (which don't have to worry about upgrade pricing) or Corporate License Agreements... which is the far greater % of license revenue to Microsoft. In the US, something like 75% of Microsoft license revenue comes from corporate, 20% from OEM and only about 5% is retail... and this is REALLY IMPORTANT if you want to talk about any kind of influence on Microsoft related to license pricing and release schedules!!!

Microsoft is selling license AGREEMENTS to businesses... which means organizations pay to maintain a license agreement with Microsoft on a 2-yr or 3-yr cycle (not on a product purchase basis like OEM or Retail)... and those agreement license holders have an expectation to get new product for their $$$... meaning they are paying for license and "Software Assurance" or version rights to the next version of the product on a 2 or 3 yr cycle (depending on agreement type). So those corporate license customers (and not consumers) are the focus of Microsoft Corp on releasing OS versions on some kind of regular cycle.

All the retail product complaining is really a joke (makes for a good read)... because the Microsoft focus is on the corporate customer... AND, the fact that those corporate license agreement holders will receive the next version of the OS for 'free' as part of the benefits of the product license maintenance means that those large numbers of organizations don't really care about what Microsoft charges retail/consumers for an "Upgrade" or "Full" version of product.

Should Microsoft give-away Windows7 as an 'upgrade/fix' to Windows Vista... and treat it kind of like what XP SP2 was... maybe they should, but if they gave it away (to the complaining consumer/OEM market)... then how would they justify charging the corporate customers $$$ on the license agreements for maintaining version rights on the OS? And that's the real deal, the reason it won't be a free upgrade... no matter how much complaining.

They updated it

The TechARP.com guys updated their article with 3 new pages. Looks like the upgrade program will last up to Jan 31 2010.

vista fix part 2

I just read Jeff's comment about Millenium, and I'm embarassed to say I forgot about that. He's right.....this is the same crap! Enough already, Microsoft had better come up with a free or inexpensive fix for Vista or they WILL lose a significant number of customers, including myself. So the pattern has begun.....every 8-10 years they put an inferior OS on the market and come up with a fix or new OS within a year or two, so we have to go with it? I don't think so boys.
Again, I'm out of here if they don't stand by their loyal customers and fix this poor excuse for an OS, Vista, or it's Mac or Linux for me.

Vista to Win 7

Gimme a Break Microsoft! I as well as millions of other PC owners have been loyal and faithful to Windows since Win NT, and Vista has been a complete disappointment.....Inferior. I miss my XP so much it's quite sad. I think the least they could do is YES...give all of us who have been suffering through Vista a Vista fix at no charge. If that means a free copy of Win 7, then so be it. At the very least, with proof of purchase, Windows 7 with a 75% discount......or something like that. I went to Vista simply because I trusted Microsoft to NOT put a product on the market prematurely. God knows they don't need the money, so what was the rush? It is for this reason those of us with undying loyalty and trust in Microsoft products got duped. It's only fair, and it's the right thing to do. Besides, as of summer of 2008, you couldn't buy a new computer with a Windows OS, with anything BUT Vista......so we had no choice. It was Vista or Mac. I have no intention on spending $300 on yet another Windows OS because of Microsoft's error. If that's the case I will be taking the plunge and switching over to Mac. And that my friends is that.

They are doing it again!

The only time Microsoft actually released product which worked, released on time, and for a reasonable price since MS-DOS 2.00 days was when they were badly scared by Digital Research DOS 5.0. They finally dodged the competition by bundling DOS and Windows together with Windows 95. (And that strategy was lead from the top by Bill Gates.)

It will take a similar assault on Microsoft's bottom line to get them to respond to the customer's wants. The Linux based netbooks are just not enough of a scare.

Win 7 DRM??

Is Windows 7 going to be something new or just a warmed over DRM\Product Activation\WGA platform that M$ has been pushing since XP?? I suspect the latter.
Why would anyone pay good money to have M$ tell you what you can or can NOT do with your computer and digital content?
It'll be amusing watching folks line up to shell out their hard earned money so that M$ can control the computers and digital content.
I haven't seen anything in Win 7 to make me switch from Ubuntu Linux to Win 7 so far and I'm not likely to either.
It'll be fun to watch another DRM\WGA snafu that will turn folks expensive, shiny new Windows computers in to bricks again.
Meanwhile my Linux boxes 'just work' without the headaches and hassles of DRM\WGA\Product activation...

Is Vista Dead

This same thing happened to Windows millennium It sucked out of the box and Microsoft new it! This isn't a new tactic form Microsoft! As a matter of fact I'd call it the same old tactic for the software giant. It's no wonder some many people are switching to Macs these days! What Microsoft has lost most here is their credibility.