From Digital Life (http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life):
June 26, 2009
Microsoft on Thursday announced prices for Windows 7 and offered free upgrades to buyers of personal computers before the new operating system hits the stores in October.
Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer marketing, said Microsoft will offer free upgrades to Window 7 to people who buy Vista-equipped PCs between Friday and the October 22 release date of Windows 7.
Vista is Microsoft's much-criticised previous operating system and the Redmond, Washington-based software giant is hoping that Windows 7 will help erase bad memories of Vista in the minds of consumers.
Brooks said in a video released by Microsoft that the free upgrades would apply to people who purchase PCs running Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate.
The upgrade program will be available until January 31, 2010.
The offer of free upgrades is seen as an attempt to prevent people from putting off a decision to purchase a PC until October. An estimated 90 per cent of the world's PCs run on Windows.
Microsoft said Windows 7 will be available in 14 languages on October 22: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong).
It will be available on October 31 in 21 other languages: Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Thai, Croatian, Serbian Latin, and Latvian.
Because of a European Commission anti-trust inquiry, the Windows 7 version going on sale in Europe will not include Internet Explorer, Microsoft's Web browser. Microsoft announced earlier this month that it had decided to remove the Web browser because of the regulatory wrangling.
Microsoft said a Home Premium Upgrade of an existing PC to Windows 7 would cost $A199 in Australia while the Professional Upgrade would cost $A399 and the Ultimate Upgrade $A429.
It said the Home Premium version of Windows 7 would retail for $A299 in Australia. The Professional version will sell for $A449 and the Ultimate version for $A469.
Amid slumping PC sales worldwide, Microsoft has been aggressively pushing laptop computers recently in a series of new advertisements in the United States as a low-cost alternative to the more expensive machines of rival Apple.
AFP
Thanks for that BF.
And I just read from ZDNet last week that the Australian prices are up to $150 more in real terms than US prices. I would love to know what our local "market specific factors" are!
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Microsoft-hikes-Win7-prices-for-Australia/0,130061733,339297112,00.htm
"Market Specific Factors" = we have a lock on our market share and therefore can charge the mongrels whatever we like, cause they is too lazy to switch to Apple or Linux..... and for that we praise the great G_d Slackness.
Hmmm wonder what would happen if this were pointe out to a certain Govt Agency.... probably nowt.
Quote from: Furlozza on June 29, 2009, 12:58:31 PM
Hmmm wonder what would happen if this were pointe out to a certain Govt Agency.... probably nowt.
Yeah nowt is about right. I'm sure some of the local price hike has funded comprehensive legal advice on the regulatory and legislative boundaries for their market :faint:
And besides, govt have access to a pricing structure that takes the sting out of retail prices, so I could pessimistically suggest they care less :)
$A469 is totally unjustifiable for a Windows operating system. I have no idea how Microsoft get away with such extortion.
Guess more folks will go apple.... or just sit with what they have until either the price drops (cause those avid W$ folks are probably using the pre-release version... no offense those here using it) or switch OS and maybe start all over again. Of course, M$ have you by the proverbials there as well as all they have to do to be real nasty is remove all updates/support from products other than W7.
"Ah, it's good to be a monopolistc barstard!" (with apologies to Mel Brooks)
Quote from: Furlozza on June 29, 2009, 05:48:06 PMGuess more folks will go apple
Why... I have nothing against people using Apple computers but if one is looking for savings, buying an Apple computer probably would not be a viable alternative.
It would make more sense to go to Linux, at least for computers that are only used for things like word processing, spreadsheets, surfing the net, email, online chat etc. In fact, that's what my mother (who is in her 70s) is getting.
My 16yo daughter (who is
not a nerd) has a choice of two computers she can use at my place. One has Windows XP. The other runs Ubuntu Linux. She prefers the Ubuntu box for doing her homework on...
Upgrade prices for Apple's new OS ('Snow leopard'): http://www.macworld.com.au/news/view/snow-leopard-gets-a-september-ship-date-2775
I've got my $900 stimulus payment in the bank & I'm going to put it towards a new iMac in September when Snow Leopard hits the market.
When I was on the hunt for a laptop would have love to have gotten
a mac. Great for photo editing etc. Only thing that stopped me
was the extra $1000.
Can pretty safely say that when it comes time to upgrade, be it desktop or laptops
& if the all the mighty $ allows , will be going Mac.
Quote from: Simone on June 29, 2009, 09:38:49 PM
Great for photo editing etc.
Have heard a few (not a real lot.. just a few ) say the same... so what is it that makes a mac better than any other computer for editing photos...
I use GIMP on linux boxes... I has EVERYthing that photoshop has and then some... I just cannot understand why people would PAY for software when you can get it free...
Can get it for half price as well.
Quote
An example of how much you can save shows that if you buy Windows 7 Home Premium it will set you back $199 USD, however if you pre-order it within the required dates it will be yours for $49 USD. Amazon and Best Buy are the main retailers offering this, along with Microsoft s website.
http://www.product-reviews.net/2009/06/26/windows-7-half-price-sale-will-you-take-the-offer/
Or get the free download from here that is good till August.
http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7/3000-18513_4-10906772.html?tag=mncol;txt
Quote from: veebee on June 29, 2009, 11:09:13 PM
Quote from: Simone on June 29, 2009, 09:38:49 PM
Great for photo editing etc.
Have heard a few (not a real lot.. just a few ) say the same... so what is it that makes a mac better than any other computer for editing photos...
I use GIMP on linux boxes... I has EVERYthing that photoshop has and then some... I just cannot understand why people would PAY for software when you can get it free...
Well, I'll tell you why I use Photoshop and not GIMP. Simply because I have invested hundreds of hours in learning how to do things in Photoshop, because there is a huge base in photoshop knowledge available for free out there, because all the web development books assume you have photoshop, half the web templates out there have their graphics in Fireworks source (and fireworks more or less gets thrown in with Photoshop)....
Everything I have ever seen says that GIMP can do pretty-much anything Photoshop can do, so I am not saying that GIMP is not adequate to the task, what I am saying is that switching to GIMP is not free..... In fact, If you are invested in Photoshop, you don't have to value your time very highly for GIMP to be considerably more expensive than Photoshop.
One of these days I'll have a good go at GIMP to see if I can get a better estimate of just how much it costs..
--Mark
--Mark
That's one of the better explanations I've heard. In my own experience Gimp sucks, is far from intuitive and doesn't appear to have anything in common with web design.
<off topic>Well I have to play devils advocate here. My design staff and I have always used Photoshop because that was the flagship standard. Without exception, we now all prefer to use GIMP. It is faster, simpler, has MORE options and I can generally do things in half the time in GIMP than I can in Photoshop. Plus a few things in GIMP that I have never worked out how to do in Photoshop.
All new computers at work now get GIMP installed instead of Photoshop, and we are saving thousands in license fees.
</off topic>
I may have to get lessons from you Wang. It's doing my head in. :hbang:
Hey, Simone was only talking about editing photos.. and the fact that the price of a Mac (which she wanted FOR editing photos) was prohibitive... so I suggested a cost effective alternative for most people.... sorry.
Quote from: Wang Solutions on August 04, 2009, 01:44:51 PM
<off topic>Well I have to play devils advocate here. My design staff and I have always used Photoshop because that was the flagship standard. Without exception, we now all prefer to use GIMP. It is faster, simpler, has MORE options and I can generally do things in half the time in GIMP than I can in Photoshop. Plus a few things in GIMP that I have never worked out how to do in Photoshop.
All new computers at work now get GIMP installed instead of Photoshop, and we are saving thousands in license fees.
</off topic>
Not really off-topic, because I see Win vs. Linux and Photoshop vs. GIMP being the same argument. Basically, despite the difference in price of the tools, it is often still cheaper to use the tools you know.
And to be perfectly fair, I have never heard anyone who knows both Photoshop and GIMP say there was anything significant they could do in Photoshop they couldn't do in GIMP (or vice versa for that matter). But they all also say that the philosophies of the two tools are different and that switching over is not trivial. Neither tool, t would seem, is particularly intuitive! (Possibly because they are both so powerful.) I certainly find Photoshop highly non-intuitive.
If you are editing photos for your own use, I'd say there is no need for either Photoshop or GIMP. I have been editing my photos quite happily in Photoshop Elements for years, and it costs a fraction of what Photoshop costs, and, as others have pointed out, there are other tools that are even cheaper and easier to use that do the job. I hear nice things about Picasa, for example. And, of course, if you can drive the GIMP, then you'll never need anything else. Had I found out about GIMP before I bought PSE back in about 2001, I'd probably be using it myself right now.
--Mark
Ahhh software & hardware for photo editing two different things.
All depends on what level your photography is.
Average jo blow who takes the odd family snap shot, really wouldn't give a rats but the semi / pro photographer
where it does matter is another thing.
Software personal choice, but the standard for the game is Photoshop. Submitting to mags, printing etc all use Photoshop
Hardware, Apple MacBook Pro is the preferred choice, because of the NVIDIA graphics combine with a vivid LED-backlit display.
Now its starting to get into the tech side of things, & way off topic lol
back on the topic of windows 7 (though not necessarily the price..), I have just tried (for the 7th time) to burn an install disc of the Release Candidate of Win7 x64.
each time, I have downloaded a fresh image... and each time i then use Nero to "burn image to disc"....
it burns OK and if I look on the disk there are about (from memory) three or so folders and a "setup" file.
This time wa smuch the same as the others except i "fiddled" a bit more to try to see if I coul dget it to work/ see what was going on...
with the Win7 disc in the drive, it gets to "boot from CD" and just hangs there.. with flashing curser... but if I put my XP Pro install disc in there... it starts up as normal.
This time I even went to a recovery console so I could use a command prompt to cd over to D drive, then run the disc.. but it wouldn't let me open the drive...
so I stuck another one in there (and disconnected the original) , inserted Win 7 disc and could "read it", but could not run the setup file... "setup" was not a recognised command....
So, what am I doing SOOOO wrong between downloading the iso and putting it in my DVD drive to install it.... tonight I will try to download ( I THINK I saw an) the "executable file, (as opposed to an iso).
But to be safe... BF, could you please mail the copy you mentioned?
thanks mate,
Hey veebee,
I installed Win 7 64 from a 4GB Corsair Voyager USB stick using UltraIso and it worked very well. I don't have a DVD burner so this was my easiest option. If you have a USB stick 4GB or larger you could try this method if you wish:
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html
Then just install it:
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
Veebee,
this might be a message coming from wherever saying not to get caught up in the W7 situation. :-)
More seriously, the main difference I can see between XP and W7 is that W7 is a DVD and XP is a CD. My experience is that DVD burning/reading is much dodgier than CDs. I seem never to be able to get a DVD drive work properly for burning and reading for more than a year or maybe 18 months. I am forever tossing out DVD burners.
Did you do a verify pass when you burned the DVDs?
--Mark
Veebs
Alternatively, you could run down to your local newsagent and buy the September edition of PG Authority. They have W7 on their monthly disc. Might save a whole lot of burning/pulling/anger. Oh and less than $10.
(Don't know what game they are featuring this month though.)
Quote from: miw on August 06, 2009, 11:47:59 AM
this might be a message coming from wherever saying not to get caught up in the W7 situation. :-)
I'm beginning to wonder if it's something like that myself.... but it's only gonna be a temporary thing... while the credit is good at AQUA etc. Plus it leaves me a win x64 option when OTHER projects do the "same thing" (cedit ridiculously higher on one OS than another).
Must say though, it IS paying good on the XP 32 bit machines...
Quote from: miw on August 06, 2009, 11:47:59 AM
Did you do a verify pass when you burned the DVDs?
--Mark
No... I guess I'm too eager and have that switched off ... though if the burn is RS.. the result will still be the same..
but you will *know* the burn is RS (or that your burner can't read DVDs properly). It's happened to me, and I have on occasion created a coaster setting for 6.... :hbang: :pcwhack:
If it verifies OK and you still can't boot from it, then it is a problem of a different colour and a whole different world of frustration...
--Mark
@MIW: I guess you're right... I USED to always verify any burn... back when there were only CD's.. and 4X was really "fast"...
so its probably a wise thing to have "verify" checked, when they're burning at 5 times that speed now.
For another outrageous pricing situation, look at the US Adobe shop and see how much CS4 Web Premium costs: US$1600 or about A$2000. In the Australia shop it is A$3500 or so. And the US shop won't accept Australian credit cards (although it can be fooled into doing so.)
grr.....
--Mark