Microsoft Pulls Plug on Windows 7 Family Pack

[omnimodis78]

Keep them cheap - or else we'll keep on torrenting. Greedy bastards!

 

[wildwell]

That was NOT My Idea, Microsoft!

 

[lorddude]

If I was to guess, the thinking behind this was now that they have windows 7 growing in market share and a few households upgraded, they can use word of mouth advertising to a greater extent. If the family down the street is saying how amazing, safe, and easy to use windows 7 is, then before you know it the rest of the block is looking to upgrade, regardless if they can get the family back or buy individual ones.
Now whether or not that actually happens is up in the air, but I'm assuming that's what MS is going for.

 

[Onyx2291]

Guess since so many people are buying and the family pack is cheaper... Make people pay more for all 3 is the best bet.

I mean if a couple of friends want to all upgrade they could all just buy a family pack and share huh? More profits off of single units.. Figures anyway.

 

[sublifer]

I was waiting on a retail edition family pack cuz I don't do upgrades. Guess I'll try linux again

 

[jalek]

I'm running.. a Server 2008 media server, Server 2003 file server, old XP box, a laptop with Vista, main box running Windows 7, and even have an old box rarely up with Windows 3.1/DOS 6.20.

No redundancy at all. What's that they say about variety?
Actually.. I think it should be about garage sale time anyway.

 

[shabaa]

Looks like it was driven the pursuit of the almighty $$$. Mac makes their money on the hardware, not the OS. Want an upgrade? Sorry no family pack for you! Full retail for all of your machines. Merry Christmas from Micro$oft!

 

[intelliclint]

Perhaps it was more of a piracy issue. Lets say you just needed 2 keys, would you then sell or give your 3rd key to friend or just post it on the internet.

 

[tommysch]

LOL, do some people really BUY licenses??? Seriously.

MS makes their OS money from OEM and corporations. They dont even try to go after piracy, it help boosting the adoption rate and slowing Linux down.

My Windows 7 Ult x64 is fully ''activated'' btw.

 

[jerreece]

Microsoft realized that with good sales of Windows 7 already, the family pack was simply eating into their profit margin. Therefore... they are now "Sold Out".

Give me a break. I think we all know "Sold Out" is a fictitious term. You can't sell out of something that you can replicate very quickly.

 

[remyj]

I too was planning on buying a WIN7 Family pack to upgrade the 3 Dell D610 laptops my various family members use. For $50 per laptop, it's a worthwhile upgrade. For the posted regular price of $119 for a Windows 7 Home Premium single license, the 3 way laptop migration no longer makes sense to me. We'll just use the installed XP until MS support dies in 2014. They could have had another $150 of my money. Now they get nothing until we replace the machines and buy new laptops with a Windows 7 license and installation already on them. I have to believe there are millions of people with similar situations that would have spent the $50 per older machine to upgrade but will not spend the $119 per machine to upgrade.

 

[aford10]

If Microsft was smart, they'd continue to offer the family pack. This is just going to drive more people to pirating.

 

[deathblooms2k1]

Well my 2 extra licenses from my family pack just increased in value. And here I was going to be a nice guy and sell them at 50$ face value.

Microsoft saw how the family packs were selling like hotcakes and greed got the best of them. Pretty weak, hopefully there will be a noticeable shift in market share to make them bring them back.

 

[ssddx]

[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]Keep them cheap - or else we'll keep on torrenting. Greedy bastards![/citation]
By not paying for the product you place yourself in the same catagory as those you abhore.

As for the product... I'd rather have a retail edition of a family pack instead of an upgrade. Some of us are still running XP. To those who wanted the pack: sad how they discontinue a deal, but such is life.

 

[christop]

I guess I bought one of the last rounds..

 

[chrisv815]

I was going to upgrade 3 computers for Christmas in my house. I'm not buying 3 separate upgrades. Guess I'll buy PS3 games instead.

 

[christop]

I guess I bought one of the last rounds of the family pack..

 

[Guest]

I am glade I picked mine up early.

 

[kidamnesiac]

[citation][nom]Regulas[/nom]Apple still and will keep OS X Family packs. I do not have a Apple computer right now but did have one for years, wrote my second book on a old Powerbook G4, use Linux now.OS X is the best consumer OS out there. The ease of use, better than Windows. Then you have the safety and security of Unix/Linux.Now flame me MS Fanboys, I can take it for I speak truth.[/citation]

You speak opinion...
And safety and security is not always present in every flavor of Unix/Linux. People who assume that 'everything is gonna be ok, because I'm running impenetrable OS X' are obviously misinformed consumers. The Kool-Aid must still taste pretty good...

 

[brockh]

[citation][nom]chrisv815[/nom]I was going to upgrade 3 computers for Christmas in my house. I'm not buying 3 separate upgrades. Guess I'll buy PS3 games instead.[/citation]

Enjoy getting two PS3 games, lol.

 

[radguy]

I have been looking to buy a family pack version for about 3 weeks now and haven't found a copy or at least not at 149. Pretty sad cause I was going to upgrade my parents desktop, my sisters laptop, and my one of my laptops. Too bad I won't be paying 100+ to upgrade any of them.

 

[Guest]

Get rid of Windows, install Linux, profit.

 

[seerwan]

[citation][nom]mr_tuel[/nom]Ok, so I will use bittorrent then. Good job.[/citation]

lulz - already have... 7, Ultimate, 64 bit, activated...
screw MS... i wasnt gonna pay $135 for the OS... My entire system cost $260...

 

[Guest]

Probably there where too many reselling Vista to others who where only using one or two licenses!

 

[dtm4trix]

greedy ass M$! Figures they would pull a stunt like this.