Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1145&tag=nl.e539' target='_blank'>http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1145&tag=nl.e539</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Thanks to a tip from Kristan Kenney, I took a close look at the agreements embedded in the License folder of the latest leaked builds of Windows 7. This is no longer a beta license agreement and is presumably very close to the final agreement that customers will accept. The agreements for retail copies of Windows 7 Home Premium contain this eye-opening clause..."</em></p><p><span><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1246985101.usr1.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></span></p><p>This news is a few days old, but I thought it was worth sharing for those who hadn't heard about it yet: it looks like Microsoft is gearing up to offer a three-pack license of Windows 7 for home users. If this news is accurate, and pricing is reasonable ($199 or less) this is a significant moment for Microsoft. I've been harping on this issue of family pack licensing for years, and I've never seen a glimmer that Microsoft actually understood why this was important. The millions of "newish" computers out there still running Windows XP instead of Vista is a testament to not only the bad public perception, but also the sheer cost of upgrading multiple computers in a household. Especially now that Vista-era machines can easily run Windows 7, the issue of whether or not people will upgrade becomes a criticial one. Microsoft needs to make this work.</p>

[ptyork]

I think the only thing I can remember MS "family-packing" was Office Student & Teacher edition. Indeed, this would be a really good thing to encourage upgrades (and of course improve negative perceptions of Vista). It is one of the thing that has made Apple's yearly upgrades work for households, and something that MS should definitely copy. Meeting or beating their $199 price point would also be a really good idea.

[alanjrobertson]

Seconded! (or is that thirded!) - this would be an excellent development from MS. I'm also hopeful from the wording they used that it won't be a US-only arrangement :)

[EscapePod]

I agree that it is definitely a step in the right direction. It will be interesting to see what the final price point will be. However, it should be noted that the current "pre-ordering" promotion allows purchase of up to three upgrades for $49 each. And, some vendors, like Newegg, have free shipping. I put in my order for three the minute the promotion started. $147 for three packages was just too hard to resist.