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Microsoft pulls a Grinch and pulls the plug on the Windows 7 Family Pack
Several different sources around the web - including Paul Thurrott, Ed Bott and Betanews - are reporting that Microsoft's Windows 7 Family Pack is vanishing from U.S. store shelves and online retailers. The response has been a forceful and resounding WTF?! What gives, Microsoft? Although the Family Pack - $149.99 for three Windows 7 licenses, versus $119.99 for a single-user license - was always listed as a limited offer, eager Windows 7 upgraders assumed that "limited" meant more than 6 weeks.Microsoft didn't give Ed Bott much of an explanation when he went asking about the missing Family Pack, either: "The Windows 7 Family Pack was introduced as a limited time offer while supplies last in select geographies. Response has been very positive and in some cases, the offer has sold out. Customers interested in upgrading their PCs should purchase Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate upgrade products."
"The Windows 7 Family Pack was introduced as a limited time offer while supplies last in select geographies." - Microsoft
Why didn't MS wait until after the holidays to pull the family pack? It seems like moving a ton of licenses would speed the adoption rate for Windows 7, which is exactly what Microsoft wants. It would also get more genuine copies of Windows out there - there will be people who would have bought the family pack, but might just pirate a few copies instead. If you're still looking to save Christmas by putting a Family Pack under the tree, your best bet is to cruise some online retailers and see if anybody still has stock left. You're a mean one, MS Grinch.
[via Paul Thurrott]
Update: Microsoft has told Betanews that the Family Pack "wasn't pulled" and that it just sold out. Sounds totally fishy to me, but that's their official story.
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsNtw1103Dec 6th 2009 9:36AM
the swearing only makes you appear dumb:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/swearing.htm/printable
Jay HathawayDec 6th 2009 9:44AM
It would, arguably, if I had actually sworn. I don't see any profanity in my post, though.
NotRocketboyDec 6th 2009 10:23AM
Only to fucking snobs.
Drew GreenDec 6th 2009 11:14AM
you're a total dbag
sacDec 7th 2009 12:18AM
Funny, that's what I think whenever I hear someone speak with a southern accent. Then I realize what a fool I would be, were I to judge someone on something so trivial.
Brice BeachDec 6th 2009 9:54AM
found this out the 1st of December when trying to order the family pack-unfortunately Microsoft was last one offering it-could have at least had some notice, one of the many reasons people are disgusted with MS
BlackCoffeeNoSugarDec 6th 2009 10:30AM
Find a college student you know and buy a licence with academic discount. I know it is probably violating Microsoft's EULA. But it is obviously better for them than you buying a pirated copy.
Money MikeDec 6th 2009 11:30AM
Did you really just say someone would "buy" a pirated version? Haha. Are you from the 80s?
On a separate note, how can you sell out of a digital good? How stupid does Microsoft think we all are?
SoStupidDec 6th 2009 11:52AM
"Those suckers that bought Vista Ultimate, myself included, are screwed," said yet another commenter. "There isn't a chance in hell that I am paying $219 for what should really be Vista SP2. We were promised 'extras' which we never got, now we are being excluded from the pre-order special. Anyway even at $49, it is still too much to pay."
The extras that commenter mentioned refer to "Ultimate Extras," one of the main features Microsoft cited in the months leading up to the 2007 release of Vista Ultimate to distinguish the operating system from its lower-priced siblings. According to Microsoft's marketing, Extras were to be "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications" that would be regularly offered only to users of Vista's highest-priced edition.
But users soon began belittling the paltry number of add-ons Microsoft released and the company's leisurely pace at providing them. Just five months after Vista was launched, critics started to complain.
Earlier this year, Microsoft dumped the feature, saying that it would instead focus on existing features in Windows 7 rather than again promise extras.
The furor over Vista Ultimate has even reached analysts' ranks. In May, Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft urged Microsoft to give Vista Ultimate owners a free upgrade to Windows 7. "It would buy them a lot of good will, and I don't think it would cost them much," Cherry said at the time.
Some of the commenters in the latest Computerworld stories about Windows 7 echoed Cherry.
"I am running Vista Ultimate and feel ripped off by Microsoft because ... [we] never received the extras we paid good money to get," said "Hellfire" in a long comment. "The very least that they should do is offer a heavily-discounted upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate to those that have lost money by purchasing Vista Ultimate."
check google for source
VotreDec 6th 2009 8:50PM
"The big print giveth; and the small print taketh away."
enerGIDec 7th 2009 3:18AM
At least you had a offer like that, in Australia we just keep on getting screwed over by Windows 7's crappy pricing which is priced thru the roof compared to what the USA pay. Its nearly cheaper to buy a new laptop with Windows 7 pre loaded than to get the upgrade.
darwinsurvivorDec 7th 2009 4:57AM
I hear ubuntu is offering a family pack for the low price of $0.00 and the price will NEVER go up :P
SoStupidDec 25th 2009 12:00PM
"Those suckers that bought Vista Ultimate, myself included, are screwed," said yet another commenter. "There isn't a chance in hell that I am paying $219 for what should really be Vista SP2. We were promised 'extras' which we never got, now we are being excluded from the pre-order special. Anyway even at $49, it is still too much to pay."
The extras that commenter mentioned refer to "Ultimate Extras," one of the main features Microsoft cited in the months leading up to the 2007 release of Vista Ultimate to distinguish the operating system from its lower-priced siblings. According to Microsoft's marketing, Extras were to be "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications" that would be regularly offered only to users of Vista's highest-priced edition.
But users soon began belittling the paltry number of add-ons Microsoft released and the company's leisurely pace at providing them. Just five months after Vista was launched, critics started to complain.
Earlier this year, Microsoft dumped the feature, saying that it would instead focus on existing features in Windows 7 rather than again promise extras.
The furor over Vista Ultimate has even reached analysts' ranks. In May, Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft urged Microsoft to give Vista Ultimate owners a free upgrade to Windows 7. "It would buy them a lot of good will, and I don't think it would cost them much," Cherry said at the time.
Some of the commenters in the latest Computerworld stories about Windows 7 echoed Cherry.
"I am running Vista Ultimate and feel ripped off by Microsoft because ... [we] never received the extras we paid good money to get," said "Hellfire" in a long comment. "The very least that they should do is offer a heavily-discounted upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate to those that have lost money by purchasing Vista Ultimate."
check google for source