I want to get Windows 7 and am currently running the RC. My question is do I get the preorder version or do I wait for the rumoured family pack (as I want to install it on 3 home computers) Does anyone know firstly whether the "family pack" even exists and, if it does which is cheaper, it or 3 pre order Win 7 home premium licenses? Thanks in advance...

There may be a "Family Pack" edition of Windows 7 Home Premium, but details have not been officiallyreleased. It would be prudent to wait until Microsoft officially makes an announcement. In any case, Windows 7 will not be avialable to the general public until October 22, 2009 so you have plenty of time.Carey Frisch

All - True... It's still rumors and speculation at this point... But according to Ed Bott @ ZDNet:"Until Microsoft makes an official announcement, of course, all this is indeed speculation. But mythical products dont usually get UPCcodes and official Microsoft part numbers, nor do they make it into the license agreements in software that is literally days away from shipping."Seems like an awful lot of smoke and mirrors to go through for a product that doesn't exist...

thanks, so any announcement would hopefully come before the preorder version ceases to be avalible?

thanks, so any announcement would hopefully come before the preorder version ceases to be avalible? HiIt's always a good idea to read the Microsoft website where all of the official announcements are made.Windows 7 Team Blog "I know there have been some rumors going around about a family pack for Windows 7. We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. Im happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. As Ive said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers."Keep watching that website for further information.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

Hi All, I sure appreciate MS for having such a generous Eval period with Beta & RC of Windows 7. I have so enjoyed testing & using Win7 as well as putting together my Windows 7 Workstation production modality lists. Many of my clients have embraced Windows 7 Ultimate 64 RC, understanding that they would have to migrate to full license around the end of the year or early next... My Question is simply, will those of us who've embraced Win7U64RC and made it our production environment, have to pay full retail price for Window 7 Ultimate 64 Retail or will we be able to use the upgrade or receive an appropriate discount for helping MS rollout the/their best OS ever? For my part, I would pay the retail price but I would be pretty unhappy about it, feeling a bit used by MS. My personal production environment is extremely complex having taken me a full 28 hours to complete even on decent overclocked hardware. Sure, I got to play with the new OS ahead of time, I got to prep my OEM production environment modalities and I got to show Win7 off in it's best light to many of my clients who are ready as soon as I give the word to migrate from their many XP environments to Win7... The thing of it is, if MS knew they were going to charge retail for Win7 to RC testers, then it really should have been made clear up front so we all could have counted the cost and made arrangements. So I hope that MS will do the right thing and take care of it's many enthusiastic Win7 RC testers (especially us small OEMs) with an appropriately priced migration license for lack of a better way to put it. As a 26 year tech veteran and SysInteg, I haven't had this much fun since my early years programming TI994a, Atari ST/TT and Macs. Win7 is fun, fast, elegant & secure, what with quality hardware being so affordable, 2010 is going to be a very good year for smaller OEMs...

whereangelesfeartogo - At this point, if you've got an existing license for XP or Vista, you can buy anupgrade version to Windows 7. If not, then,yes, you'd need to buy the full version. As for Microsoft charging for copies of Windows 7... You seem to have a long enough history doing this stuff, so I gotta ask - when have you known Microsoft to NOT charge retail for any release?Now then, your clients... Is there any reason why they MUST have Ultimate? There are very, very few things that Ultimate offers that makes it worth most people's time and money. Unless there's a specific need for features like Bitlocker, Branch Cache and the few other features, Home Premium or Professional are more than adequate for MOST users.

Hi whereangelsfeartogoThe final upgrade matrix has not been published yet. There may still be some last minute surprises, but as of right now, there are no special upgrade offers for those folks running the RC build.Keep a watch on the following website forthe latestannouncements.Windows 7 Team BlogHope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

Just announced: Windows Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack PricingCarey Frisch