Microsoft began its' limited Windows 7 pre-order offer for UK customers in the early hours this morning.Microsoft has partnered with several retailers in the UK to offer both Windows 7 Home Premium E (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional E (£99.99) to early adopters. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Neowin that early indications show orders have been "strong" despite the fact Windows 7 in the UK comes without Internet Explorer.
Microsoft will only be offering Windows 7 E in Europe, without Internet Explorer. Company officials confirmed that no upgrade versions are available so customers who purchase Windows 7 E using the pre-order offer will get full versions of Windows 7. The downside, users will need to clean install Windows 7 meaning you cannot use the copy to upgrade from Windows Vista or Windows XP. Microsoft's decision to remove Internet Explorer for European markets was due to the European Commission's ongoing concerns at Microsoft's IE integration.
An Amazon spokesperson has confirmed to Neowin that within the first eight hours of pre-sale, Windows 7 had outsold Vista pre-sales. Pre-sale orders for Windows Vista were available for 17 weeks. Microsoft confirmed that "overnight, unprecedented numbers of people have been visiting the Microsoft UK store and it is temporarily unavailable to some visitors. We are working very hard to ensure that all visitors to the store will be able to pre-order Windows 7 as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused."
Microsoft will run the pre-sale offer from July 15th 2009 until August 9th 2009, "whilst stocks last".
It's a retail copy, so it doesn't matter if you get a new computer
I was thinking more along the lines of why would I waste money buying it on it's own when I get it with my new computer.
A retail copy is handy to install on anything I want, only one at a time though
Not really a problem as its the full version (as I hoped) so you should be allowed to move it to another computer (within 10 Activations I think like Vista).
I went for Windows 7 Professional E
Professional and Ultimate
How do you sell out of a product that hasn't even been released yet?
Only so many pre-orders available for that price and how many pre-orders available per site.
Yeah, it seems Professional went first and then Home Premium (despite Home Premium being #1 in the sales rank).
Pro is still showing as available for pre order, but Home Premium has been unavailable for about an hour.
I read that Amazon are selling a set amount a time then making it look their out of pre-orders then start up again.
So you might still get a copy from there.
So you might still get a copy from there.
Yeah, I noticed that. A little while ago Pro was showing as out of stock on Amazon, and a while later it was available again. It still is now.
Supposedly New Zealand and AUS will be the first to get their hands on "official" retail copies.
I'm quite surprised we haven't heard anything yet.
6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255 - very, very possible FINAL RTM build.
Also it seems you can pre order the dutch edition on Win7 for Netherlands, but I live in Belgium (same language as the Netherlands). Are those the same editions
Last edited by Mercy0001 on 15 Jul 2009 - 12:32
6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255 - very, very possible FINAL RTM build.
OMG WOW!!!!
Or not.
Really - do we need yet more random RTM speculation? The RTM build will be the one MS announces later this month and they've already said they're using the time till then to continue to work on it.
Well, the MS store also has a dutch text explaining that it's down because of the Win7 pre orders.
Well I spoke to amazon rep and she told me no-one will be charged till it's in dispatch process.
That'll be around 19th as dispatch date is 21st of October 2009.
This is very exciting more exciting than camping out for windows 95!
Comes with both disk IMMS!
32bit and 64bit in one disc isn't it?
DVD DL
hey is £250 RRP and 3x£90 - £270 ish
so gonna sell copies i don't use....
Last edited by melted98 on 16 Jul 2009 - 09:11
For those looking to get there hands on the Pre-order price offer look to other stores.
it was limited quantity. managed to buy the professional edition a few hours before the sell out
Not even 2 days, less that 24 hours which is rather silly, Microsoft saw the number of pre-orders and thought hey lets put up the price and make a quick buck. The cut down price for E version of £49.99 for home and £99.99 for pro is less than what our U.S counterparts have been paying for their pre-orders for 2 weeks, yet after 1 day they decide to put up the prices saying the allocated discount pre-orders have been used up. Total utter BS
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