Microsoft will begin selling the Windows 7 Family Pack early next month in an effort to drive up demand for its latest generation OS leading towards Christmas.
The family pack includes three upgrade licenses for the Windows 7 Home Premium edition -- priced at $149.99 -- so customers won't have to pay the $119.99 upgrade fee for each individual license. Since these are upgrade licenses, the PC must already have a legitimate version of Windows XP or Vista already installed.
The Family Pack will be available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia -- the U.S. will receive the limited-time only product on October 3rd, with a global launch expected on October 22nd.
The Microsoft Windows 7 Family Pack was abandoned during the middle of the holiday shopping season last year, and it was unknown if the special bundle would return again in 2010. Just like last year, interested customers should purchase it quickly, because Microsoft said it's only available "while supplies last."
I believe this is more Microsoft marketing hype than anything else, as the company wants to keep up consumer interest in the OS. Bundling three upgrade licenses for $149.99 and mentioning it's limited time could be enough to get some anxious consumers to make a purchase.
Apple offers a similar software bundle that includes licenses for five different computers, and it has been offered regularly over the past eight years.
In early August, Microsoft announced Windows 7 usage rates have surpassed its much criticized Windows Vista OS. The news isn't overly surprising because of the bad experiences that many users had with Vista, but the overtaking did happen faster than many analysts expected.
