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Australia gets Windows 7 Family Pack for $249

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David Flynn30 November 2009, 10:19 AM

The Windows 7 Family Pack, containing three licences for Windows 7 Home Premium, will go on sale in Australia tomorrow for $249.

Responding to criticism over the lack of the Windows 7 Family Pack at last month’s launch of the new OS, Microsoft Australia has rushed to roll out the bundle — which includes three licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium – for $249.

That stacks up as exceptional value considering that a stand-alone upgrade edition of Windows 7 Home Premium retails for $199.

It’s still shy of the US pricing, which is pegged at $120 for Windows 7 Home Premium and US$149 for the Family Pack – but Microsoft Australia’s Jeff Putt suggests that buyers shop around, because the local $249 sticker is only Microsoft’s recommended selling price.

“We encourage buyers to find out the street price, to check online, because many retailer will have a different price” Putt told APC. “I’ve already noticed a number have lower prices on Windows, so more than ever it really pays to shop around.” It’s already listed at DSE (as the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade 3 User Pack) for $237.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will upgrade three home PCs from either XP or Vista.

Putt admitted that he was taken aback by the strident criticism over the lack of the Family Pack at the time of the Windows 7 launch, even though that three-licence bundle was merely part of a marketing trial.

“I was personally very surprised” he said. “We got lots of feedback at the launch and this really made me think ‘Well, that’s what we are hearing, and we talk about how with Windows 7 we listened to customers, here’s a chance to show that we really do listen.”

Putt says that following the launch, Microsoft Australia made representations to Microsoft HQ in Redmond “and managed to get Australia included in the global trial on the basis that our market is very similar to America and also because we were able to demonstrate the high level of interest from Australia.”

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Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

A little earlier than expected, but welcomed nonetheless.
And it's always good to see a megacorp recognise Australia as being a 'significant' market ground.
As for price, 3 Copies of Windows for $249 is a bargain. This is comparable to the prices for Win98, 10 years ago.

30 November 2009, 11:26 AM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

GerryM (New user):

This is finally a good price.
In the UK, Amazon is listing the Family Pack at £129.95, say $A236.
So DSE at $A 237 is a great price.
I am about to go the UK and would have bought there.
HOWEVER, there is another glaring Microsoft Australia anomaly here.This is student and family pricing. In the UK ANY student, junior, high school or college / university can buy Microsoft products at great prices.
Just go on the Microsoft UK site and search on Education, Buying for students to sites like The Basement.
Here Windows 7 Ultimate is £ 56.75 - Say $A 104!!
Or Office Ultimate for 2 PC's at £ 51.87, say $A 95.00.
Why do we not get this sort of pricing here.
Gerry

30 November 2009, 11:32 AM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Quoting GerryM:
Why do we not get this sort of pricing here.

Because in a consumer economy, the prices are set by the market/customers.

It is highly unlikely, but if everyone bought Win7 from overseas, you'll find the prices of Win8 will be comparable to the overseas releases.

30 November 2009, 11:44 AM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Jayec (User):

Quoting GerryM:
In the UK ANY student, junior, high school or college / university can buy Microsoft products at great prices.

University/TAFE students can get Win 7 Pro Upgrade for $50 @ itsnotcheating.com.au (Office is $75)

30 November 2009, 11:50 AM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (Regular user):

Quoting Jayec:
Quoting GerryM:
In the UK ANY student, junior, high school or college / university can buy Microsoft products at great prices.

University/TAFE students can get Win 7 Pro Upgrade for $50 @ itsnotcheating.com.au (Office is $75)

However, high school students don't get those discounts, and not all TAFE campuses are listed on the It's Not Cheating website.

Adobe, however, do offer extreme discounts to students of the CS4 range: provided a student can submit proof to Adobe of their current study statu, such as a report card, Photoshop CS4 Extended can be theirs for $152 instead of $1440 or Master Collection for $497 instead of almost $3400. You buy the software with no license key, and Adobe send you one once they acknowledge that you are actually a student.

If Adobe can do it, why can't Microsoft? A similar scheme would work, I should think: submit a copy of a report card or something else like that, and you get the license key for your software.

Linkage: http://www.citysoftware.com.au/adobe%20cs4%20student.aspx?Menu=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&Search=1

30 November 2009, 12:10 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

K (Cornerstone member):

I bought 32-bit and 64-bit Win7 licences using It's Not Cheating. Good price, but the installation method is a real pain in the bum - no proper ISO image, and lots of crappy hacks required to upgrade from an XP system.

30 November 2009, 4:46 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

petert (Senior member):

MS very rarely does anything worthy of congratulations, but this is one of those rare occasions when they do deserve congratulations.

Nonetheless, as others have noted, TAFE and Uni students can get W7 Pro for only AUD$50.00, which is even better value.

30 November 2009, 12:14 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

lordy16 (New user):

BLAST! I work at a retailer and i told a customer just yesterday this wasn't available in australia, BLAH

however, good!

30 November 2009, 12:53 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Quoting lordy16:
i told a customer just yesterday this wasn't available in australia

Here in SEQ, we've been telling customers it would be at least March, 2010 before we saw this offer. But hell, who's arguing :)

30 November 2009, 1:54 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha whooooooopeeeeeeeeee Good Golly Miss Molly :) Does this mean seeing that I only need to upgrade one PC (mine) I'll be able to do this for $83 dollars :) Now we're talking Microsoft Yeeehaaaaa

30 November 2009, 3:27 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Er sorry Guys :( Double post

30 November 2009, 3:33 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phred (Cornerstone member):

It's still not going to convince me to purchase the upgrade.

30 November 2009, 3:50 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Quoting Phred:
It's still not going to convince me to purchase the upgrade.
Me neither actually "Phred" Correct me if I'm wrong but you still have to upgrade from Vista to use this and that's something I never did.So I suppose I'd have to get the full version.

30 November 2009, 4:21 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phred (Cornerstone member):

Quoting The Big Baboo:
I suppose I'd have to get the full version.

I'm not going to waste any more money on Windows, or time on Ubuntu/Linux after the plethora of problems that Karmic provided post upgrade.

I'm thinking it's time to go back to a Mac after 15 years in the wilderness with nothing but grey hair to show for it :O)

30 November 2009, 4:26 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Quoting Phred:
'm not going to waste any more money on Windows, or time on Ubuntu/Linux after the plethora of problems that Karmic provided post upgrade.
Hmmmmmmmm I've just updated my Ubuntu from 9.04 to 9.10.Went pretty smoothly though I do think I'll have to format that drive again and start from scratch as it won't allow me to do emails unless I give it a password every time :( I think "Tin" covered this somewhere.

30 November 2009, 5:09 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

plutonium210 (Advanced member):

Quoting Phred:
I'm thinking it's time to go back to a Mac

Yes, they leave for greener pastures but they always return in the end ;)

As for the pricing, the Apple marketeers should be looking over their shoulders. But I suspect it's MS's way of getting the desktop count up after the Vista marketing mayhem.

30 November 2009, 5:11 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Quoting plutonium210:
Greener pastures ?
Er "greener pastures" Mmmmmmmmm sorry "plutonium210" but last time I looked I was a ravager of meat and not a muncher of grass :)

30 November 2009, 5:17 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

plutonium210 (Advanced member):

Quoting The Big Baboo:
I was a ravager of meat

You silly silly silly penguins :)

30 November 2009, 5:20 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (User):

Quoting plutonium210:
You silly silly silly penguins :)
Actually ;) I'm still a "ravager of meat" why show me a full grown Angus cow,not one of those measly little burgers they try to flog off on us and I'll show you HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :)

30 November 2009, 5:30 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phred (Cornerstone member):

Quoting The Big Baboo:
full grown Angus cow

mmm... Black Angus steak *dool*

Me thinks it's time for a visit to pay 'Prime' a visit

30 November 2009, 5:50 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Quoting The Big Baboo:
but you still have to upgrade from Vista to use this

The article states and MS also clearly states the upgrade is for Vista and XP.

30 November 2009, 4:47 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (Regular user):

Quoting Me In Oz:
The article states and MS also clearly states the upgrade is for Vista and XP.

And with the XP upgrade one must wipe the hard drive in the process, so not much of an upgrade if you ask me.

30 November 2009, 4:52 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phred (Cornerstone member):

Quoting Douglas:
And with the XP upgrade one must wipe the hard drive in the process, so not much of an upgrade if you ask me.

I've never trusted the 'upgrade' from one MS OS to another, always clean install.

I think you can do a clean install with the Windows 7 upgrade disk the same way you could with Vista.

30 November 2009, 4:59 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Quoting Douglas:
so not much of an upgrade if you ask me.

Anyone worth their IT salt knows to do a fresh install anyway.
The recommendations were the same when going from Win98/WinMe to XP.
The fundamental code is different between XP and Win7. Not so much between Vista (Win 6.0) and Win7 (Win 6.1).

But I guess you'll never please everyone :)

30 November 2009, 5:00 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (Regular user):

Quoting Me In Oz:
Anyone worth their IT salt knows to do a fresh install anyway.

Agree with you there. When the Windows 7 upgrade kit arrives I'll try to do a clean install purely for the fact that my current Vista setup is a bit wobbly.

30 November 2009, 5:43 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Me In Oz:
But I guess you'll never please everyone

Not with any version of Windows with Home in the title you won't. Looks like this thread could have made use of that no-sale icon too.

30 November 2009, 6:25 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

GDavid (New user):

"Australia gets Windows 7 Family pack for $249"
All the news that fit to print, "Australia gets Windows 7 Family pack UPGRADE for $249" might have been more 'apt' (rather than 'fitting')... Wish it was the European version of the upgrade...

30 November 2009, 6:11 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

apt.pupil (Advanced member):

ok.

so now i know what version to buy.

i buy this, sell the other 2 installs to my family(i call it "chipping in" to help me get it)for $50 each, so then i have only really paid $149 for my one copy of win7

30 November 2009, 10:05 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

stefcep (Frequent poster):

There's only one real reason to get Win 7 as far as I can tell: to run its mediacentre which by all accounts is a lot more stable, has built in EPG from FTA signals and a doddle to set up. Evertyhing else about Win 7 screams Vista Service Pack 3. Me? Happy with Ubuntu 9.04/Vista dualboot ( I boot Vista only when I need to run Windows-only software eg Cinema 4D. Media playback, TV recording and editing, net, email is all on Ubuntu.

02 December 2009, 3:22 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Cornerstone member):

Quoting stefcep:
to run its mediacentre

Totally agree. It has no peers when it comes to ease of use and stability.

Me and 2 mates just got the pack for $229.00 ......... Absolute Bargain :)

02 December 2009, 4:40 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Human Calculator (Regular user):

A Windows 7 Family Pack sounds like a very good idea, three Home Premium licences for $249 is a good price, especily as not everyone will use the extra fetures if Profecional and Ultimate.

01 January 2010, 12:28 PM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Judy009 (New user):

Great price for the family.

19 January 2010, 7:46 PM (1 month ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Judy009 (New user):

Great price for the family.

19 January 2010, 7:48 PM (1 month ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Anonymousewiuu2945u389 (Frequent poster):

I still won't be upgrading, though. I've got a Vista set-up working quite nicely (shoch horror!), I need 4 copies - not 3, and the RC kills Telstra Prepaid Broadband (and I don't see why the RTM shouldn't). And besides, if I can get the RC to continue working after 1st of June... (If not, I'll wipe Win7RC for Linux alongside my existing WinVista installation on my laptop)

11 February 2010, 10:17 PM (1 month ago)report abuse Send to a friend