Microsoft plans price cuts, free upgrades and other incentives to spread Windows 7 to as many users as possible once the operating system becomes available to the public in October. After the lackluster performance of Vista, Microsoft needs a hit operating system as it seeks to boost its sales amidst a global recession. At the same time, HP announced its plans for Windows 7 availability.Microsoft plans on cutting prices for its upcoming Windows 7 operating system as part of a
massive and rapid worldwide rollout for the operating system, as it looks to both reverse its
fortunes in the midst of an economic recession and erase memories of its
much-maligned Vista operating system.
As announced, Microsoft will sell Windows 7 for roughly 10
percent less than Vista, and make the system broadly available for pre-order at
substantial discounts through Amazon, Best Buy and the Microsoft Website
starting on June 26. Those purchasing a PC preinstalled with Vista will have the
option of upgrading through the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, which will
extend from June 26 through January 31, 2010.
"In the U.S., this means a customer buying Windows 7 Home
Premium upgrade will pay only $119.99 instead of the $129.99 being charged today
for its predecessor," LeBlanc wrote.
The full retail version of Windows 7 Home Premium will cost
$40 less than Windows Vista Home Premium.
"Weve really focused a lot of our efforts on getting the
product out to as many people around the world as quickly as possible," Brandon
LeBlanc, a spokesperson for Microsoft, wrote in a June 25 posting on the Windows
Blog. "OEMs will start shipping PCs with Windows 7 in all language versions
beginning on GA, Oct. 22."
On that date, Windows 7 will be available in 14 languages,
including English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian
and Korean. On Oct. 31, another 21 languages will become available, including
Turkish, Czech, Hungarian, Estonian, Hebrew, Thai and Latvian.
Microsofts revenues depend heavily on its operating systems; roughly
a third of the companys 2008 revenue, or $20 billion, came from sales of its
OS. However, arch-rivals Google and Apple have introduced competitive
alternatives, putting pressure on Microsoft to produce a substantial OS hit in
order to prevent its dominant market share from eroding.
That particular cause wasnt helped by the January 2007
rollout of Vista, which failed to live up to expectations and compelled many
vendors to offer customers the ability to downgrade back to Windows XP. In
reaction, Microsoft
attempted with Windows 7 to directly counter many Vista complaints, including
compatibility issues.
While Microsoft is focusing much of its Windows 7 push on
high-end PCs, which offer higher margins, rumors abound that the company also
plans on adapting the OS for mini-notebooks, also known as "netbooks," a segment
of the PC market currently undergoing explosive growth.
Given the importance of pushing the operating system onto as
many PCs as possible, Microsoft is also partnering with Hewlett-Packard to simplify the Windows Upgrade Option Program for those customers purchasing
systems from the worlds largest PC maker.
HP claims that its systems currently running Windows Vista
will meet the hardware requirements to run Windows 7 once the upgrade becomes
available on Oct. 22.
Those upgrading will receive both the upgrade and an upgrade
utility disk, along with an installation guide. An HP Upgrade Assistant will
install the necessary drivers on the users machine, while an HP Support Website
will update with new drivers as they become available.