Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Windows 7 for thirty smackers

3:52 PM / Technology / Comments5 Comments

Technology
Windows 7 Professional

CNET is reporting that, for a limited period of time, students will be able to purchase copies of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system at a greatly reduced price. For a measly $30 US (or a less measly but still impressive £30 if you live in the UK), you can have either Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional. and the difference between them is...? Erm, beats me. According to Microsoft's own product comparison, the Professional edition includes a "Windows XP mode", which is apparently intended to make it easier to run older business applications, a "full-system Backup and Restore" utility and and a secure "Domain Join" service. In any event, both cost the same amount of money if you're a student, so I can see no reason not to go the whole hog and choose Professional.

The catch? They're not just going to take your word for it. You need to provide a valid, active student email address. Not a problem for me, as I'm still a student, but the rest of you, rubbing your hands with glee at the prospect of getting a new operating system for a song, will have to eat humble pie.

Another catch is that you must have "a PC that is currently running a genuine copy of Windows Vista or Windows XP and can run Windows 7", so I'm assuming this is an upgrade edition rather than a stand-alone product.

I still don't think I'll be upgrading to Windows 7 straight away. Right now I'm reasonably happy with Vista (presumably because I've actually used it extensively, unlike those who listened to the horror stories drummed up by the Mac fanboys and Linux evangelists rather than trying it for themselves), but I'm well aware that upgrading to a new version of Windows can initially be a little rocky. I feel inclined to stick with Vista for the next six months or so in order to give the inevitable Windows 7 kinks a chance to be ironed out first.

 
5 Comments

1. Kram Sacul said:

Still with XP. Am I missing anything?

(Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 2:55 AM)

2. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Do you feel you're missing out on anything? If not, then the answer is probably "no". I like to keep up with new technological developments, but if you're happy with XP then I see no reason to switch. Microsoft will continue to support it until April 2014.

(Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 7:17 AM)

3. Kram Sacul said:

I feel I might be missing out on some nice glossy icons. ;-)

(Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 2:44 PM)

4. Todd S. Gallows said:

Wow, for the first time I feel my postsecondary education might actually be worth something! I'll take advantage of this.

(Posted on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 3:01 AM)

5. Eric said:

I'm not going for it. It took me quite a while to get used to Vista, and now that I'm finally comfortable with it, they can't expect me to drop it and start getting used to a new one.

(Posted on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 5:40 AM)

 
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