01-18-2007, 10:24 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Microsoft Offers Discount on Multiple Copies of Vista for Families
"To make it easier for households with multiple PCs to make the move to Windows Vista, Microsoft is launching a limited-time offer for customers who buy retail copies of Windows Vista Ultimate. From Jan. 30 through June 30, the Windows Vista Family Discount will allow North American customers to license two additional copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for use on other PCs in the home at the reduced price of $49.99 each. Before completing the order online, customers will need to enter one valid full or upgrade Windows Vista Ultimate key from their retail boxed product. After eligibility is verified online, the customer can purchase licenses to install Windows Vista Home Premium on one or two additional Windows-based computers. The Windows Vista Family Discount is available only in the U.S. and Canada."
This has been a personal quest of mine for a couple of years: I've always found it frustrating, and downright unacceptable, that Microsoft hasn't offered any sort of discount for multiple-computer households. Back in the early Windows XP days I was extolling the virtues of Windows XP to a friend who had four kids and five computers total in his house. Since XP was the first version of Windows to have activation, when I explained that he'd have to purchase five copies of the XP Home Upgrade ($149 CAN each), he suddenly wasn't very keen on dropping $600 to upgrade all his computers. Apple has their 5-license family pack for $199, and the most Microsoft offered was a 10% discount if you ordered digital keys online.
Apparently Microsoft listened to people like me who told them over and over this was a problem, because they've come up with a solution: if you purchase a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (the upgrade is $259 USD) you'll be able to purchase two electronics keys for Vista Home Premium for $49 USD each instead of the normal $159 USD price tag. That's a savings of $210 USD, which is excellent. The total cost of that setup would be $357 USD, which is $120 USD less than the $477 USD that three upgrades of Home Premium would cost. So it's a much better deal than Microsoft's original pricing, though it depends if you really want Vista Ultimate.
It's not perfect, but this is a good first step for Microsoft and I applaud them for it (and listening to people like us). It's obviously not as impressive as Apple's $199 family pack with five licenses, but given that Apple releases a new OS almost yearly, over the lifespan of Vista (assuming it's three to four years) I think Microsoft's new solution ends up being less expensive in the long run.
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