From Friday through July 11, consumers in the U.S. will be able to buy an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Home premium for $49 or Windows 7 Professional for $99. That offer is good for both XP and Windows Vista PCs, regardless of whether someone has been trying out the pre-release version of the operating system. That matches the details in a memo from Best Buy that leaked earlier this month.

[...]

When boxed copies of Windows 7 go on sale on October 22, Microsoft plans to charge $119 for Home Premium, $199 for Professional and $219 for Ultimate. The Home Premium upgrade is down $40 from the product’s original price, although the Vista product had already gotten a price cut along the way. The Professional and Ultimate versions are priced similar to where Microsoft was with Vista. The upgrade prices apply to those moving from a previous version of Windows to Windows 7, but only those from Windows Vista will be able to upgrade without doing a clean installation of the product.

The full versions of Windows 7–the editions for those without a copy of Windows–will be priced at $199 for Home Premium, $299 for Professional and $319 for Ultimate. The Ultimate and Professional editions are again on par with their Vista counterparts, while Home Premium is down from the $239 that Microsoft had charged with Vista. Microsoft also plans to offer the operating system in an easier-to-open box.

-via CNET

When?  In Windows 1.0, of course.. in 1985.  Take a look at these two screenshots to see where Windows started and where it is going:

According to the Windows 7 Beta, there will be more than one version of the next Windows OS.  I had been hoping that Microsoft would get a little smarter, and release a single version of their operating system, like Apple does with OS X.  I suppose we have to wait for Windows 8, or a revolt, for that.

I am sure that the variations of the OS is set up to appease the many that have purchased a certain edition in the past, but the problem with releasing so many versions of the operating system is that there no clear difference between the capabilities of each version of Windows.

XP Home vs. XP Pro was bad enough.  Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business and Vista Ultimate is ridiculous.  The Windows 7 Beta says “Windows 7 Ultimate” which makes me pretty upset.  Does this mean we’ll have four different variations of Windows 7?  Can anyone tell me why it is necessary for Microsoft to do this?

This is also verified when reading the blog of a Microsoft employee about Windows 7:

In Windows 7 we moved the license key to the Windows Welcome page, so you can enter it after the install. This makes it easier for people to evaluate and get started with Windows. We also provide a better experience when upgrading editions (i.e., from Home Premium to Ultimate) by enabling specific, licensed components, not reimaging the system.

I’m not sure I see what makes this a positive for Windows users.  Just give us all the same experience from the start, Microsoft.  We don’t want limitations.  In this economy, if you want to sell more, pair it down to the single release you used to do.

My guess for the releases we’ll see?

• Windows 7 Home Basic
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows 7 Business
• Windows 7 Ultimate

And the worst part of it is customers will continue to be confused as to which version they need.  Can’t we go back to the sales format of Windows 95?  You went to the store, picked up a box that said “Windows 95″ on it, and you knew that you were getting all of Windows 95.  There were no disabled features, there were no “added value features” costing you an extra $100 to unlock.

I know that it’s all about the bottom line, but the sales of Vista should tell you something.  People weren’t adopting it, not because it’s an inferior operating system; the latest SP1 edition is the release that Vista should have been.  People weren’t adopting for many reasons, but I submit that a major issue with the upgrade was the variations of Windows Vista.  Nobody knew what they needed or would use in the future, and nobody could tell which version did what they wanted.  Because of this, people stayed away… far away.

It looked like Microsoft might change this with Windows 7.  But they haven’t made the switch, and I don’t think they will…. but I hope that they come to their senses and get intelligent about it.  They’re making the best Windows since XP with Windows 7, the might as well make the best release ever with a single unified version.

Thoughts?

I’ve stuck with XP Pro, and have been anxiously awaiting the direction that was going to be taken with the next version of Windows.  Vista, we can all admit, was pretty much dead in the water, where Vista’s SP1 (first service pack) fixed most of the problems that were inherent there.

Now, Windows has released a list of many of the new features that will be found in Windows 7, which is supposedly releasing in the summer of 2009.  I must say, I wasn’t really expecting a lot, but some of these things are awesome and extremely exciting.

1. New Windows Taskbar

This is the strip along the bottom of the desktop that shows active applications. It’s been redesigned so that it behaves a lot more like the dock found in Mac OS X. You can drag applications to reorder them, and drop in icons that launch the apps that you use the most.  You can also view live thumbnails of what is inside of each open window, right in the taskbar, including individual tabs within a browser.  You can also jump straight to the tab that you want from the taskbar.  It will also provide you with controls for pausing and resuming playback on music or movies.

2. Jump Lists

These menus are definite time-savers.  If you’ve used Google Chrome, you’ve probably made use of the new tab feature that brings up your most frequently visited websites.  This is what the jump lists will be, only they will apply to particular programs.  Available for each program in your taskbar and start menu, you can click on, say Firefox or Internet Explorer, and see your recent browsing history or even choose from a list of your most-visited websites.  When you click on MS Word, you can see a list of your most recently viewed documents.

3. New Aero Features

I have to admit, Aero was one of those features that I thought was nice looking, but probably not very functional, was Aero.  That’s what makes this even cooler.  Microsoft has revamped the feature, allowing you to make all of the windows transparent by simply hovering your mouse over the far right side of the windows taskbar.  You can also use the Snap feature to expand and maximize windows by dragging them to different edges of the desktop.  You can also make great use of widescreen monitors by lining up any window’s edge to either side of the desktop and it will snap and fill that half of the screen.

4. Unified Search

This feature learns as you use it, by bringing things that you use the most to the top of the results.  It’s a simple search box that is located in the start menu.  It brings up lightning-quick search results as you type.  The results extend beyond programs into contacts, e-mail subjects, document names, playlists, songs, and even names of settings in the Windows Control Panel.

5. Fewer Security Pop-ups

Microsoft has worked hard at scaling back the number of yes/no prompts for approving system status updates. You can now change preferences to let only the most important messages through.

6. HomeGroups

This is the feature that makes me the most excited.  If you have multiple Windows 7 PCs on one network, they will all find and connect to each other.  Users can then browse all of the media stored across the PCs as if they were all on the same hard drive.  For security reasons, you can disable sharing on any folder.  Not only that, but when you click on print, the system is location-aware, so it will pick the printer that is closest to you.

7. Device Stage

This is the new device manager that gives you a single place to interact with your gadgets.  When you’ve plugged in your cameras, MP3 players and printers, you’ll be able to see them all in the window, and see the details on the status.  From battery charge, to available storage space, to the date and time of your last sync, etc.  You’ll also be able to manage the content stored on each device, and do device specific tasks.