Multiple announcements today

Good news arrives today on several Windows Vista-related fronts, my friends ... read on.

Windows Anytime Upgrade

Today we're announcing further detail on how Windows Anytime Upgrade works.  Come 30 January, Windows Anytime Upgrade will allow customers to purchase and download a digital key to upgrade to a more feature-rich edition of Windows Vista.  The user will then complete the upgrade process by inserting the Windows Vista DVD that came with their PC or with their retail purchase of Windows Vista.  The program will be available in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.

Manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) to upgrade from a more basic version of Windows Vista are:

  • Home Basic --> Home Premium:  $79
  • Home Basic --> Ultimate:  $199
  • Home Premium --> Ultimate:  $159
  • Business --> Ultimate:  $139

We've designed Windows Anytime Upgrade as a measure of convenience for our customers and hope it proves to be a way for you to more easily advance to a more fully-featured edition of Windows Vista.

Windows Family Discount

Also, today we're announcing news that makes it easier and more economical for those of you with multiple systems at home -- like many of you who read this blog -- to upgrade to Windows Vista.  If you have need for fewer than 5 licenses for home use, you can upgrade all of your home systems by taking advantage of the Windows Vista Family Discount.  (Volume licensing is the way to go if you have need for more than 5 licenses.)  This program will also begin at our retail availability launch on 30 January.

The Windows Vista Family Discount was in part inspired by feedback from tech enthusiasts like you who told us that previously it was less than convenient to upgrade every node on their home networks.

We heard you loud and clear in planning the Windows Vista Family Discount.  Here's how it works:

  • Buy a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (full or upgrade version)
  • Between 30 January – 30 June, order up to two copies of Windows Vista Home Premium online
  • Pay only $49.99 for each copy of Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Valid in North America (US and Canada)
  • On 30 January, go here for details; we've also a special site for our French-speaking customers.

Windows Marketplace Electronic Software Distribution

And finally, also as of the 30th, you will be able to visit Windows Marketplace to electronically buy Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office release via direct download.  Windows Marketplace uses a technology called digital locker, which securely stores both the software itself and its related license keys.  Digital locker also has intelligence to know when a download has been interrupted so that it can resume automatically once the connection is reinstated.  On 30 January, go here to find the ESD editions of Windows Vista & Office 2007.

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Comments

  1. Nick White
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 1:33AM  

    Hey cwagz:  Forgive me, but could you clarify what you mean by 'WHS' ?  I want to give you the correct answer w/o making an incorrect assumption.

    (And I thought we at MS were the only ones who bandied about acronyms ;)

  2. cwagz
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 2:05AM  

    Sorry, WHS = Windows Home Server

    http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp

    http://www.stopdigitalamnesia.com/

    Windows Home Server has made my choice between Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate more difficult because I want to be sure I am not losing any of the remote desktop functionality that WHS appears to offer...

    Paul states in his preview, "What's amazing about WHS, however, is that it also offers these facilities (file sharing, etc...) remotely, via the Internet. To make this work, Microsoft is providing WHS users with a free Internet address via Windows Live. This address will give you a remote interface into your entire home network, not just WHS. You will be able to access any shared folders remotely, or even control individual PCs remotely."

    So my concern is this:

    Will a Windows Home Server be able to remotely control a Vista Home Premium machine even though Vista Home Premium does not natively support incomming remote desktop connections?

  3. stefan9
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 2:40AM  

    Nick on the microsoft website it states we can do a clean install with an upgrade copy. Are you saying this information is incorrected??

    I quote:The options

    You can upgrade from your current edition of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000 to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista by purchasing and installing an upgrade copy of Windows Vista. Depending on which edition of Windows you are running and the edition of Windows Vista you would like to install, you have two options for the installation process:

    In-place upgrade

    You can upgrade in-place, which means you can install Windows Vista and retain your applications, files, and settings as they were in your previous edition of Windows.

    Clean install

    Upgrading to Windows Vista with a clean install means that you should use Windows Easy Transfer to automatically copy all your files and settings to an extra hard drive or other storage device, and then install Windows Vista. After the installation is complete, Windows Easy Transfer will reload your files and settings on your upgraded PC. You will then need to reinstall your applications.

  4. Bas
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 3:03AM  

    So, Nick, could you give us any sort of reply on the international pricing/Family Discount issue?

  5. Todd
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 3:20AM  

    Nick can't you change the release date too oh um, say January 20 2007.  Computer enthusiests around the world would thank you.

  6. mrmckeb
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 6:10AM  

    Thanks for not offering ANYTHING to Australia.

  7. Nick White
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 10:11AM  

    Hi again cwagz:  Windows Home Server will provide remote access to the Remote Desktop functionality of any Windows PC that supports Remote Desktop.  The following Windows versions and editions support Remote Desktop connections:

    - Windows XP Pro

    - Windows XP Media Center Edition

    - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

    - Windows Vista Ultimate

    - Windows Vista Business

    - Windows Server 2003

    The following editions and versions of Windows do not support Remote Desktop and thus will not be accessable via the remote access capabilities of Windows Home Server:

    - Windows XP Home

    - Windows XP M

    - Windows Vista Home

    - Windows Vista Home Premium

  8. omgbbq
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 10:19AM  

    I have a few questions about the Family Discount.

    If I purchase Ultimate (Full Version), will the Home Premium licenses also be full versions or will they only be upgrade versions?

    Will these Home Premium licenses have the same retail terms as my Ultimate license or will be have more restrictions? Specifically, will they each be tied to a single machine?

    You mentioned this was for users who want five or less licenses, but you only mentioned a discount for two. Are there any discounts for people who want to upgrade more than three machines?

  9. omgbbq
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 10:22AM  

    I have another question about the Family Discount. Does this work with any copy of Ultimate purchased anywhere, or do I need to purchase it through a store holding this special promotion?

  10. jlego
    Posted on: January 19, 2007 at 10:40AM  

    Does anyone know if the "upgrade" from xp to vista will be available via Windows Marketplace?  Also, what will be the size of the download?

Trackbacks

  1. Posted by: GottaBeMobile.com on January 18, 2007 at 9:29AM
  2. Posted by: Josh's Windows Weblog on January 18, 2007 at 9:57AM

    Microsoft today unveiled a family discount plan for households containing Multiple-PC's. This is something

  3. Posted by: bkchung's WebLog on January 18, 2007 at 1:06PM

    Windows Vista Team Blog : Multiple announcments today 모두 미국에 관한 이야기이기 때문에 우리나라에서는 어떤 식일지 모르지만, 참고할 수

  4. Posted by: Geek News Central on January 19, 2007 at 3:56AM

    Lots of content tonight and a bunch that I could not cover in the show but all the juicy stuff is in the show notes. Big thanks to the Ohana that stay Subscribed. Sponsors: [Save 10% off on any order...

  5. Posted by: Geek News Central Podcast on January 19, 2007 at 4:00AM

    Lots of content tonight and a bunch that I could not cover in the show but all the juicy stuff is in the show notes. Big thanks to the Ohana that stay Subscribed. Sponsors: [Save 10% off on any order...

  6. Posted by: E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" on January 19, 2007 at 3:32PM

    The Vistablog blogs about the upgrade pricing of Vista... and it's something I think us SBSers need to

  7. Posted by: OpsanBlog on January 20, 2007 at 10:02PM
  8. Posted by: jweston's WebLog on January 30, 2007 at 11:35PM

    I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago. MSNBC and news.com had articles back on 1/18 about it. Here

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