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Tech beta invitees get free Windows 7 Ultimate, Vista Ultimate owners still stewing
Not so fast, says Microsoft! As LeBlanc himself puts it in a brief blog post, "Normally I hate to be wrong but in this case, I'm stoked that I am." If you received an invitation from Microsoft, you'll be getting that free copy you hoped for.
Unsure as to whether or not you qualify? Mary Jo Foley has a post a CNet that should clear up any questions.
Vista Ultimate owners - that's another story. Hopefully you took advantage of the $49 pre-order for Home Premium when you had the chance, since that may have been your best chance to catch a break on the upgrade. If not, well, you're on the hook for another $119.99 or $219.99 if you want to roll the dice on the Ultimate Edition again.
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsDrew GreenJul 30th 2009 4:03PM
I'm a Vista Ultimate owner and I'm sick and tired of people whining about "how MS screwed everyone that bought Ult. edition". People love to complain about how crappy the Ultimate Extras were. I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again: purchase a product for what it is, not what it may potentially be (with extra features).
I had a heated debate on a forum regarding people's dissatisfaction with Left 4 Dead DLC, in which my argument was this: you should buy the game for the game, not freebies that the developer is going to add on. Just a few years ago there was no DLC, and any add on you paid for from a retail store. Why does everyone feel this sense of entitlement to freebies?
I understand that MS promised Ultimate Extras, and they delivered on this promise. However, they never said that these Extras were going to be the reason you should choose Ult. over Home Premium.
I purchased Ultimate because I wanted all of the functionality of the OS; the business/power user features and Media Center. Anyone that purchased it for the Extras is a fool. What were you expecting them to give you? Free porn screen savers?
WalterJul 30th 2009 4:20PM
Well said, sir. *claps*
killerDJMWJul 30th 2009 7:33PM
I did expect extras. I shelled $400 for Vista Ultimate over Premium for this exact reason - we should be rewarded.
All I got was a motion desktop that didn't work well with dual video cards and some card games. The fact they can't even cut us a discount on Windows 7 is the ONLY reason I'm not upgrading the day it comes out. I've had the Beta and RC 1 on both my main desktop and laptop, and I'm excited. But after getting the shaft on both of my Vista Ultimate machines, I'm done. I'll upgrade to the next Windows many years from now.
Now, you say we paid for extra features - BitLocker - which was found really easy to hack.
Windows Media Center - I'll give you that one, it was nice, but wasn't worth the extra cash I forked down.
I took a chance, I made a mistake, or I was a fool as you say, but in the end, its Microsoft who loses a previously very happy customer (and yes, I realize that me not purchasing Windows 7 does anything to their bottom line). And if you look around, Microsoft even said they didn't deliver on the so called Extras in Vista Ultimate.
AdrianJul 30th 2009 11:27PM
"A few years ago there was no dlc"
A few years ago games were shipped as full products. Developers have shifted their release plans to reduce initial game size and then to include extras after the game has been released so they can design the game around the way people play it. Developers have started this trend in DLC and not finishing games before they it is released, but if they make a promise to include content down the line. they should be held accountable for their promises.
Matthew MartinJul 31st 2009 11:00PM
@ Mr. Green...
I am sorry to disagree with you but the extras was a large portion of what made ultimate different from Premium. Considering it's price tag, the differences between the two versions has not been, what I would call, worth it. And now I can only upgrade to the ultimate version on Windows 7. I am locked into an upgrade path that I regret starting down. The only thing that I am happy about right now is that I don't do OS upgrades. I am not a MS hater. Far from it. I actually like Vista. I, however, have never thought that the Ultimate pricetag from Premium was not worth it. If I had paid for it, I would REALLY be upset. I received it in the three month usage study MS did a few years back, so don't go thinking I pirated it. If I had not participated in that study, I would have never tried Ultimate. Simply not worth it. I, for one, feel sorry for those out there that did buy it.
DataCabbitKSWAug 5th 2009 5:55PM
I am glad Microsoft is doing this. The people in the invitation only Beta were seen as professionals who got real testing done, and many of them reported back their feed-back and worked with the devs on issues and bugs that were around then. Microsoft wants to help out the people who were at the core of wider testing during the early phases. This as opposed to the early-adopter, the tech-hungry, and the "I want it free" crowd. They are rewarding those who did the early work.
Link to actual Windows Team Blog post: http://tinyurl.com/ljoezl
I realize that a number of people feel "cheated" on the Ultimate path, but honestly I have gotten quite a bit of use out of Ultimate. The "extras" were a flop, to be honest, but the base features were there. I wanted the professional features from business, plus the home consumer features from premium. So I got Vista Ultimate. I have not regretted it at all. I suppose it comes down to the reason you went Ultimate. I went there to have acces to all the options and to tinker till content.