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7 great ways to get Windows 7 cheap (or even free!)
Here at Download Squad, we like saving money. We love finding freebies, and we're certainly not ashamed to walk up to the cash register with a fistful of coupons. Since the announcement of the Windows 7 pricing scheme, we've been looking for ways to cut the costs to make the move.
We've compiled a list of seven ways you can get that Windows 7 goodness without shelling out quite as many bucks. Read on for savings!
Windows 7 Family Pack
$149.99 for 3 Home Premium Upgrade Licenses
Since Windows Vista was released, the public has screamed for a Mac OS X-style family pack of Windows licenses for their homes. At the end of July, Microsoft made our wish their command. The Family Pack isn't available for pre-order yet, but it's expected to become available on October 22nd.Total savings: $209.98, or about $70 per license.
Attend a free Microsoft seminar
Free Professional license
Microsoft loves handing things out at seminars. This time, their nationwide The New Efficiency campaign and events come bundled with a free license for Windows 7 Professional. The events are also free to register for; the only cost to you is the travel requirements to get to the seminar. Unfortunately, some cities' events have already filled up, and are no longer open for registration. If you're one of the lucky ones near an open event, jump on this while you can.Total savings: $299.99
MSDN Academic Alliance Program
Free licenses of some sort (update: Windows 7 Professional license)
MSDN Academic Alliance is a program Microsoft offers to colleges and high schools to provide their students with access to popular design and development software, along with other products such as Windows. If you attend college or high school, talk to the appropriate highers-up about getting access to MSDN AA to take advantage of it. MSDN AA has historically provided professional/business-style versions of Windows for students; Total savings:
Windows discount program for college students
Free Home Premium or Professional license
For students that aren't lucky enough to have access to an MSDN AA partnership, Microsoft has announced a promotion for college students that will allow them to get a Windows 7 license for cheap. Either a Home Premium or Professional full license is available for just $29.99. There don't appear to be any strings attached to the licenses; the site FAQ states that they're no different than retail, off-the-shelf copies of Windows. All you need is a valid email address at a college or other recognized educational institute.Total savings: $170 for Home Premium, or $270 for Professional.
Free Enterprise Trial
90-day Enterprise trial license
Nothing out of the ordinary here; Microsoft has always been pretty good about letting users try before they buy. In this case, Microsoft wants large organizations to try Windows 7 Enterprise before they buy it. They've made a 90-day trial available to the public through March, 2010. While this trial is oriented toward enterprise customers, even the usual home user can download this trial to get a taste of Windows 7 before it's available to the public.Total savings: well, nothing in the long run. But you get to try it before you buy it, if you so desire.
MSDN Subscription or Technet Plus Subscription
Free licenses for everything, sort of
If your company specializes in software development or IT management, chances are, they have an MSDN or TechNet subscription with Microsoft. If that's the case, your organization gets free licenses to darn near everything Microsoft puts out. However, there's a string attached; the licenses are essentially only for development and testing use. That means you can install Windows 7 to test your product on it, or see how easily it'll be to roll out to your corporate network, but you can't take a license home with you for personal use.Total savings: lots, since you get licenses for all versions of Windows with your subscription.
Follow Windows on Twitter
Occasional promotions
Microsoft has been utilizing social media more and more since the development of Windows 7 became public; they, just like many other software companies, are using Twitter to get their message out, as well as bribing folks like you and me to follow them in return for the breaking news on new software promotions.Total savings: your guess is as good as ours; follow @MSWindows and see what happens!
Comments
37
Subscribe to commentsfincanSep 18th 2009 3:23PM
For the discount for college students, I can only see Home Premium on the site. What is the procedure to get a Professional with college student campaign?
kojo87Sep 18th 2009 3:33PM
i was looking for Pro too. and what about full license keys? i only see upgrade for Home Premium
KevinSep 18th 2009 5:36PM
I believe you need to click the 'i need to connect to a domain' link somewhere on the site
fincanSep 18th 2009 5:53PM
Thanks Kevin!
As Kevin said, one needs to click "Need to join your school's network domain? Click here" link right under the product picture. When you do that a pop-up shows you the professional selection.
Marcos SartoriSep 21st 2009 11:51PM
Your college must be a Microsoft Education partner. And if they are, you should be able to get with them the link to download page with a plenty of microsoft products, all legal, with serials valid untill you graduate...
After you graduate, you wont be able to update your software, you will just be allowed to keep what I got untill the moment.
Worth remember that you wont get support from microsoft using this license (but who needs it anyway) and you also wont be able to transfer the lincense to a third party, the license issued to you by Microsoft is exclusivelly personal and you also cannot use it in a production environment, for educational and personal usage only.
But have fun! Cause I am having I lot!
TravSep 18th 2009 3:27PM
Windows 7 is available on MSDN AA. At my university if you are part of the department of electrical engineering and computer science you can download Windows 7 Professional from MSDN AA.
Adam MarasSep 18th 2009 3:35PM
Thanks for the update! I've amended my post.
TravSep 18th 2009 4:06PM
No problem, glad I could help. Just found out about it two weeks ago. Downloaded it for free & have been running it since. Very pleased so far.
kamron_1Sep 18th 2009 6:48PM
Apparently this has been going on in my school since early August, good thing I'm a CS major
iofthestormSep 18th 2009 8:20PM
Hey, same here. It actually became available on MSDNAA on August 14th. Being an EECS major is pretty awesome.
MonicaOct 21st 2009 10:59PM
Really!!! That is awesome, I'll try it see if is worth it. Thanks for the info.
Rick BungleSep 18th 2009 3:28PM
I'm interested in the Pro version for college students as well!
KururugiSep 18th 2009 3:48PM
If you are a student who lives in the UK, you can get Win 7 for £30. The offer will start at 30th September to you can still plan to be top of the queue.
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/studentoffer/default.aspx
TBSep 18th 2009 3:49PM
You have to click on the "college requires a domain" link at the college student website. This will show up Professional instead of Home Premium.
JeebusSep 18th 2009 4:14PM
Not seeing that link. Could you be more specific?
MysteriusSep 19th 2009 8:09PM
You'll see it after you click the link in the email you should receive after signing up. Just keep an eye out as you go through the ordering process, and you should see it (it's highlighted in yellow). Make sure to select 32 or 64-bit, too.
revolutionSep 18th 2009 3:54PM
And you can get Server 2008 r2 via Dreamspark. If that counts.
DoGoDSep 18th 2009 3:55PM
There is always pirate bay+utorrent
Adam MarasSep 18th 2009 4:28PM
Nah, Talk Like a Pirate Day is tomorrow.
:)
estebanperezSep 18th 2009 3:56PM
To get the Professional license through the college student discount program, you need to click where it says something about joining a domain. It works, I did it yesterday. They don't have full licenses though.