Onlin [e] Guid [e]

Microsoft informed and confirmed that NewZealand and Australia will be the first countries whose retail stores will be getting Windows 7 on 22nd October. The reason that NewZealand will get Windows 7 first and then Australia is due to the placement of the respective countries in the International Date Line. Yesterday a Microsoft spokesperson said:

"Our understanding at this time is that the availability of Windows 7 will ‘follow the sun’ on Thursday October 22.As such, we’re excited that the first retail sales globally of Windows 7 will take place in New Zealand and Australia as we cross the dateline ahead of other markets."

Many large Australian organizations have expressed interest in the latest operating system sensation from Microsoft and have started examining it. These Australian organizations include:

• National Australia Bank
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia
• Centrelink

Even a company of quite large magnitude and structure like Telstra has signalled their clear intentions of migrating to the Windows 7 platform eventually.

Microsoft Australia at the current stage was unable to confirm and provide details as to what upgrade programs would be available to locals. At the global stage, Microsoft has confirmed, without digging deeper and providing details has highlighted its intentions to offer some sort of technology guarantee to all those who buy Vista compatible machines close to Windows 7 launch to get a free or discounted copy of the new operating system

As always pricing details will be set and decided by the individual PC makers. However Microsoft did say that Vista Home Premium and higher-priced editions will be eligible for the upgrade program. So users who use Vista Home Basic won’t be able to benefit from the upgrade program.