Is it time for an upgrade to Windows 7?
(Image credit: today-reviews.com)
As reported by Mac Rumors, Microsoft is offering Windows 7 at the very nearly the same price as Apple's Snow Leopard--$30.
According to Mac Rumors, this brings, “the cost of Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for eligible customers down to $29.99 to effectively match Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard pricing…The offer, which expires January 3rd, 2010 is valid for the download version of Windows 7, and users wishing to purchase a physical disk will be required to pay an additional $13.00.”
The offer sounds very tempting, but there is a very big catch. The Windows 7 discount program is aimed strictly at students attending United States colleges and universities. The discount does not apply outside the US. Nor does it apply to business users, home users, and apparently it does not apply to university and college faculty and staff all of whom are left out in the cold. These folks will still be asked to pay the full non-promotional prices for Windows 7.
To qualify students must have a valid .edu e-mail address. Furthermore, Microsoft's terms and conditions require that students be actively enrolled in at least a 1/2 course credits at the time of purchase. Be aware that students who apply for the discounted pricing may be required to provide proof of class enrollment.
Compared with Microsoft’s discount program, Apple’s Snow Leopard upgrade is much less complex and confusing. There is one version of the upgrade and the costs are straightforward and easily to understand.
Still, credit where credit is due. Microsoft is doing something to help those starving college and university students who are continually faced with non-stop tuition fee increases. The Redmond folks should be commended for this. Now if they will only take pity on us poor and starving business users—and, while they are at it, create a simple and inexpensive upgrade path from Windows XP. Then life for Windows 7 users would be grand.
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