Microsoft has been offering the Windows 7 Family Pack which consists of the Windows 7 OS licensed to be installed on up to 3 computers. By paying just $149, the existing XP or Vista users can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Furthermore, to suit the needs, users can use the Windows Anytime Upgrade option and move from one version of Windows 7 to another in just about  10 minutes. But when you are upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 using Windows Anytime Upgrade option, a special ‘Anytime Upgrade disk‘ is required.

The Windows 7 family pack is eligible for users migrating from Windows XP or Windows Vista to Windows 7. For instance, upgrading your Windows 7 version from Windows 7 Home Starter edition to Windows 7 Home Premium will cost you around $89.99 while upgrading from the latter to the Windows 7 Ultimate edition costs $139.99.

Microsoft spelled that the family pack will only be available “while supplies last” and can be obtained from any online or Microsoft Retail Store in about 12 countries including U.S. Microsoft also added that  the “Response has been very positive and in some cases, the offer has sold out. “

This comes as no surprise for Microsoft did not reveal any statistics on the copies of Windows 7 Family Pack that it planned to sell under the orange peel. Reportedly, the Windows 7 Family Pack has already sold out hot numbers through its factory stores.

Rumors reveal that even the Amazon bundles for the same are already out of stock while some third party sellers are making some green cash by selling it for more-than-the-suggested price.

Click here to buy Windows 7 Family Pack (Amazon Store) or

Click here to buy Windows 7 Family Pack (official Microsoft Website).

Click here to learn more about various Windows 7 Editions.

The Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 OS has completed its final stage of development and the download will be aired through Microsoft Download Center on October 22^nd.

So, what is this XP Mode on Windows 7?

Well, if you somehow ignored the hint in its name, let me expound on what it actually is. Microsoft Windows 7 OS will no doubt have Microsoft’s latest OS technology and superior performance.

Besides this, the new OS is likely to drive in compatibility glitches with hardware biased to support Windows XP. To avoid this, Microsoft found an ultimate solution and calls it Windows 7 XP Mode.

Demo : Windows 7 XP Mode

“Windows XP Mode is designed to provide small business and mid-sized businesses running Windows 7 Professional (or higher) the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications that may not be natively compatible with Windows 7” quoted the Microsoft Press Release.

Windows 7 XP Mode is basically designed for small and medium size businesses which usually find using Windows XP relatively comfortable when compared to newer version of Windows. Ultimately, these businesses refrain from updating to the higher version of operating systems like Windows Vista or Windows 7.

So, the induction of a new XP mode in Windows 7 is more or less Microsoft’s ways of boosting Windows 7 sales or better said – Microsoft ‘s decent strategic approach favoring customer care and consumer interests.

“Windows 7 has a strong compatibility story with Windows Vista, and many applications that currently run on Windows XP-based or Windows Vista-based PCs should just run natively on Windows 7 – allowing you to take advantage of better performance, better management and better security built into Windows 7.”

The Good ? It’s a free download. The Bad? It’s not absolutely free. You’ll need to have a purchased copy of Windows 7 or higher for using the XP Mode on your Windows 7 OS. And make sure, your system has hardware virtualization enabled to support XP mode because some vendors usually disable hardware virtualization for slated reasons.

New Features in Windows XP Mode RC

Based on feedback from the Windows XP Mode beta, we’ve made several improvements to the usability of Windows XP Mode for small and medium-sized business users:

• You can now attach USB devices to Windows XP Mode applications directly from the Windows 7 task-bar. This means your USB devices, such as printers and flash drives, are available to applications running in Windows XP Mode, without the need to go into full screen mode.
• You can now access Windows XP Mode applications with a “jump-list”. Right click on the Windows XP Mode applications from the Windows 7 task bar to select and open most recently used files.
• You now have the flexibility of customizing where Windows XP Mode differencing disk files are stored.
• You can now disable drive sharing between Windows XP Mode and Windows 7 if you do not need that feature.
• The initial setup now includes a new user tutorial about how to use Windows XP Mode.

For further information and technical details on Windows 7 XP Mode, click here.

Click here to buy Windows 7 (pre-order).

Besides this, the first Microsoft Store which is in the final stages of its touch up is supposed to go live reportedly on or after October 22 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hopefully, this will contribute to ascend public interest in Microsoft’s hardware products like Zune HD, Xbox 360 and so on besides boosting up software sales.

Good Luck, Microsoft.

Tags: Buy Windows 7, Download Windows 7, Microsoft Store, windows 7, Windows 7 Download, Windows 7 Official Release, Windows 7 XP Mode, Windows XP Mode, Windows XP Mode RC, XP Mode for Windows 7
]]> http://tnerd.com/2009/10/18/the-windows-7-download-story-free-download-xp-mode-for-windows-7-on-october-22/feed/ 0 http://tnerd.com/2009/10/15/7-days-to-go-for-windows-7-australia-celebrates-the-launch-on-ustream/ http://tnerd.com/2009/10/15/7-days-to-go-for-windows-7-australia-celebrates-the-launch-on-ustream/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:25:39 +0000 Abbas http://tnerd.com/?p=6384 It’s that time of the year when we get all excited about the new release of Windows only to get disappointed later. This time things seem a little different with Windows 7 and we say this not because Microsoft asked us to say that, they never did, but we say this based on what we have seen and experienced while testing Windows 7.

It is far better than any of the Windows OS so far and is not a resources hogger unlike its previous versions.

That’s that. Another 7 Days to go for the public release of Windows 7 and Australia is celebrating the fact that they will be only second to New Zealand according to the time zone it’s enough reason to celebrate.

Tracey Fellows, GM Microsoft AU, will be joined by James DeBragga to host the event and run the journalists and social media enthusiasts through the feature list.

The event will be broadcasted live on Ustream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/windows7au-launch).

I am really looking forward to this release of Windows 7, I have my preorders in place and hoping Windows 7 will be delivered on 22nd on October itself.

We will keep you guys updated around the launch activities of Windows 7 so keep coming back to know more.

I know quite a few people who tested Windows 7  beta and RC and are very excited to own a full version as soon as it is officially released.

There is no mystery around the release date of Windows 7 which is October 22nd but the prices were being speculated. Well, today all of that ends as the prices of all the versions of Windows 7 are announced.

Following is the price list of upgrade packages of Windows 7

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

And the retail prices for full packaged of Windows 7

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

The company also announced a special 50% discount on Windows 7 pre-order for its customers in US, Canada and Japan. Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade) for $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional (upgrade) for $99.99.

For customers in US, Canada and Japan click here to pre-order you copy of Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade) for $49.99 and here for Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade) for $99.99!

This offer ends July 5th in Japan and on July 11th in US and Canada. Customers in UK, France and Germany, will be able to pre-order starting July 15th through August 14th.

Starting today, 26th of June, anyone who buys a PC with any version of Vista loaded will be eligible for an upgrade of a similar version of Windows 7.

Windows 7 will be launched in 14 languages on October 22nd and in 21 laungages on October 31st. This is the first time ever Microsoft will be releasing an OS with all the supported languages within a week from its release.

Watch the following video to see the announcement! (Requires Silverlight)

Click here to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade) for $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional (upgrade) for $99.99