People may not camp out on the street to get a copy of Windows 7, but the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system is ringing up pre-orders.
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Amazon.com is offering discounts of 50 percent or more on pre-orders of Windows 7, with limits of three copies per customer on the Home Premium and Professional upgrades. Currently, Windows 7 is the best-selling software on Amazon and is also leading the charge in the entire electronics category.
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Amazon is selling the upgrade for Windows 7 Home Premium for $49. That’s less than half the $119 suggested retail price. The Windows 7 Professional upgrade is selling for $99, half the retail price. Those who pre-order a copy of Windows 7 will receive the software on Oct. 22 when it is officially released.
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Simpler, More Pragmatic
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Windows 7 may be resonating with the technology-buying public because it dials back Microsoft’s approach to a simpler, more pragmatic time when its products stood tall without the aid — or added weight — of lofty rhetorical expectations, according to Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
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During the Windows 7 development process, King said, Microsoft went out of
its way to enlist numerous clients, analysts and focus groups to determine: 1) what went wrong with Vista, 2) how best to go about fixing those problems, and 3) what customers actually wanted in the company’s next generation OS. As a result, King added, Windows 7 reflects the best sort of team effort in which Microsoft learned from its mistakes while meeting clients’ expectations and fulfilling their most pressing needs.
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Like any large IT vendor effort, Windows 7 is anything but a one-person show, King said. However, just as Vista was considered to be Bill Gates’ ultimate offspring, Windows 7 will be regarded and remembered as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s baby — one that defines his…