Windows 7 may get a 'Family Pack'
Microsoft appears likely to offer a "Family Pack" version of Windows 7, according to language in a leaked test version of the operating system.
This week enthusiasts started buzzing over wording in the license agreement in the test build that suggests Microsoft will have an option to buy a license for Windows 7 that covers up to three PCs in the same household.
Wording in a leaked test version of Windows 7 suggests that a long-anticipated Family Pack option may become reality.
(Credit: Microsoft)According to blogger Kristan Kenney, the license agreement included with the recently leaked version states that "if you are a 'Qualified Family Pack User', you may install one copy of the software marked as 'Family Pack' on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there."
Microsoft would neither confirm nor deny that it plans to offer the family pack.
"We will continue to work with our partners and expect to have other great offers in the future as we lead up to and beyond general availability," a representative said. "We have nothing to announce at this time."
Since 2002, Apple has offered a Mac OS X family pack that covers up to five Macs in the same house. Microsoft briefly offered a deal with Windows Vista that allowed Vista Ultimate buyers to purchase discounted copies of Vista Home Premium for additional PCs, but discontinued that offer after just a few months.
Vista Ultimate users are already upset that Microsoft's first discount offer for Windows 7 allows for discounted upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional, but offers no upgrade options for them. Microsoft said it may have more offers, but users will have to gamble if they want to skip the current pre-order program.
That option allows $49 upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium and $99 upgrades to Windows 7 Professional. Microsoft said that those deals will be offered only until July 11.
Windows 7 is slated to arrive on store shelves and new PCs on Oct. 22.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
I just purchased my upgrade on Amazon for $49 and I haven't bought an upgrade since Windows 2000.
Say whatever you want, W7 ("Dub7" here in NYC) is the hottest OS ever created, simple. How do you play Street Fighter 4 on Linux or Mac OSX? Oh wait you can't.
Silly mortals.
What are you...? I ... huh?
When you buy a Mac, BG gets paid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOp5mBY9IY
If you are a diehard Mac fan, you are really nothing more than an investor in Windows 7. Thank you for all of your over paying over the years now it is time to make it 1998 again.
As for Linux, good for serving web pages, useless as a home PC. I mean really, the general public do not have time or interest with the compatibility headache. The Colecovision ADAM has a better chance at making a comeback than Linux becoming a threat during the 15 years we about to get with W7.
Windows 7 will do so much damage to the Mac community, Bill Gates will be saving the company from closure just as he did in 1998 Macworld.
When you buy a Mac, BG gets paid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOp5mBY9IY
If you are a diehard Mac fan, you are really nothing more than an investor in Windows 7. Thank you for all of your over paying over the years now it is time to make it 1998 again."
The pharmacy is still open, get your meds before they close for the 3 day weekend
"Windows is.... A 32-bit extension to a 16-bit graphical interface, sitting on an 8-bit operating system, originally written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company without ONE BIT of common sense."
And I own a PC, so tell that to you imaginary, non-mortal friends. (Got a little identity crisis going on there? They make a pill for that you know...)
Next up are the Mac zealots, sure to find this article and start in so I wanted to nip that in the bud. Great, so I just reminded you if not for Microsoft, there would be no Mac today so go look at that YouTube video and dispute that you ungrateful cowards.
If it wasn't for Microsoft, we all would be still siting in some university computer lab connecting the handle of a phone to the back on a Tandy, or maybe by this time a Mac.
Vista was bastardized BY the Mac and Linux community and so everyone thought it was open season on Microsoft. So, the empire struck back to wipe out all competition like Don Corleone at the end of The Godfather Part II.
If you guys thought Microsoft's dominance was outrageous with W98 and WXP, W7 is really going to be the most unfair product move in the history of retail.
So yeah, by the family pack, drink the kool aid because the Apple juice is sour.
(well, at least it ain't all about OS/2 anymore...)
But in saying that, i still don't really know much on the statistics on newly bought machines compared to upgrade discs / new installations.
And considering a good deal of people tend to junk computers when something as simple as a BSOD happens, it will more than likely end up being through a pre-installed OS from a new machine.
Wait for Windows 7 Service Pack 2 must be suggest for XP fans.
My problem with these script kiddies is that the article has nothing or said nothing about Linux but they must find somthing stupid to say.
Keep your Linux (any flavor) or any other operating system even Novell; makes no difference but make a fool of yourselves writing ignorant rants.
I will not be disappointed with Windows 7 as I began testing it long ago and find it solid and yes; it kicks b*tt$. Frankly, I care much more about Windows 2008 standard and enterprise versions AND Exchange than a desktop OS.
I'm a Linux user but I do like to see people treated well.
Now, I wasn't going to say anything bad about Microsoft and I'm still not. However, Otto Holland really needs to get his head out of his ass. Linux users aren't all punk kids (that roll is filled more with Windows users than Linux users due to gaming).
Also, I've read articles on this site about Linux and OS X as well, plenty of Windows trolls on both. I've read articles on Firefox 3.5 with plenty of IE trolls. Perhaps you should stop whining, at least he didn't respond to every single comment made like the Windows trolls usually do.
I'm 46 and not a "Script Kiddie" - so sorry I don't fit in your demographic of assumptions. I have used some flavor of unix and linux for the past 15 years. It's what I am personally comfortable with.
I always laugh about the flame wars over different OS systems every time MS releases a product. It makes me think that MS hires people such as yourself to incite such antagonistic verbiage.
For the record:
I use Ubuntu Netbook version on my netbook for work and on the road.
I have Vista running on my desktop so I can run the graphics applications I am comfortable with. I may switch to Win 7 if it is less buggy and performs faster than Vista. It does irk me I have to pay for Win 7 as the system that fixes Vista bugs.
I may start to reconsider using MS altogether as I truly do not like their business practices. I'm not a tree hugging tofu eater, but business such as MS push me that way :)
I also do not like the monopolistic practices of an OS manufacturer attempting to control hardware manufactures. I am glad governments have stepped in to thwart these monopolistic practices. Without competition there would be no change and we would still be using broken old archaic computers and OS systems.
I would rather have MS focusing on making great products instead of trying to control the market. This is god for us all.
I've never personally owned a Mac because I always built my own desktops systems.
Both my young children are running Ubuntu on their home computers so they can learn to be "script kiddies" in a positive responsible fashion. I want them to be able to dissect, break, rebuild, and learn about an operating system so they can choose to be programmers or engineers later on if they want....at least they will be aware of how a computer truly operates and how computer programs work without breaking the bank. The open source community allows this for free.
My children use Mac laptops at school. Donations to the school. The children don't care about an OS as long as they can do their school work on the computer.
My wife has Vista on her laptop and complains about the counter intuitiveness of the menus and how slow it ran compared to her old XP laptop. After 2 years she still does not like it. She is not computer savvy and likes my Ubuntu running netbook. I think she just wants my netbook :)... she is open to change and does not care what OS is running ass long as it works for her and connects to her work site computers easily.
My family is not tied down to any one OS and we use whatever works for the projects we are working.
We are fortunate to be able to have so many computers.
With that, I do want my children to remain aware that there are (for now) choices and to use whatever is comfortable and that the computer is to be used as a tool to help them be more productive in whatever they may be doing. Their young minds are an open book right now and I want them to soak up as much knowleged as they can regarding various computer systems.
It's a brave new world for our children and MS is not, and never has been, the only game in town. I want them to understand that. Each OS has it's own purpose?
On a side note, my family does not use our computers as game consoles that's what we have the wii for.
good health to you.
great idea!!!!
I wonder where they got the idea... oh, wait, I remember now:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC095Z/A?mco=NDc1MTYxMA
The old copying thing again right?
How dare GM allow their cars to be leased if Ford did it first.
I mean we can do this all day.
Hey - if it works, let 'em... so long as they don't claim it as original or etc.
PS: Car analogies are getting tired and old, and most of the time they don't even fit the situation.
Know your facts.
I don't have anything against non-free software, especially games such as Age of Empires III, (which I can play at FULL SPEED under Linux) but why pay for something when the free alternative is so much better?
Some people are used to Windows slow development cycle, which is probably why they get stuck in their heads that Linux is crappy. They could have also had experience with a less polished distro. But what Linux distributions were even one year ago is MUCH different from what they are now, especially with the larger projects.
@linux fans. The same applies. You don't need to troll every windows story with the same BS. Linux is only used by a small percentage of users, so grow up and realize that you are not going to be mentioned in every article. The percentace of articles devoted to linux far exceeds the percentage of users using it. Be happy about that.
With respect to the Windows/Apple/Linux thread of comments added to this article: Microsoft scored a homerun with XP (then and still, with it's appropriateness for Netbooks). It stumbled mightily with Vista. Windows 7 seems to have a pretty good future, but if MS gets too greedy and doesn't keep the Windows folks happy, Linux has and will make enough strides (with Mobile Linux, Embedded Linux, etc...) that it could topple Windows in a year or two if Windows 7 is not widely successful.
@jkohut. Oh thrill... another "Year of the Linux Destkop" prediction. I've heard it every year since 1994.
Vista compounded the problems related to activation and licensing and I don't see it getting any better until MS loosens up. Windows is too expensive for what you get compared to competing products so now in order to try to recapture some of that lost market MS may now be considering a family pack.
The 'causal piraters' can still do that VERY easily. As to Linux and Mac use 'soaring to all-time highs'.... again, BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Only in your deluded world have they done that, they are still 'also-ran' operating systems.
You aren't a casual pirate. casual pirates are those that will install an application if no technological measure prevents them from doing so. Most Windows(and Mac) users aren't savvy enough to use hacks to enable pirated software.
Mac and Linux use have soared to all time highs in the past few years and I attribute that to MS use of activation. By requiring activation for their software people not willing or able to use a hack have been forced to look into alternatives. This experimentation has directly benefited alternative OS's. Open source, Linux, and Mac OS has been in the news more now than ever before and MS is taking a big PR hit as a result. MS has maintained it's dominance in the business world but it's rapidly loosing relevance in the consumer desktop market.
Ditching the 20 flavors of windows, adding a family pack, and making Windows run better on less capable equipment are all moves to retain marketshare and recapture some that is lost. They are hoping that people that buy a family pack will put windows on that Linux box in the corner the kids use for word processing and web browsing. Schools will take 7 and put it on some of these aging boxes they can't afford to replace and if they were running linux all the better.
MS is scared and should be, but make no mistake about it; Activation is the primary cause that has made them take this action.
And just to quell any outrages about promoting piracy, this isn't about that. It's about making windows affordable, that has always been the reason people pirate. When it's too expensive you look for alternatives and sometimes those alternatives aren't entirely legal. Instead of offering a family pack MS should just offer windows at a more reasonable price.
Of course, Microsoft was able to realize a substantial profit on those shares, largely as a result of (a) the introduction of the iMac in 1998 which marked the beginning of Apple's resurgence in the computer market; and (b) the introduction of the iPod in 2001 (with Windows compatibility in 2003 and the iTunes Music Store in 2003).
If your claim is that the token $150 million investment in non-voting AAPL stock somehow kept Apple afloat until then, double-check the financial statements -- Apple still had a positive cash flow and billions of dollars in the bank.
Thanks for playing, though. (By the way, I really like Microsoft's take on the Dock in Windows 7; I hope that the new Dock features in Snow Leopard are similarly useful.)
damn these linux fan boys are already scared, well they have to be
Now, maybe you're talking about XP mode that we should be scared of? It's only available on the most expensive versions and does about as good a job as Cedega from what I've heard about it so far.
Windows 7 is a fine OS, but rule? really?
Not when Linux is free and simpler to set up and use than either of the other OS' despite the FUD that gets thrown around.
As for how that desktop environment functions, unless someone creates a fully 3-dimentional desktop environment, all desktop environments will behave in a similar fashion.
Hmmm....It'll probably be around $500 for a Home Premium Family Pack
thanks but no thanks micro$oft
not until you give us vista ultimate users a reasonable upgrade price to the 7
Some will use XP, and others Vista, as long as their current systems hold out. When they eventually have to buy a new PC or laptop or netbook, it'll have 7 on it, or whatever comes next. Doesn't matter if there's a family pack or a single license, or whatever...
With the 16GB hard disk space, I don't see many people upgrading, since most people, believe it or no, don't have that many GBs free, or have a hard disk big enough.
But CNET users are a strange bunch, thinking that they're little niche in the computing world is the majority, and forgetting about the rest of the users out there...
"But CNET users are a strange bunch, thinking that they're little niche in the computing world is the majority, and forgetting about the rest of the users out there..."
It's like this at any tech-oriented forum.
Many computer geeks, technologists and tech journalists simply cannot see the forest for the trees. Many of them are also totally oblivious to what goes on in countries not named the United States of America.
One classic example of not getting the big picture is Rob Malda's (CmdrTaco at Slashdot) commentary about Apple's newly announced iPod: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
In other words, no more allowing Windows machines to have a monopoly on store shelves.
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
Those who do, often have more than the trivial number allowed in the family pack.
I like the software makers who allow installs on everthing in the house.
Wait look forward to Windows 7 Service Pack 2 until year 2012 or 2013. I will come get Windows 7 with Service Pack 2 then buy it. Very Stable and non-hassle free like XP did. XP fans need wait to get Windows 7 Service Pack 2 to right to get it without stress or fuss.
To XP fans, please keep playing movies or PC games until Windows 7 Service Pack 2 release out later then buy it. Take more time. Relax.
- by JackieHandunge July 18, 2009 5:31 PM PDT
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