Windows 7 pre-sales remain very strong

[Justin]

It seems that Windows users can't get enough of an upgrade that is not yet available. We reported last week that several online retailers were seeing a huge demand for the $49 Windows 7 upgrade package, placing pre-orders months before the OS launch to take advantage of the significantly lowered price tag. Unsurprisingly, as the July 11 deadline for the offer nears, sales have remained strong.

Amazon, for instance, lists Windows 7 as their top seller in software, with different versions of the OS taking up the number one and number two slots in software sales. A $49 price tag compared to typical upgrade prices at easily twice that is much easier to swallow, particularly for people who paid for a copy of Vista in the past two years. The news must also be encouraging to Microsoft, who has been stuck with two large pools of both Vista and XP users. They had one group sour over perceived deficits in Vista and the other unwilling to upgrade, both of which put pressure on them.

Regardless of what you may have to say about Vista, most beta-testers have agreed that Windows 7 has a lot going for it. Hopefully the positive pre-release reviews hold true after launch in September of this year.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/35364-windows-7-pre-sales-remain-very-strong.html

 

[raybay]

Trouble is, nobody knows for sure just what they are buying... it is an UPGRADE after all, and many of us remember the problems with W98 Upgrade from W95, WME upgrade from W98, W2K upgrade from W98SE, and WXP upgrade from W98 and W2K. None were really satusfactory, and their long-term usefulness was seriously limited.
Maybe it will be just more of the infamouse Microsoft marketing.

 

[red1776]

I agree Raybay,
what is everyone ordering? I have been using RC7100 for a couple months now, and like it, but yikes, the finished product could be quite different, if not in GUI, or features, but in upgrade compatibility.

 

[Guest]

To the above posters: Simple solution - do a clean install! Just because it's an Upgrade edition doesn't mean you can't do a clean install. You will just need to be running a valid upgradeable OS version prior to (during?) the process. And according to Newegg.com, "All Editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista® qualify you to upgrade."

 

[Julio Franco]

I second that, the "upgrade" part of the bundle means you get a discount. For any kind of scenario, do yourself a favor, backup and do a clean install.

 

[polidiotic]

It's a good deal... but as far as changes from Vista to 7, I've heard there's not many. I expect that not very much will be different or ground breaking, since 7 was built from Vista. As that's the case, there probably won't be any harm in upgrading, since compatibility won't be an issue for Vista users (and XP users - as that's what I was prior to Vista). If you're having any difficulties with compatibility, you must be using some archaic software/hardware... which you probably should upgrade anyway. ;P