Microsoft had this to say on its website: "In an effort to streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience for our customers and open the program to additional markets worldwide, Microsoft and its partners have decided to end digital product key distribution on February 20, 2008."
With Windows Anytime Upgrade, customers could upgrade to another version of Vista by purchasing a digital product key. Microsoft has now decided to stop distributing product keys online. Those who now want to upgrade, will have to buy a Windows Anytime Upgrade Kit from a local retailer or from Microsoft.
With Windows Anytime Upgrade, customers could upgrade to another version of Vista by purchasing a digital product key. Microsoft has now decided to stop distributing product keys online. Those who now want to upgrade, will have to buy a Windows Anytime Upgrade Kit from a local retailer or from Microsoft.
The company told InfoWorld it was making the change based on feedback from users:
Customers have told us that this change will streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience, and that they would prefer to use the DVD and a standard 25-character product key to perform the upgrade—rather than the combination of the DVD and digital key.
I lol'ed
How does making it harder to get a product key help the customer?
MS rarely sells products directly to their customers they usually have channel partners they use for that sort of thing. Windows is no exception. So you can't buy Windows directly from MS (and the partner makes a profit) and then MS sidesteps this channel with Anytime upgrade (the partner no longer gets a profit)... By giving the partners a chance to resell the upgrade kits they can make a profit again. This doesn't always translate to higher prices for the consumer (the profit margin for the partner) as the large partners can negotiate a better price and pass that on to consumers (hense why you can find retail versions cheaper than MS' MSRP at some resellers)...
Overall, I think it is a good move for partners and for consumers.
Thats good right? People who buy from Dell, HP, etc... can upgrade and dont have to deal the programs that are installed from restore disks.
They want their abysmal Vista retail sales to look better.
They want their abysmal Vista retail sales to look better.
Except they're not abysmal. but trolls wouldn't care about such minor details would they.
I thought it was supposed to be as easy as buying a key and putting it in, but no.
Maybe it's different in other areas, but I am in the US and thats what I always got...
OEM Copies can have just one edition on them... Hense why an anytime upgrade disk is offered...
NOTE: I'm mainly refering to OEM manufacturers like HP, Dell etc I'm not sure about OEM disks that come with say a custom built PC, I'd asume those disks are the same as the retail ones without the packaging (and slightly different license restictions).
Last edited by Xerxes on 12 Feb 2008 - 00:47
What a farce.
What a farce.
MS should be sued over that.
What a farce.
The thing I hate is that the complete Image Backup should be in all the versions not Just Ultimate. That is the thing I wish was in the Home Premium version.
I hope they come out with 2 versions like xp. PRofessional and home premium none of this ultimate crud.
Heck make one version that does everything not 6.
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