Windows 7 Family Pack Deal Making a Comeback

It's $149.99 to save people the trouble of having to perform additional research.

haha thank you TheJerk. Would have been nice for them to have put the price in the story. But I suppose we shouldn't ask for the world. Thats is not a bad deal at all. In fact, it's a very good deal.

Its all about the green! Maby they thought they had such a good product that everyone would purchase it even single licence price (wich frankly were quite true at the time compared to vista and the aging XP (sorry if i forget to "mention" the 5-10ish% so called competition in the pc market).

Likely the sales have slowed down enought to start to make marketing campaigns to try to get people who refuses a single licence price to purchase it! Its better to sell at reduced price than not at all!

Remember - Its all about the green!

Many families have more than 3 PCs that need upgrading, they should go for a 5X family upgrade pack.

Students at universities: undergraduate to PhD students please check if your institution supports MSDNAA, I got Windows 7 Pro for free along with Microsoft Visual Studio.

Well even if your family has 5 computers, a second pack would end up costing you around $300 which is still substantially better than the $600 you would be paying for individual copies. I'm more of an "Ultimate" guy though, I wonder if they have any bundles with that.

If you are a Student with a EDU email address you can get Windows 7 professional for 29.99

http://www.microsoft.com/student/e [...] ndows.aspx

I was actually quite happy to see the end of "Win 7 family". The technical term for this commercial thievery tactic is 'market segmentation'.

Next it'll be "Windows 7 Gamer", "Windows 7 Single Parent", "Win 7 Drug Addict (with a windows logo-encrusted crack-pipe)"...

People still pay for Windows?

Good Deal for anyone not a student or teacher.

It is nice to see the pricing back. $50 per OS upgrade is not too bad, though for the life of me, I cannot figure out why they ever got rid of it, or why they don't have more pricing/package options like thse.

Some trhings are worth paying for.
Something that will get a couple thousand hours use(one comp between 4 people here) for $150? Worth every cent and then some.

too little too late now microsoft

They had to bring it back eventually. I`m sure since it`s been almost 1 year post-release, the sales are starting to wane some and they need to get people buying. (i guess!)

"For that reason, we were left wondering why Microsoft decided to discontinue the Windows 7 Family Pack so soon..."

Your loyalty is appreciated but we need more money. Business is business.

Fantastic, for that price it is worth investing in 3 nettops to go on TVs round the house.

Since many of the machines I build these days are for family members, I could see picking up one of these. I'm anticipating one or two builds coming up.

This does represent a good deal in terms of avoided costs if you were going to upgrade/install anyway, but it is still very expensive software.

If MS wanted to move more products, they would lower the cost for all flavors of Win 7. Full blown Ultimate should cost no more than $69.99US, with the prices for "lesser versions" tiered downward from there. The Starter and Home Basic versions should be free.

It would be nice if they had a student-family edition for even more discount!

Like piracy!!

I get all my Microsoft software for free legally, and will do so for the foreseeable future. Not that I use most of the stuff that is available, but it is a nice feeling knowing that I can get $12,000 worth of Visual Studio for nothing. MSDNAA FTW.

Windows isn't cheap when just looking at the price out of context, but if you compare it to the price of a game and take into account how long you use each, the price of games seems very high. $70 for 5 hours of CoD or $150 for 3 people to get thousands of hours out of Windows? Hmm...

Or $0 for any number of people to use Linux for as long as they want and in any way they see fit (something that neither Windows or most games allow)

Is this deal just for upgrade licenses? I'd like to outfit the family with new builds on the cheap that wouldn't have a previous version of an MS OS.

I was 1 day too late purchasing the family pack to upgrade all 3 of my computers, now I use XP sp3, vista and 7. If they did not discontinue its sale in the first place they would have sold a copy to me. Instead I bought 1 copy at the pre-sale price and I will not be purchasing another.

How exactly does Windows 7 Upgrade make you prove you own a qualifying product at a minimum. To round out the scenario lets say you were starting with an unformatted hard drive.




What level of support would you suggest they're obligated to provide for a free OS?

I find it funny how Gamers and Home power users like talking about how they use Pro/Ultimate (and Enterprise, too). The ONLY feature I see beyond the home version that someone may make regular use of (for a while) is XP mode in Pro. Beyond that are there really that many multi-lingual families with Domain servers in their homes working hi-level jobs where they need to protect their work with bit-locker cuz their employer is so bleeding edge and sprung for Ultimate on day one? I think the probability of that scenario drops sharply if you work outside Redmond, Washington. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with flashing a higher end version for bragging rights. My super got Pro on a student discount and thought he was all cool but didn't know what XP mode was.

I'm not callous to the financial impact of buying an operating system. I do think there should be some sort of "diminished support" license for us who can provide our own tech support that isn't restrictive like OEM. But for those who intend to call about every little thing, better Microsoft than me. Read the disclaimer on an OEM package about how you're supposed to provide phone support at a minimum. We all know what those conversations can be like.

Great deal... about time
Shocking that Microsoft is doing something fiscally to help people get its products.
I thought they only knew how to price gouge

Great to see they brought this back. Now I can givr a bud and his gf a nice os upgrade as well as my parents for rather cheap.

Upgrade licenses again? Make it full licenses and then we're talking.
I never dug into it before, but can you use an upgrade license for XP to 7? I know it has to be a fresh install but I never researched to see if the license (and install disc) was good for an upgrade from XP.

It really isn't a bad deal. I use both Windows and Linux, and while the masses still aren't moving the Linux on the desktop in droves, lots of them are using it on their Android phone, even if they don't realize it. MS needs to keep the price down to keep ahead. (I know the post isn't about Linux, but it is relevant since it is a viable competing OS that puts price pressure on MS)

Uhh, duh! And most people actually DO.

Paying for Windows is worth it's weight in gold, really. And, if you don't believe me, you are ignorant.

It's called; I grew up, went to school and got a job.

No activation headaches, WGA, system stability with Windows Updates, downloading software off the Windows website that requires WGA (legal copy pre-WGA) and the overall sense of feeling that you are using a piece of software that you purchased with no update headaches is not worth $150 to you?

I am by no means trying to put you completely down, as I was using a pirated copy of Windows when XP came out, but I was 15 at the time. Too many headaches with pirated software, it's not worth it to me anymore. It's called support the company of the products you are using, ESPECIALLY your operating system.

$150 for 3 (making it $50 per), or $120 for one? Unlike most, my first reaction isn't "wow that's a good deal for 3", but rather it's "wow that's a ripoff for one". $50 isn't unreasonable to ask. I think that should be the standard price for an OS. $120 is just overboard.

I believe differently. For a home PC, yes, you need some sort of OS. But from a Business point-of-view, Windows, or any other OS, is quite worthless. All it allows you to do is have a desktop, whose only purpose is to launch other applications, which have either operating files or data in a remote location. All we really care about is the applications. Windows itself is just used to get us there. The day that Windows can be taken out and we can go straight to the applications we care about will be a day of great savings. Why pay for Windows when a Bookmarks List and web browser can give you the same functionality?
(especially with the trend towards everything being web-based. All you need is a browser. No need for Windows at all)
I realize that for now, we need Windows just because everything is based on it still, but conceptually, it would be wonderful (and eventually possible) to get rid of it nearly entirely.

Im still glad we got our three computers upgraded to Windows 7 with our college emails. Thats right, 30 bucks a pop!