Win 7 Home Premium Will Have Family Pack

By Marcus Yam
published

Up to three people in the same household can now share in the Windows 7 love. But they have to keep it all inside the family.

Despite Microsoft's reduced price for Windows 7 Home Premium over the same version of Vista, analysts still feel that it's still a bit too pricey.

NPD Group VP of industry analysis Stephen Baker wrote last week about his displeasure that Microsoft isn't offering a multiple user license package like Apple is for Snow Leopard ($29 for a single user license and $49 for a family pack).

Ed Bott of ZDNet spotted signs in the latest leaked builds of Windows 7 a license agreement that mentions a Family Pack that provisions for three installations in the household.

The relevant section reads: "If you are a 'Qualified Family Pack User', you may install one copy of the software marked as 'Family Pack' on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there."

Microsoft has yet to make any formal announcements on pricing, but the existence of such a section in the licensing is as good as any confirmation that there will be some form of bundle discount for families who wish to install Windows 7 on multiple machines.

It's also worth noting that only Windows 7 Home Premium includes the licensing for the Family Pack. Large businesses that use Professional and Ultimate versions will have to pursue volume licensing agreements with Microsoft.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Lan
    WinSuperSite still hasn't confirmed it, and brings up a good point. They can always remove it just before RTM anyway. Don't count on it.
    Reply
  • afrobacon
    Am I the only one to find it odd that an Apple OS is cheaper then a M$ OS? Or does the Apple Tax only apply on hardware?
    Reply
  • When you buy an Apple OS it means you already payed the Apple Tax because you can't install the OS on non Apple hardware.(can't as in doing this with out violating Apple's licensing).
    Reply
  • dafin0
    apple makes there money on hardware thats why it costs more, Microsoft makes there money of software thats why it costs more.
    Reply
  • tpi2007
    As always there's a certain amount of wishful thinking legalese in here. And that is not to call it idiocy.

    If a student lives with their parents, installs one of the licenses on his laptop; a year after he finds a job, moves to his own flat. Of course the EULA doens't allow this, after all, they no longer reside on the same house. Again, nothing is going to happen; the police isn't going to knock on your door saying: "Look Microsoft told us you have been conecting to the Internet from a diffferent location for more than six months now, so you either: move back to your parents home; bring your parents to live with you, or we will have to confiscate your harddrive" :D

    Oh well.. all in all it'a a positive thing! After all Antivirus packages have had 3 licenses for one or two years now! And for teh first time it actually makes sense. With Vista Microsoft probably actually may not have wanted you to upgrade your old low end Pentium 4 to Vista beacause of it's slugishness. Now that a few years have passed, and probably most people will at least have a high end Pentium 4, a Pentium D or an Athlon, and Windows 7 even runs more or less well on a Netbook, it actually makes sense to upgrade.
    Reply
  • brendano257
    Well, it's only worth it if it's a small price over the single one. Such as $99 for Home Premium, and no more than $149 for the family pack. This again, wishful thinking. I mean right now the 5 packs of OEM Vista Ultimate cost more than 5x a single one. Who put that together, I don't know. But still, it's only 3 users, the OSX Snow license is for 5 people, at least it was for Leopard. But even with this there will probably be way too many problems (ie. bitchy activation, esp for re-installs) to deal with.
    Reply
  • tpi2007
    I forgot to add something to my ranting:

    Instead of "wishing" people reside in the same house, they could just say: you're entitled to install the OS on 3 different computers, as long as it's not for commercial use. It's still wishful thinking on their behalf, but at least it's not ridiculous.

    It's almost like saying Windows 7 Home premium PC's can't get out of the door because they're "Home" Editions. And they might get a cold or something :D

    Which brings me to this: why on earth is the "Home" still clinging on to the name ever since XP ?

    Is there a Windows 7 Holiday Edtion ?; a Windows 7 Traveling-by-Train/Car/Boat Edition ?

    Why not simply "Windows 7 Premium" ?

    When you go to a store and you buy a laptop, you do with it whatever you want, you cna just go back to your job and use it there. How is that "Home" ?

    Really, Microsoft still has a few edges to polish.
    Reply
  • alvine
    I wonder how much it gonna cost. I would put one copy on my rig, second one on my netbook, third one on my htcp.

    Reply
  • Spanky Deluxe
    I'll stick to Snow Leopard Professional Ultimate Extreme Deluxe Business and Fun Edition family pack thanks for $49. I'm glad Apple is always so much more expensive than PCs and Microsoft... wait a minute... how much was that?
    Reply
  • B-Unit
    spanky deluxeI'll stick to Snow Leopard Professional Ultimate Extreme Deluxe Business and Fun Edition family pack thanks for $49. I'm glad Apple is always so much more expensive than PCs and Microsoft... wait a minute... how much was that?Wait, how much did you pay for your hardware again?

    Tool
    Reply