gHacks technology news » windows 7 ultimate http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:24:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Host A Windows 7 Launch Party And Get Windows 7 Ultimate For Free http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/03/host-a-windows-7-launch-party-and-get-windows-7-ultimate-for-free/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/03/host-a-windows-7-launch-party-and-get-windows-7-ultimate-for-free/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:37:38 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15986 windows7It seems that Microsoft is trying to explore some new ways of promoting their upcoming operating system Windows 7. Other methods of promoting Windows 7 are slowly coming to light next to the official launch parties that are hosted by Microsoft in various cities throughout the world. One of the – rather unusual – strategies to promote Windows 7 are so called house parties that can be held by users living in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the US or UK. If you are living in one of the countries and have a computer system that is currently running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Linux you might apply to host a house party with at least five friends (number might vary depending on the country the applicant is living in) that has to be held between October 22 and 29.

Users who are interested in hosting a Windows 7 launch party can apply at Microsoft’s House Party website.

In order for you to be considered in the host selection process, you need to fill out the online application (which asks you questions about your knowledge of the sponsor brand, how you typically throw parties, whether you are an internet user and have a digital camera, etc). After completing the application, you will need to respond to the confirmation email by clicking on the link within it (to make sure our means of communicating with you works). From the group of applicants who confirm their email address and complete the application, we choose a pool of hosts who fit House Party’s and the sponsor’s host criteria.

windows 7 launch party

A signup is required to the House Party service. This can be done by filling out the information manually or using an existing Facebook account to fill out most information. A short survey has then to be filled out afterwards. Microsoft has plans to host more than 1000 house parties which means that the chance is probably not that good to be selected as one of the hosts as there is no way to individualize the application.

Party hosts that are selected by Microsoft will not only receive a special signature edition of Windows 7 Ultimate edition but also a party pack for the party. Follow this link to the House Party website to apply to be one of the party hosts for the Windows 7 launch party.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/03/host-a-windows-7-launch-party-and-get-windows-7-ultimate-for-free/feed/ 12 Windows 7 Price, Upgrades And Preorders http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/25/windows-7-price-upgrades-and-preorders/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/25/windows-7-price-upgrades-and-preorders/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:02:19 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=13864 windows 7Microsoft has finally revealed information about the pricing scheme and upgrade options for their upcoming operating system Windows 7. Many websites have already reported about the prices and how they compare to Windows Vista. In short, most editions of Windows 7 will be cheaper than comparable Windows Vista editions. Most notably are the Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate editions which will sell for $40 and $80 less than their Windows Vista counterparts.

The Windows 7 upgrade editions will save the user the same amount of money. Here is a table that is outlining the prices of Windows 7 and Windows Vista editions:

windows 7

The price for the Windows 7 editions with a full basic feature set range from $200 for Windows 7 Home Premium to $320 for Windows 7 Ultimate. More exciting than this is a pre-order program for Windows 7 that is offering Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional at greatly reduced prices. Users who have the intention to buy Windows 7 should make use of the pre-order program as it will make Windows 7 Home Premium available for $50 and Windows 7 Professional for $100 which means that buyers save $150 when pre-ordering Windows 7 Home Premium and $200 for Windows 7 Professional.

The price is similar in all Windows 7 launch countries. Take a look at the table below for all information about pre-order prices:

windows 7 preorder

Opportunities to pre-order Windows 7 will start on June 26 for users from the United States, Canada and Japan while users from the UK, France and Germany will have to wait until July 15. The pre-order period lasts until July 11 for US and Canadian users, July 5 for Japanese users and August 14 for users from the UK, Germany and France. Pre-orders will be available in the official Microsoft store but also at selected retailers such as Amazon.

Microsoft has also revealed another interesting aspect of the launch of Windows 7 in Europe. You may have heard that Microsoft is going to offer Windows 7 without Internet Explorer in Europe. Windows 7 E will be sold exclusively in Europe and one of the side-effects is that Europeans will not be able to upgrade to Windows 7. That’s right, no Windows 7 upgrades will be sold in Europe. But that’s good news apparently as Microsoft has made the decision to sell Windows 7 full versions with the upgrade price tag in Europe.

The best time to get a legit version of Windows 7 begins tomorrow (or on July 15 if you are from Europe). Big question, will you pre-order the operating system or buy Windows 7 later? I personally think that the price is really attractive considering that you get the Home Premium edition for $50.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/25/windows-7-price-upgrades-and-preorders/feed/ 15 Windows 7 News http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:57:23 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/ It has been some time since we last posted news about Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 7. Microsoft has made some important announcements in the past few days. The first big news which hit the online news sites today is that Microsoft will provide the options to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7. The term upgrade might cause some confusion as it refers to the possibility for XP users to purchase Windows 7 at reduced prices rather than allowing them to upgrade their operating system to Windows 7 which is apparently not possible. So, legit Windows XP users will be able to purchase Windows 7 at a reduced price but need to do a clean install to actually use the operating system.

The second interesting news story is that Microsoft decided to reduce the editions that Windows 7 will ship in when compared to Windows Vista. The so called edition chaos was one of the major reasons for confusion for prospective Windows Vista customers.

Windows 7 will basically be distributed as Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. There are other versions but those are designed for different markets. Windows 7 Home Premium will be the equivalent of the Windows Vista Home Premium featuring a solid set of features. Windows 7 Professional will be the successor of Windows Vista Business which includes all features of Windows 7 Home Premium plus some business features like group policy based management tools, Remote Desktop host capabilities or network-based backup features.

Windows 7 Ultimate will include all features of Windows 7 Professional plus all supported language packs (something that the other editions miss and users have to pay for), BitLocker whole-drive encryption and capabilities to boot from vhd.

It basically comes down to three Windows 7 editions. It should also be noted that there are no talks yet about Windows 7 Ultimate extras, something that did not work as intended in Windows Vista as well as several users felt cheated by the lack of and quality of the extras.

Most of these information have been taken from our own Windows 7 blog which covers all the latest news about the upcoming operating system. A well visited Windows 7 Forum is available on the same site.

Do you think that those two strategic decisions by Microsoft are good ones? Will they convince Windows XP users to switch to Windows 7?

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