Why there no discount for Windows Vista Ultimate users for Windows 7 Ultimate and looks like we can not even downgrade to Windows 7 Pro.So we have to pay the most in the uk as there no upgrade version and no option for a half price discount.

Hello Eric,Windows 7 Ultimate is not part of the pre-sale that is true but it is available as part of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program,"Anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost to customers. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31st, 2010 and is global!"Which you can do by going to Windows 7 Upgrade Option.-Scott

Hi Eric777: I believe you will be able to order Win7 pre-release for delivery later in Europe. On the Tom's Hardware site they stated: "Microsoft said that it would be offering discounted Windows 7 upgrades on June 26, and it hasnt wasted any time. When the clock struck midnight, the preorder page was updated with a list of participating retailers. The special offer from Microsoft prices the Premium Upgrade at $49.99 a huge savings from the usual price of $119.99. Those looking for the Professional version can get for half price at $99.99 as part of the deal. Those in Canada and Japan will also be able to take part in the deal today. Canadians can pay $64.99 for the Home Premium Upgrade and $124.99 for the Professional Upgrade. Those in Japan can get the Home Premium Upgrade for 7,777 Yen, while the Professional Upgrade will run 14,777 Yen. Europeans will get their chance to preorder at a discounted price on July 15, but theyll have perform clean installs thanks to the deal with IE8 and the EU. Supplies are limited, but stocks will supposedly be around the same number of Windows Vista licenses that were sold at retail in its first year of availability. That means that Microsoft is aiming to break the previous generations sales record before Windows 7 is even released." In the US the pre-release sale of Win7 HP and Professional Upgrade can be used to update ANY version of XP or Vista to either Win7 HP or Professional but likely you may have to do a clean install due to the changes in Win7....especially in Europe.

I don't think that's what he means. The thing of it is, because he is running Vista Ultimate if he bought 7 Professional, it would be seen as a downgrade and he would have to do a clean install. He doesn't want to buy a new computer, he simply feels annoyed that there is no upgrade path at the moment for the people who spent the extra money on Vista Ultimate.

Hi thequinox: I am having to upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Win7 Prof also but am only losing the encryption capability and the multi-language support which I don't find worth the difference. As far as having to do a clean installation, he can blame that on the Europeans cracking down on including IE8 with the operating system. Otherwise he could do an in-place upgrade. Doing a clean install usually results in a better install at only the cost of saving and re-installing files and re-installing his programs. He mentioned not being able to downgrade to Win7 Professional and that is not the case.....he can go from ANY XP or Vista version to Win7 via upgrade versions. IE: Ultimate to HP or Professional for approximately $50-$100 US.

Yes, in his case you are correct. Because he will have to get a European version he will have to do a clean install. However, I don't believe the last part of your post is correct. While it is true for clean installations, there is no way for a Windows Vista Ultimate user to upgrade to Wndows 7 Home Premium or Professional. I think this is what is annoying people, that Microsoft has left ultimate users out of the upgrade path by not providing a pre-order on Ultimate. "Windows Vista users can follow multiple upgrade paths to Windows 7. As was the case when upgrading from XP to Vista, you will only need to perform a clean install if you are going to a version that is lower on the food chain. For example, if you are going from Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Home Premium, you would do a clean install. If you are going from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate, you do not need to do a clean install. When you switch to a higher version, you're adding on the existing functionality, but when you're going to a lesser version, you're taking away functionality, thus the need for a clean install." -- Via http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/06/windows-7-pricing-announced-cheaper-than-vista.ars

Thanks for the replys really can't believe your saying that I should upgrade to a new pc so I can get a cheaper option to windows 7.As far as I read there no way that Windows Vista Ultimate users can downgrade to Wndows 7 Home Premium or Professional and get the pre order and the 50% off.

Thanks for the replys really can't believe your saying that I should upgrade to a new pc so I can get a cheaper option to windows 7.As far as I read there no way that Windows Vista Ultimate users can downgrade to Wndows 7 Home Premium or Professional and get the pre order and the 50% off. I dont agree with this conclusion. There is some confusion here on the term upgrade. You can purchase the 50% off Upgrade package and do a clean install to a lower version. What you cant do is purchase the 50% off Upgrade package and do an upgrade in place to a lower version. No need to get a new pc. I have Vista x64 Ultimate installed and have purchased the 50% off Upgrade package to Windows 7 Professional. I will do a clean install on a new partition and keep both Vista and Windows 7 in dual boot mode. Oh and yes there is an upgrade package from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate ... but no 50% savings offer :(http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Windows-7-Ultimate-Upgrade/product/592F5AF5

You can downgrade to Windows 7 Prof (license-wise, so you can take the pre-order), but you must do a clean install with your "upgrade". If that is done, you can use the "Windows Anywhere Upgrade" to go from 7 Profto 7 Ultimate. Given that the difference between the retail prices of 7 Prof and 7 Ultimate is around $ 20, it should not be too expensive to do so. If there will be a special-price option to directly upgrade Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate in the future, only time can tell. Mobile AMD64 3000+, VIA Apollo K8T800 chipset, 1 G RAM, ATIRadeonMobility 9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G)

Thanks for the answers must of misread that you can't downgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Prof.I'm in the UK so would have to wait a fewweeks for the discount pre-orderCustomers in the UK, France and Germany, can pre-order their copy of Windows 7 starting July 15th and will run until August 14th (or supplies last) to ensure folks dont miss out on this. Act fast if you want to be the first in line to get Windows 7 at this screaming deal! Note: The special low pre-order price will vary per country.

Looks like we in the UK are paying more for our Windows 7 then In the USA as always. WINDOWS 7 DISCOUNT PRICES Home Premium - 79.99 Professional - 189.99 Ultimate - 199.99 WINDOWS 7 RETAIL PRICES Home Premium - 149.99 Professional - 219.99 Ultimate - 229.99 So heres the low-down on pricing for Windows 7. The estimated retail prices for upgrade packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are: Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99 Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99 Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99 And the estimated retail prices for full packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are: Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99 Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99 Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99 We will offer people in select markets the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 at a more than 50% discount. In the US, this will mean you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for USD $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for USD $99.99. You can take advantage of this special offer online via select retail partners such as Best Buy or Amazon, or the online Microsoft Store ------------------------------------------------------------ Self build PC. Intel i7 940, Socket 1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.93GHz, Cache 8MB 1792MB EVGA GTX 295, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 576MHz, 480 Cores, HDMI/ 2x DL DVI-I, HDCP 6GB (3x2GB) CorsairXMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered 850W Corsair TX Series ATX, 4x PCI-E/ 8x SATA, PS/2 PSU Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Triple DDR3 2000(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB Hard Drive SATA-300 10000rpm 16MB Cache Western Digital Hard Drive 500gig 72000rpm LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-Rom SATA Black Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Ultra Fidelity Sound Card With Complete Dolby DTS 24" Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - Full HD 1080p Wintv usb2 TV Card OS Windows Vista Ultimate Retail 64bit

Hi again thequinox: I said: "In the US the pre-release sale of Win7 HP and Professional Upgrade can be used to update ANY version of XP or Vista to either Win7 HP or Professional but likely you may have to do a clean install due to the changes in Win7....especially in Europe." note I said "update" to Win 7 and not do an upgrade in place. Sorry if I confused anyone but wanted him to be sure to know that the Pre-release of Win7 can be used to "update" from any version of WinXP or Vista to Win7 Home Premium or Professional. This IS a change from previous O.S. Upgrade versions and should be a very welcome change!

Hi bnc2: That's what I am doing too but I think you'll find that when you use the Win7 Upgrade Retail version that your previous license for Windows Vista will be supplanted by the Win7 Upgrade installation and the files from Windows Vista will be stored in Win7 under the name "Windows old". The reason your getting the pre-release so cheap is that it is an upgrade and REPLACES the version being upgraded. To do a dual boot of Vista with Windows7 you would have to either buy a retail version or OEM version of the Windows 7 O.S. Neither is being discounted but will be a little cheaper than Vista editions were.

That is exactly the point. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate on my principal computer (and testing Windows 7 on another). If I want to upgrade my principal machine to 7, which I do, I'm faced with a very unfair choice. Either I downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and I have to do a clean install, which I DON'T want to do. Or I go with Windows 7 Ultimate, and I get no discount at all. If I suspected that this might happen, I probably wouldn't have gone with Vista Ultimate in the first place. Microsoft, are you listening? How is this fair to some of your most loyal users and testers?

Hi derosnec: RE: "I think Ultimate should cost at least $599 and its availability limited. That way it'd be a truly elite product." Your idea is a stroke of genius! Microsoft could then offer a 50% discount on Ultimate also and sell it for $299.99 and make us Ultimate users all happy then!

That is exactly the point. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate on my principal computer (and testing Windows 7 on another). If I want to upgrade my principal machine to 7, which I do, I'm faced with a very unfair choice. Either I downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and I have to do a clean install, which I DON'T want to do. Or I go with Windows 7 Ultimate, and I get no discount at all. If I suspected that this might happen, I probably wouldn't have gone with Vista Ultimate in the first place.Microsoft, are you listening? How is this fair to some of your most loyal users and testers? Hi FranklinTThe reasons for moving to the Ultimate Edition have changedsignificantlyin Windows 7.With Windows Vista, Home Premium users who wanted components such as Group Policy, Internet Information Server, Offline files and folders, Encrypting File System, Windows Shadow Copy, Windows Mobility Center, Support for two physical CPUs, etc, were forced to upgrade to the Business Edition. However, upgrading to the Business Edition meant that they would lose components such as, Windows Media Center, Parental Controls, Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker, Themed Slide Shows, etc. Windows 7 has solved this problem, since every edition of Windows 7 contains all the features of the previous edition, this makes the upgrade strategy very clean and easy so you can upgrade from Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, for the reasons previously mentioned without losing anything. The only components that you would actually gain by upgrading from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate would be some corporate focused features such as, Boot from virtual hard drive, Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs, Branchcache, and DirectAccess. Professional also has a much smaller installation footprint (from my testing, it typically uses around 1.5 GB less disk space than Ultimate).Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

That is exactly the point. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate on my principal computer (and testing Windows 7 on another). If I want to upgrade my principal machine to 7, which I do, I'm faced with a very unfair choice. Either I downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and I have to do a clean install, which I DON'T want to do. Or I go with Windows 7 Ultimate, and I get no discount at all. If I suspected that this might happen, I probably wouldn't have gone with Vista Ultimate in the first place.Microsoft, are you listening? How is this fair to some of your most loyal users and testers? Hi FranklinTThe reasons for moving to the Ultimate Edition have changedsignificantlyin Windows 7.With Windows Vista, Home Premium users who wanted components such as Group Policy, Internet Information Server, Offline files and folders, Encrypting File System, Windows Shadow Copy, Windows Mobility Center, Support for two physical CPUs, etc, were forced to upgrade to the Business Edition. However, upgrading to the Business Edition meant that they would lose components such as, Windows Media Center, Parental Controls, Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker, Themed Slide Shows, etc. Windows 7 has solved this problem, since every edition of Windows 7 contains all the features of the previous edition, this makes the upgrade strategy very clean and easy so you can upgrade from Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, for the reasons previously mentioned without losing anything. The only components that you would actually gain by upgrading from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate would be some corporate focused features such as, Boot from virtual hard drive, Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs, Branchcache, and DirectAccess. Professional also has a much smaller installation footprint (from my testing, it typically uses around 1.5 GB less disk space than Ultimate).Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP Please can you confirm that I will be able to downgrade to Windows 7 Professional from Windows Vista Ultimate Edition with Microsoft pre-order program coming to the UK in in July as I seen A lot of difference answers on this forum Thankyou Ronnie Vernon for taking time to answer my question hopefully. ------------------------------------------------------------ Self build PC. Intel i7 940, Socket 1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.93GHz, Cache 8MB 1792MB EVGA GTX 295, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 576MHz, 480 Cores, HDMI/ 2x DL DVI-I, HDCP 6GB (3x2GB) CorsairXMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered 850W Corsair TX Series ATX, 4x PCI-E/ 8x SATA, PS/2 PSU Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Triple DDR3 2000(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB Hard Drive SATA-300 10000rpm 16MB Cache Western Digital Hard Drive 500gig 72000rpm LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-Rom SATA Black Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Ultra Fidelity Sound Card With Complete Dolby DTS Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - Full HD 1080p Wintv usb2 TV Card OS Windows Vista Ultimate Retail 64bit

That is exactly the point. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate on my principal computer (and testing Windows 7 on another). If I want to upgrade my principal machine to 7, which I do, I'm faced with a very unfair choice. Either I downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and I have to do a clean install, which I DON'T want to do. Or I go with Windows 7 Ultimate, and I get no discount at all. If I suspected that this might happen, I probably wouldn't have gone with Vista Ultimate in the first place.Microsoft, are you listening? How is this fair to some of your most loyal users and testers? Hi FranklinTThe reasons for moving to the Ultimate Edition have changedsignificantlyin Windows 7.With Windows Vista, Home Premium users who wanted components such as Group Policy, Internet Information Server, Offline files and folders, Encrypting File System, Windows Shadow Copy, Windows Mobility Center, Support for two physical CPUs, etc, were forced to upgrade to the Business Edition. However, upgrading to the Business Edition meant that they would lose components such as, Windows Media Center, Parental Controls, Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker, Themed Slide Shows, etc. Windows 7 has solved this problem, since every edition of Windows 7 contains all the features of the previous edition, this makes the upgrade strategy very clean and easy so you can upgrade from Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, for the reasons previously mentioned without losing anything. The only components that you would actually gain by upgrading from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate would be some corporate focused features such as, Boot from virtual hard drive, Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs, Branchcache, and DirectAccess. Professional also has a much smaller installation footprint (from my testing, it typically uses around 1.5 GB less disk space than Ultimate).Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP Hello Ronnie,I think you may have missed what I believe to bethe main point of Franklin T's frustration.... I believehis is the same as my frustration & that of many other folks who purchased Vista Ultimate. WHY do we have to either a)do a clean install of one of the Win7 discounted "upgrades" or b)pay 4.4x $ to avoid the clean install? There really should be some reasonable upgrade path offeredforVista Ultimate valid license holders WITHOUT doing a clean install! Based on the features of Win7 Home Premium (especially System Image Backup), I'd be happy to go that routeEXCEPT for having to do a clean install thenreinstallation of several huge programs such as Adobe CS3 full package, redoing all the updates, etc. There's obviously a way Microsoft could accommodate Vista Ultimate upgrades to Win7 upgrades without the clean install & with some loyalty discount similar to the other 2 discounted upgrades. I will continue to hope for a reasonble approach to upgrading 2 ofmy computers nowrunning Vista Ultimate.Cheers...

That is exactly the point. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate on my principal computer (and testing Windows 7 on another). If I want to upgrade my principal machine to 7, which I do, I'm faced with a very unfair choice. Either I downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and I have to do a clean install, which I DON'T want to do. Or I go with Windows 7 Ultimate, and I get no discount at all. If I suspected that this might happen, I probably wouldn't have gone with Vista Ultimate in the first place. Microsoft, are you listening? How is this fair to some of your most loyal users and testers? Hi FranklinT The reasons for moving to the Ultimate Edition have changedsignificantlyin Windows 7. With Windows Vista, Home Premium users who wanted components such as Group Policy, Internet Information Server, Offline files and folders, Encrypting File System, Windows Shadow Copy, Windows Mobility Center, Support for two physical CPUs, etc, were forced to upgrade to the Business Edition. However, upgrading to the Business Edition meant that they would lose components such as, Windows Media Center, Parental Controls, Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker, Themed Slide Shows, etc. Windows 7 has solved this problem, since every edition of Windows 7 contains all the features of the previous edition, this makes the upgrade strategy very clean and easy so you can upgrade from Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, for the reasons previously mentioned without losing anything. The only components that you would actually gain by upgrading from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate would be some corporate focused features such as, Boot from virtual hard drive, Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs, Branchcache, and DirectAccess. Professional also has a much smaller installation footprint (from my testing, it typically uses around 1.5 GB less disk space than Ultimate). Hope this helps. Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP I understand all this. My point (which i don't think you've addressed) is that I should then be allowed to buy the Windows 7 Pro upgrade, which will suit my purposes, and install it over Vista Ultimate WITHOUT having to do a clean install. This is what I think Microsoft should be making possible.

I purchased 7 Home Premium E from Staples UK and after one week I got mail which claims that they are not allowed to sell "overseas" inside EU, from UK to Finland. So is this pre-sale offer restricted somehow? Full 7 Home Premium E is only ~ 57 from UK and here in Finland the price is something else than affordable. VISTA HOME PREMIUM W/ W7 UPG (OEM) 127.45 Guess am I buying it or not?

I have to bump this up! One of the EU's basic principles is the four pillars of the internal market: the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people.

Vista Ultimate users who bought it less than 2 years ago poor guys..they should get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate.Anonymuos

I really sorry but I don't understand what being said to me to answer my question on thisforumlet me try again.Ilive in the UK I have brought windows vista Ultimate retail a few years ago.I have brought from pcworld a copy of Windows 7 Propre-order brought back in Julyplease can someone tell meIf I allowed to install Windows 7 pre-order over or clean install on the same pc.Or do I have to buy a full retail version of Windows 7 Pro.Is Windows Vista Ultimate fullretail tooWindows7 Ultimate fullretail Upgrade allowed.Thanks for you help in this matter. ------------------------------------------------------------ Self build PC. Intel i7 940, Socket 1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.93GHz, Cache 8MB 1792MB EVGA GTX 295, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 576MHz, 480 Cores, HDMI/ 2x DL DVI-I, HDCP 6GB (3x2GB) CorsairXMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered 850W Corsair TX Series ATX, 4x PCI-E/ 8x SATA, PS/2 PSU Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Triple DDR3 2000(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB Hard Drive SATA-300 10000rpm 16MB Cache Western Digital Hard Drive 500gig 72000rpm LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-Rom SATA Black Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Ultra Fidelity Sound Card With Complete Dolby DTS Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - Full HD 1080p Wintv usb2 TV Card OS Windows Vista Ultimate Retail 64bit