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Windows 7 Family Pack

VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Well, I sent my mom to staples to pick up a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack, since they were OOS online, and my previous online order for same won't be here until the 27th.

She called me from the store, apparently the sales people there are saying some things, that I feel are likely untrue.

First of all, they say that to use the Family Pack, ALL of your computers at home have to be running Windows 7. That's got to be a load of bollocks.

Second, they say that you have to have Vista pre-installed to use it. This one I'm not so sure about, because the retail box says "Upgrade", and it also says "Designed for Vista".
But I doubt that MS came up with two seperate editions of Win7 Home Premium Upgrade, one for Vista and XP, and one for only Vista. If it does require Vista, then I'll probably re-sell it instead of using it, because I'm not going to shell out for Vista at this point in time. But that would be incredibly stupid of MS, I think.

So, anyone get theirs yet? Can they confirm or deny these items?

Edit: I just had one idea on how MS might limit a Family Pack to running on a single home LAN. They might have one system set up as the "Master", and run a KMS server, and the other machines as "Slaves", that would have to check in with the KMS server every week.
Do you think MS would be that devious?
 
There've been very few details available on how the Family Pack works. I've seen NOTHING about the licensing. I can't imagine a KMS server situation. What about cases where there's no LAN in the house, or a family member moves or goes to school?

As far as I know, the Family Pack upgrades will work just like any other W7 Home Premium upgrade and will work with XP and Vista boxes. In any event, we should have lots of feedback as soon as a few folks get their hands on the Family Packs.
 
how much is the family pack? I think a friend of mine was interested in getting that but not sure about pricing.
 
Originally posted by: nyker96
how much is the family pack? I think a friend of mine was interested in getting that but not sure about pricing.
Click to expand...
About US$150 for the three W7 Home Premium Upgrade licenses.
 
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Originally posted by: nyker96
how much is the family pack? I think a friend of mine was interested in getting that but not sure about pricing.
Click to expand...
About US$150 for the three W7 Home Premium Upgrade licenses.
Click to expand...

Guess what, there's only ONE product key!!!!


This is BAD. How are they going to tell which machine(s) are the "current" licensed machines, if the retail upgrade license allows you to move licenses between machines?
Say you install the product on two machines. Then you install it on a third. Then you take that third install, and move it to another machine. And then another. Still only have it on three machines, but if they go by the last three installations, the first two machines will no longer be validly licensed. BIG problem. I was afraid of this crap.
 
That's an iffy scenario. I'm wondering if three people can pool their funds and use this to buy a copy for $50 each. That's the price of a game.
 
How am I supposed to "proove" that I have three licenses, if I'm ever asked?
I only have one license key sticker, that says "Proof of License", and it doesn't say anything about three licenses.



Even better, what happens if you install it on one machine, as a legal upgrade, and then install it onto another machine that has a clean HD. Does it consider it as moving the valid upgraded license to another machine, or does it puke as an invalid upgrade?

This might be a loophole, you might be able to install a family pack license once, on one machine, and then do two clean installs with it on other machines. MS could have closed that loophole by giving you seperate license keys.
 
Hmm....weird. I guess they are going to do like with Action Pack and other subscription Keys and limiting the number of Activations per Key. That means a phone call if you have to move your license to another PC. It also prevents handing out a single Key to a friend unless you trust the friend with your entire license set. It stops single Keys from being wholesaled on eBay.

Hopefully we'll learn exactly what MS has done with the Family Pack licensing soon.
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
That means a phone call if you have to move your license to another PC.
Click to expand...
Why does MS like to hassle their legitimate customers?
Click to expand...
They might have a "grace" count, where you are allowed extra Activations within a certain time frame without a complaint.
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
That means a phone call if you have to move your license to another PC.
Click to expand...
Why does MS like to hassle their legitimate customers?
Click to expand...

I prefer the hassle of activation in Windows over the draconian restrictions of OS X. Of course I've got a MSDN subscription at work so I don't have to worry about it much.
 
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