Windows 7 Europe To Cost More than US Version

The European Commission set some restrictions on Microsoft's propensity to bundle its Internet Explorer browser with its Operating system. This means that IE8 won't be able to included in the next version of Windows 7 Europe, known as 7E.

This also means that Vista or Windows XP users looking to upgrade straight away won't be able to do so using a Windows 7 Upgrade version. Instead they will have to buy the full version of the OS, backup everything and do a clean update.

From the 15th of July till the 14th of August, customers in UK will be able to pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for £49.99, the price climbs to £79.99 from October 22nd until the end of December after which the RRP will reach £149.99.

In effect, Microsoft is apparently giving European users the full version where they would normally get an upgrade; which is great news given that Windows 7 upgrade would not for Windows Vista Basic anyway, probably one of the more popular OEM Vista OSes.

The professional version will be priced at £99.99, £189.99 and £219.99 over the same time periods. Punters looking for Windows 7 Ultimate will pay £199.99 and 229.99 from October onwards. This is significantly more than the US versions of Windows 7.

Consumers buying a new PC as from tomorrow will be eligible for a free Windows 7 OS when it becomes available although the option to downgrade to Windows XP will also be available. Windows Vista Home Premium (Retail box) costs £126.21 at Ebuyer while the 64-bit OEM version can be had for a mere £76.69.

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