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Microsoft offers $30 Windows 7 upgrades to students
The operating system will be offered as a download through Digital River, a company which specializes in downloadable software, on October 22. Copies are restricted to one download per email address and you'll have to choose between the 32 OR 64-bit versions. Not sure which one to get? Be sure to read our guide explaining the differences, and also our recent tip detailing the available Windows 7 upgrade paths.
If you accidentally downloaded or activated the incorrect version, though, you may still contact digitalriver.com for help; and additionally there's the option of ordering a backup DVD with both versions. Microsoft has set up a special web site for this deal at win741.com, where you'll be able to catch all the details. Comparable offers for students in several non-US countries will reportedly follow soon.
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User Comments (39)
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Guest
on September 21, 2009 4:37 PM |
Engadget did a test recently as to how long it would take to upgrade from Vista to Win7. It took a little over 21 hours on their performance PC. An average college student, makes more then $200 in 21 hours. It may seem at first that $30 is a great deal, but in the long run, its not. So save your money and get your self a full copy of Win7. |
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Jos
on September 21, 2009 5:14 PM |
Engadget did a test recently as to how long it would take to upgrade from Vista to Win7. It took a little over 21 hours on their performance PC. An average college student, makes more then $200 in 21 hours. It may seem at first that $30 is a great deal, but in the long run, its not. So save your money and get your self a full copy of Win7. How is buying a full copy of Windows 7 going to speed up the update process? You can still perform a clean install if you purchase the upgrade version and that should take less than an hour even on a low end system, according to the same article you mention. That 21-hour update was sort of a worst case scenario setting (650GB of data, 40 applications, on mid-end hardware, and during a 32-bit upgrade). Other settings tested showed the Windows 7 upgrade time to be faster or equal to a Vista SP1 upgrade? Don't spread the FUD By the way, those tests were conducted by Microsoft Software Engineer Chris Hernandez and posted on his blog; Engadget covered the story. |
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Guest
on September 22, 2009 4:39 PM |
I just went to pre-order and the only option is Win 7 Home Premium: 32 or 64 bit. There is no option for Win 7 Pro. Even thou under terms and conditions it lists Win 7 Home or Win 7 Pro. |
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Jos
on September 22, 2009 4:53 PM |
I just went to pre-order and the only option is Win 7 Home Premium: 32 or 64 bit. There is no option for Win 7 Pro. Even thou under terms and conditions it lists Win 7 Home or Win 7 Pro. As previously mentioned by Docnoq in this thread: once you get the confirmation email and click the link, you should see a yellow strip in the middle of your page that says "Need to join your school's network domain? Click here." Clicking that link will take you to the page with Windows 7 Professional for $29.99. |
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Guest
on September 23, 2009 1:23 AM |
you should just be grateful to be getting it for 30 dollars! |
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Guest
on September 23, 2009 1:26 AM |
Windows 7 Professional is free for University of Malta students (at least the I.T. Students) amongst other Microsoft products such as Visual Studio 2008. hey...no fair! |
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Guest
on October 1, 2009 5:18 PM |
Us students pay tens of thousands of dollars for education, not to mention the time and effort we invest. This is microsoft's way of rewarding us. It's not favoritism. Don't be cold just because students are being rewarded....they're the ones who need it the most, more than you maybe. |
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Guest
on October 5, 2009 11:07 AM |
Why isn't the Ultimate upgrade offered in this promotion? I have Vista Ultimate and would like to get access to this special upgrade offer, but to the Ultimate version. Please tell me the story behind not including it in this offer. |
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SNGX1275
on October 5, 2009 12:41 PM |
Students don't need the features of Ultimate. The could need the features of Pro because of the Domain stuff. |
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Guest
on October 6, 2009 11:46 AM |
It didn't say anything about this being an upgrade... but after ordering it I got a notification for Win 7 Professional Upgrade. The problem is I am using Win 2000 (don't have much money). I can't use this upgrade now? |
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SNGX1275
on October 6, 2009 5:35 PM |
You can probably install it without a key first (they let you do that for 30 days), then "upgrade" your keyless install of 7. Thats how it worked with Vista, and I haven't heard of that being changed. |
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Guest
on October 12, 2009 4:30 PM |
I accidentally ordered Home Premium rather than Pro. Is there any way I can change my order? Thanks, Robert Wycoff |
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cfitzarl
on October 16, 2009 3:03 PM |
I just pre-ordered Home Premium for $30. I'm waiting for the 22nd now |
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Guest
on November 14, 2009 9:17 AM |
The windows 7 upgrade is actually incredibly lax in what to upgrade you from - you can only do a full 'upgrade', i.e. with settings migrated, from same version vista (32/64 bit) - however doing a clean install (even with the upgrade disk!) can be done with just about any os installed on the system - I've successfully installed an 'upgrade' on a windows 7 rc system! WinXP (even unactivated ones?) seem to install fine too - it seems it just detects that there's some version of windows on the system and then installs. |
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