Digital Home Thoughts: Microsoft Wants You To Consider Upgrades With New Pricing

"Most people buy a PC preinstalled with the edition of Windows that meets their unique needs. However, for some customers their needs may change over time. With Windows Anytime Upgrade (or WAU), we make it super easy and convenient for the small number of customers who’s PC needs evolve to need a higher edition of Windows 7."

The Microsoft Windows Team and published some pricing details on their Anytime upgrades as well as the Windows 7 Family Pack. The upgrade pricing seems typical and in line with what they had done with Vista. The interesting part for me is the Family Pack pricing. The family pack is more cost effective than doing three upgrade from Windows 7 Start/Home Basic, let alone fresh installations. It is a clear signal that Microsoft recognizes that multi-pc households are the norm, and they need to provide competitive price to convince people that upgrading existing PCs to Windows 7 is not going to be expensive. New PCs are not problem, since most new PCs that people buy, at least at retail, tend to have the latest OS installed, be it Windows or OSX. They're trying to get some extra revenue from the vast base of existing PCs. I can't say whether or not everyone will see a benefit changing from XP or Vista to Windows 7, well, mybe Vista users will see a large benefit, but at $50 a PC, it may just be cheap enough to make the leap.