AfterDawn: News

Microsoft kills Windows 7 Family Pack promotion

Microsoft has killed off the Windows 7 Family Pack promotion, claiming the "limited time" offer has expired, just in time for the Christmas holiday.

The Family Pack offered a 3-license pack of Windows 7 Home Premium for $150 USD, a sharp discount off individual MSRPs of $120 each.



Microsoft has acknowledged the demise of the promotion, although consumers on the Internet have been claiming the end of the promotion since as early as December 1st.

External sellers via Amazon and eBay have now increased the price of remaining Family Packs to over $250 USD, taking advantage of consumers who still want the pack.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 7 Dec 2009 15:39

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• 18 comments

• Morreale

  Crooks...

  7.12.2009 15:51 #1

• tatsh

  Come on Linux!

  7.12.2009 16:02 #2

• creaky

  Funny you should say that, i much prefer using Puppy linux over Win7 these days. Did i say it was free ? (for those out that that don't know it's free) :p
  
  http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/creaky/pupnew2.jpg
  

  
  
  Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
  Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS/WPA ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 4node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G v3.1, WRT54G2 v1, WRT54G v5. *** Forum Rules ***

  7.12.2009 16:21 #3

• SoStupidS

  "Those suckers that bought Vista Ultimate, myself included, are screwed," said yet another commenter. "There isn't a chance in hell that I am paying $219 for what should really be Vista SP2. We were promised 'extras' which we never got, now we are being excluded from the pre-order special. Anyway even at $49, it is still too much to pay."
  
  The extras that commenter mentioned refer to "Ultimate Extras," one of the main features Microsoft cited in the months leading up to the 2007 release of Vista Ultimate to distinguish the operating system from its lower-priced siblings. According to Microsoft's marketing, Extras were to be "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications" that would be regularly offered only to users of Vista's highest-priced edition.
  
  But users soon began belittling the paltry number of add-ons Microsoft released and the company's leisurely pace at providing them. Just five months after Vista was launched, critics started to complain.
  
  Earlier this year, Microsoft dumped the feature, saying that it would instead focus on existing features in Windows 7 rather than again promise extras.
  
  The furor over Vista Ultimate has even reached analysts' ranks. In May, Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft urged Microsoft to give Vista Ultimate owners a free upgrade to Windows 7. "It would buy them a lot of good will, and I don't think it would cost them much," Cherry said at the time.
  
  Some of the commenters in the latest Computerworld stories about Windows 7 echoed Cherry.
  
  "I am running Vista Ultimate and feel ripped off by Microsoft because ... [we] never received the extras we paid good money to get," said "Hellfire" in a long comment. "The very least that they should do is offer a heavily-discounted upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate to those that have lost money by purchasing Vista Ultimate."
  
  check google for source

  7.12.2009 17:36 #4

• F4ntastic

  hi creaky could you provide a dL link to puppy linux? Always willing to shank the M$ empire when i get a chance.

  7.12.2009 17:37 #5

• Ryoohki

  google is your friend http://puppylinux.org

  7.12.2009 20:09 #6

• kubapolak

  I myself got a vista pc and it will be highly unlikely that I will update to win7. The next computer I will buy will be a Mac because I'm ready to say my goodbye to ms.

  7.12.2009 21:13 #7

• DXR88

  i only game on Windows its like a console, for every thing else there is Gentoo.
  

  Powered By
  
  

  7.12.2009 23:16 #8

• KillerBug

  Evil bastards...they never updated Windows Vista Media Center like they promised to either.

  8.12.2009 00:27 #9

• cart0181

  Darn, I wasn't aware this was a limited time promotion. I thought it was just an added package MS was offering to keep up with Apple on this. That is very disappointing.

  8.12.2009 01:39 #10

• KillerBug

  I would not be suprised to see the deal come back in January.

  8.12.2009 04:50 #11

• ViRaL1

  Saw this and nabbed the last copy from my local Wal-Mart. $250 is outrageous!!!

  8.12.2009 12:18 #12

• ZippyDSM

  Why not offer child installs to a main key? MS once again you suck!!

  8.12.2009 13:37 #13

• borhan9

  Quote:The Family Pack offered a 3-license pack of Windows 7 Home Premium for $150 USD, a sharp discount off individual MSRPs of $120 each.this should be the case when it comes to these software packages kinda like when u buy an Internet Security package u can get for one user or up to 3 computers. That is the direction Microsoft should be heading
  well in an ideal world :)

  8.12.2009 15:11 #14

• Burnasty

  I got my family pack at Costco for $135. It's a stellar deal and a great os. I dual boot win 7 with karmic koala. I think 7 is a vast improvement and this deal was too good to pass up. Remember you can still get 7 for $30 if you have a valid .edu email address.

  8.12.2009 16:10 #15

• wazzat

  Attending the local community college for 4 months and haven't received even a student card. Will never receive an edu email address. Went to Ms website twice and they said they'd get back to me in 2 weeks. Other area community colleges are on the list. Have tried Ubuntu 3/4 times only to have programs fail or corrupt. Even though they compile.

  13.12.2009 09:03 #16

• wazzat

  http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/09/18/...p-or-even-free/ http://www.pcworld.com/article/172258/wi...thers_lose.html these are old links but still exist for your reading.

  13.12.2009 09:09 #17

• DXR88

  windows 9x allowed installs of up to 5 Computers at once. when windows went to the NT kernel only they brought there shoddy license agreements with it.
  
  its 1 install per CPU windows 7/vista theoretically can be installed 4 times on a single core CPU or two times on a dual core or once on a quad, the reason its shoddy is because the license agreement was for 1 physical CPU and Windows doesn't know the difference between a physical CPU or a multi-core one so really there cheating you out of 4 licenses
  
  im just wonder what happens when people want an 8 core CPU AMD is coming out with.

  13.12.2009 14:43 #18