Windows 7 sells for half price in the UK

[Rakeesh]

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,3...9303374,00.htm

We've been doing some investigating, friends -- making phone calls, demanding answers. And it was worth it. We can confirm something very few people get to confirm: British shoppers aren't going to be totally shafted over software pricing for once. Full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium are going to cost us half as much as they cost Americans.

In the UK, full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium -- not an upgrade edition -- are going to cost around £65. That's less than the price the Yanks have to pay just for an upgrade version -- $120 (£72) -- and half what they'll have to cough up for a full version -- $200 (£122).

That would be roughly $100 for the full version of windows 7 home premium.

[mullet]

£>$

\thread

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf_HK

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,3...9303374,00.htm



That would be roughly $100 for the full version of windows 7 home premium.

that is partially right, price is temporary, won't be like that for ever.

reasons:
1) there is no upgrade version in Europe, because of EU
2) MS couldn't offer discount on upgrade version (look at point 1)
3) so for temporary period they are offering discount on full version

[shteve]

The special EU version has been canned. For the short term they're going to provide the full version at the upgrade price for the discounted pre-orders. I suspect that by the time the actual release is out, the prices will return to normal and we'll get an upgrade version instead.

[Revs]

Cheers for the head-up Just ordered a copy

http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...&tid=4fc-00001

[Rakeesh]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

that is partially right, price is temporary, won't be like that for ever.

reasons:
1) there is no upgrade version in Europe, because of EU
2) MS couldn't offer discount on upgrade version (look at point 1)
3) so for temporary period they are offering discount on full version

Originally Posted by shteve

The special EU version has been canned. For the short term they're going to provide the full version at the upgrade price for the discounted pre-orders. I suspect that by the time the actual release is out, the prices will return to normal and we'll get an upgrade version instead.

A sound theory except the EU full version costs less than the US upgrade version right now. In fact it even costs less than the original planned price of the EU upgrade version. I think something else is at play here, just not sure what.

Further, microsoft indicated their indications for a temporarily reduced price for users who bought a new PC recently, and spelled that out directly. However no such announcement has been made for this. They simply announced a reduced price for the full version in the UK and that was it.

So can someone from the UK buy it for me and ship it my way? Wouldn't I still save money buying a full version of Win7 Pro then just buying the upgrade?

[Rakeesh]

Originally Posted by |MaguS|

So can someone from the UK buy it for me and ship it my way? Wouldn't I still save money buying a full version of Win7 Pro then just buying the upgrade?

I don't know if this would be a good idea yet. Although I've never seen microsoft do it before, there's no indication if there is some kind of a regional lockout. This is exactly the kind of thing a regional lockout is designed to prevent.

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf_HK

I don't know if this would be a good idea yet. Although I've never seen microsoft do it before, there's no indication if there is some kind of a regional lockout. This is exactly the kind of thing a regional lockout is designed to prevent.

I don't think you can region lockout a PC. I mean how would they know your region? What if I am an american who recently moved to germany? Im not allowed to buy my software there?

[Rakeesh]

Originally Posted by |MaguS|

I don't think you can region lockout a PC. I mean how would they know your region? What if I am an american who recently moved to germany? Im not allowed to buy my software there?

Yeah that's what I am thinking but you never know. Recall what happened with half life 2 users who bought russian copies for $10, and it wasn't a language issue.

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by |MaguS|

I don't think you can region lockout a PC. I mean how would they know your region? What if I am an american who recently moved to germany? Im not allowed to buy my software there?

only difference would be if you install the OS, your region setting would probably be set to English UK. you can always change that.

[Rakeesh]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

only difference would be if you install the OS, your region setting would probably be set to English UK. you can always change that.

I am curious if the key for a UK version would work on a US version, and vice versa. If so you could just install a US version with that key and then it would use all of the US defaults.

As far as I know, no windows keys have ever been tied to any region or bit depth (except XP 64 as that was a version of windows 2003.)

It only goes by license type (oem, retail, upgrade) edition (reg, mce, pro, basic, premium, ultimate, server, etc) and then version (95, 98, 98se, xp, vista, etc.)

If anybody wants to try it, go for it. I'd like to know the results. I'd imagine amazon UK can possibly ship to the US. If not I am sure there are other online shops in the UK that will ship to the US. I am curious if Americans will have to pay the VAT if they do so.