Stan Beer
Thursday, 05 October 2006 16:22
Your IT -
Home IT
While Microsoft has not officially confirmed it, the PC channel is abuzz with the news that what was forecast months ago is about to be announced. Upgrade coupons, which will enable new PC buyers to upgrade Windows XP to an equivalent version of Vista for free or a heavily discounted rate will be announced later in October.
According to sources in the channel, the
program called Express Upgrade will enable Windows XP Professional and
Windows Media Center buyers to upgrade to Vista for free. Fees of US$49
and US$79 will apply to upgrades from Windows XP Home Edition to Vista
Home Basic Edition and to Windows Vista Home Premium Edition.
The Windows Vista Technology Upgrade Program will run from Oct 26, 2006, through March 15, 2007.
The only requirement for PC distributors is that their hardware systems
have to meet the requirements for running Vista to be elligible for the
upgrade.
Like much of the news that comes out of Microsoft, the market
invariably knows about it before any official announcement is made.
Microsoft seems to like the osmosis method of conveying news to its
customer base so that by the time the announcement is made everything
but the finer details are known.