Microsoft offers students Windows 7 deal

After originally looking as if the UK would get a raw deal where Windows 7 pricing was concerned - what with the lack of the three-licence family pack, no upgrade editions and a very limited pre-order scheme all at some point in place - things have taken something of a turnaround. The UK market is now getting both upgrade and fresh installation SKUs, as well as the aforementioned bulk deal family pack. Furthermore, pre-order discounts continue to hold, as Microsoft looks to maximise the operating system's official launch on October 22.

The latest deal will see university students only having to pay £30 for their copy of Windows 7 if they pre-order the operating system. The deal is available from September 30, and will last until January 3 2010, when standard pricing will kick in. Furthermore, it seems that the deal is applicable on both the Home Premium and the Professional versions of the product which thus renders the Home Premium edition a little moot in this instance.

To qualify for the deal, customers need to have a valid .edu email address (the kind of e-mail address given out by a college or university), and this seems like a remarkably generous offer. Whether it will persuade greater numbers to leave XP behind at last remains to be seen. The offer details will be appearing, from September 30, at www.microsoft.com/uk/studentoffer. Where this leaves the student licences that are prevalent in the channel remains to be seen.