|
On Oct. 24, Microsoft announced its Vista coupon plan, which allows buyers purchasing a Windows XP-based PC this holiday season to upgrade to Vista when it becomes available.
Not surprisingly, this will allow consumers to purchase Windows XP
systems this holiday season and know that they can still upgrade to
Vista without a fear of obsolescence.
While this isn't necessarily the case for all systems, those customers
who purchased Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition will be treated
as a business customer, and offered an upgrade path to Windows Vista
Business Edition.
If
you'd like to be shunted onto the consumer track, make sure you've
purchased a Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows XP Home PC; that
will allow customers to upgrade to the Vista Home Premium Edition.
Interestingly, there is apparently no upgrade path to the Vista
Ultimate Edition.
For those customers that buy boxed copies of Microsoft's Windows XP,
and for smaller PC OEMs, Microsoft is offering a different program. The
offer will vary by region, but in the U.S. upgrades from Windows XP
Media Center Edition 2005 to Windows Vista Home Premium, and upgrades
from Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows
XP Professional x64 Edition to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista
Business 64, will be offered for a nominal fee. What that "nominal fee"
will be isn't exactly clear.
Upgrades from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista Home Basic and
to Windows Vista Home Premium will be offered at a 50 percent discount
from the boxed product upgrade price, plus the cost of shipping and
handling.
Each OEM will be responsible for managing its own upgrade program,
however, and each will be handled a bit differently. Below we've
assembled the upgrade paths for as many OEMs as we could; if you don't
see yours on the list, check back. We'll update the story with new
information as soon as we receive it.
- Acer: Any Acer Windows Vista Capable or Windows Vista
Premium Ready PC bought between October 26, 2006 and March 15, 2007
includes an Express Upgrade to Windows Vista option, automatically.
Redemption must be completed by March 31. Users can check to see if
their PC qualifies under the offer by clicking here.
Users must upgrade to an OS based on the same language as was
originally purchased. According to Acer, existing owners of Windows XP
Home Edition can either upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows
Vista Home Premium Edition. Windows XP Media Center Edition users will
be allowed to upgrade to Vista Home Premium Edition. Windows XP Pro
users will be upgraded to Windows Vista Business Edition, and users
with one of the 64-bit versions of Windows XP will be directed to
upgrade to Windows Vista Business X64 Edition.
Acer will also offer users the chance to buy a DVD through a supplementary site, which will begin processing orders on Nov. 6.
- Averatec: Averatec will offer a Vista upgrade, but
a company representative said that the company wasn't sure if it would
be completely free, or if customers would be required to pay shipping
and handling fees.
- Alienware: Marc Diana, product marketing manager
for desktops for Alienware, said that the company developed its plan as
soon as it learned of the coupon program this week. The company
launched a Vista upgrade Web site on Thursday.
Alienware will pay for upgrades to Microsoft Media Center Edition or XP
Pro on notebooks or desktops purchased between now and January 30.
Customers will have to pay shipping and handling.
"We're not making any money off of this," Diana said. "It's just a
program that is set in place to help out customers that are anxious
about Vista to ease anxieties and ease the holiday purchase."
- Dell: Spokesman Bob Kaufman told eWEEK
that while the company plans to charge $45 plus shipping and handling
to move from Windows XP Home to Vista Basic, the upgrade from Windows
XP Media Center Edition to Vista Premium and from Windows XP Pro to
Vista Premium will only incur a shipping and handling fee.
- Gateway: A Gateway spokesperson reported that all
eMachines and Gateway PCs were eligible for a free upgrade to Windows
Vista, starting Oct. 26.
"The specific Vista version will depend on the version of XP they
purchase today: XP Home upgrades to Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Media
Center to Vista Home Premium and XP Pro and the Tablet to Vista
Business," the spokesperson told eWEEK. A shipping fee may be attached; that hasn't been decided.
- HP: North American consumers who buy a new HP
Pavilion or Compaq Presario desktop or notebook PC, or HP Digital
Entertainment Center, with a qualifying Windows XP operating system
that is designated "Windows Vista Capable" between Oct. 26, 2006 and
March 15, 2007 will be eligible for a free upgrade to Vista. Customers
should visit HP's web site to request their upgrade. Proof of purchase will be required.
Free, qualifying upgrade paths in North America will include Windows XP
Home to Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
to Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows XP Professional to Windows
Vista Business. Shipping costs may apply, HP said.
- Lenovo: Lenovo's Express Upgrade to Windows Vista
Program will allow customers who purchase a Lenovo Vista Capable or
Vista Premium Ready PC between October 26, 2006 and March 15, 2007 to
receive a license and copy of the Windows Vista operating system when
Microsoft places it on the market in early 2007. (The PC must carry the
"Vista Ready" logo above, and consumers should be ready to supply a
proof of purchase.) Customers must redeem the offer by March 30, 2007.
Customers can visit Lenovo's Vista site for specific details. Users will pay shipping and handling for the upgrade DVD.
- Toshiba: According to a statement from the company,
Toshiba "is poised to support Microsoft's initiative by offering a
variety of Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium Ready
notebook computers in order to provide our customers with the option to
transition to the new operating system," said Terry Cronin, director of
marketing, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information
Systems.
To qualify for the program, users need to have purchased a notebook PC
pre-installed with "qualifying" Microsoft Windows XP software between
October 26, 2006 and March 15, 2007. While Toshiba has made a Web site
available to facilitate the Windows Vista upgrade transition, it was
not working as of Oct. 26. What or if Toshiba will charge for an
upgrade, or what format it will arrive in, was not known at press timeBrandon
Trackback(0)
 |
Content Categories 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form
