Posts Tagged ‘Windows 7 Enterprise’

This morning, I checked my email and actually took a look at a Technet newsletter I regularly receive. This particular one had the following subject: “Windows 7 Trial extended.” Windows 7 trial? I honestly had no idea this particular trial offer was available in the first place, but apparently, it has been and now it’s being extended. Here’s what the email had to say:

The availability of Windows 7 Enterprise (Eval) 90-day Trial is being extended to Dec 31, 2010. Intended primarily for IT pros, the 90-day trial is the full-featured Enterprise SKU that will enable any organization to explore, test hardware and applications, perform pilot activities, and develop deployment scenarios.

What the aforementioned quote *doesn’t* tell you is that the full-featured Enterprise SKU is exactly the same as the full-featured Ultimate SKU — just with different branding. So, long story short, Microsoft is essentially offering Windows 7 Ultimate free for 90 days to one and all. And when those 90 days are up, you’ve still got another 90 to go via the slmgr trick, so that’s 180 days free. After that, there are more creative ventures coming to light, but nothing I would personally endorse. And just for the record, Microsoft canned the “shutdown /s /t 315359999″ trick back in Vista, so if you thought you would trick the 1-hour shutdown deal, think again.

My only question at this point is what’s stopping anyone from simply creating a new email alias, signing up for the trial again, reinstalling it and then tacking on another 180 days for free? Maybe that’s too much to expect anyone to go through or maybe you wouldn’t even need to take it that far, but if someone is looking to keep something for free, people can get pretty creative sometimes (short of just downloading a crack and calling it done).

Download the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial: Click Here

And just in case you happen to be in the market for a particular Windows 7 ISO, I wrote guide not too long ago showing you how to use Google to find just about any Windows 7 ISO of your choice: How-to: Quickly Find a Windows 7 ISO on an HTTP Server via Google

-Stephen Chapman

http://www.msftkitchen.com

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

If you’ve purchased a PC with Windows Vista Business on it on or after April 1, 2008, then you can receive Windows 7 as an included upgrade if you purchase Microsoft Software Assurance. This deal will more than likely only interest business owners with multiple computers, but if you’re interested in purchasing Microsoft Software Assurance, you’ll save 15% if purchased by June 1, 2009 (7 days from now, so hurry if interested).

From Microsoft: “If you’re buying a new PC or have bought one in the past 6 months with Windows Vista Business, you’ll want to be sure to purchase Microsoft Software Assurance along with it. Why? Because along with the support, services, training, and tools that Software Assurance provides, you’ll also get Windows 7 as an included upgrade, which is on track to be released by early 2010*.

You won’t get this deal if you wait until Windows 7 is shipping. And, to make your decision even easier, we’re currently offering a 15% discount on Software Assurance purchases. There’s no better time to buy!”

*Stipulations/Circumstances: “If your qualifying PCs are covered by Software Assurance when Windows 7 is released, then you automatically get the rights to deploy Windows 7 Enterprise to those PCs without an additional license fee (media fulfillment fees may apply). Discount offer extends to any new PC purchased with Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional between 9/1/08 and 6/1/09. Maximum 125 PCs per customer. Purchase of Microsoft Software Assurance requires a pre-paid 2-year agreement.”

So, apparently, this discount has been going on since at least September of last year and I don’t recall ever hearing even a whisper about this promotion. Regardless, at least this gives those of you interested a week to decide if you want to take advantage of the 15% discount for Microsoft Software Assurance. I’m still not quite putting 2 and 2 together in regards to how they came up with the $77 figure, but that’s how they’re marketing it, so that’s what I went with (hey, it probably got YOUR attention, didn’t it (it certainly got mine when I ran across it, lol))! Also not clear is when this offer will expire (we know when the discount will expire, but not the Windows 7 SA offer, outside of when it ships).

Reference: Windows 7 for $77 (Link is now dead! See screenshot below)
Microsoft Software Assurance Program: Click Here

UPDATE: Microsoft has apparently taken down the portion of their site that had this deal initially. Thank goodness for Google cache! Click on the image below for a screenshot of the original offer page:

-Stephen