The idea of a family pack which allows your operating system to be installed on multiple computers in your home was first promoted by Apple with the OS X Family Pack. It has now been confirmed that Microsoft is copying Apple (again) and releasing a Family Pack for the upcoming Windows 7.
Earlier this month keen blogger Kristan Kenney was poking around in a recently leaked build of Windows 7 Home Premium and ran across a very interesting clause in the Microsoft Software License Terms. The license talked about “Qualified Family Pack User”. She blogged about it and this started a how rush a blogging about if Microsoft will release a Family Pack for Windows 7.
Well, it has now been confirmed. Brandon LeBlanc of Microsof has confirmed the rumours in the Windows 7 Team Blog. Almost hidden in the middle of the latest blog entry we find:
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. I'm 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 I've said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers.
So it is official, for the Home Premium version of Windows 7 (and only the Home Premium) there will be a family pack which can be installed on up to 3 PCs. According to the license that Kristan found these three computers need to be in the same household and are for use only by people who reside there. The reason Microsoft are saying this is to stop business from buying Family Packs and installing them in the work place.
There is no word yet on pricing, rumours for USA pricing vary from $136.95 to $199 but nobody is sure.
All this is in contrast to Apple’s forthcoming update to OS X, dubbed Snow Leopard, which will be available as an upgrade for just $29 for a single user and $49 for their Family Pack which allows OS X to be installed on up to 5 computers.
People often say that PCs are cheaper that Macs? That might be true for the initial hardware, but is it true overall?
2 thoughts on “Microsoft Confirms That The Windows 7 Family Pack is Real”
maybe things might change when google starts shipping there OS!
VJ,
I doubt Google Chrome OS will have much impact on the desktop OS market, it is essentially a customized version of Linux and in itself isn’t particularly different. However the power behind Google Chrome OS is the name and the idea of using the web instead of applications (not only email but word processing etc).
But if you want a free OS, try Ubuntu Linux, if I wasn’t a Mac user I would be using Ubuntu over Windows.
Thanks,
Gary