Windows 7 on sale at slashed prices

Officially the new upgraded software will go on sale on October 22 to the general public. However, a pre-sale has begun today for all eager Microsoft early adopters.

Prices have been considerably lowered which means for this limited pre-sale period Windows Home Premium is available for £49.99 instead of £149.99 and Windows 7 Professional for £99.99 instead of £189.99.

The company has said stocks are limited of the product and will be sold on a first come first served basis. The offer runs from July 15 to August 9.

All editions are all single-license, meaning they can only be installed on one computer.

The move comes a week after Google’s announcement that it will be launching a rival operating system: Google Chrome OS, in 2010. Google’s system is expected to be free to the general public, prompting speculation Microsoft will have to push sales of Windows 7 extremely hard while it still has time.

All UK versions of Windows 7 will come without Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser pre-installed due to the company’s ongoing battle with the European Union.

This means that computer users will have to download and install a web browser of their choice when they upgrade their computer to Microsoft’s new operating system.

Microsoft said it made its decision following an anti-trust investigation by the European Union. That on-going legal case is seeking to establish whether Microsoft’s practice of pre-installing Internet Explorer on its software is anti-competitive to other browser makers, such as Mozilla, makers of Firefox, Opera and Google which makes Chrome and Apple which makes Safari.

People can buy the software at discounted prices from shops and ecommerce sites such as: Amazon.co.uk, Comet, Currys, John Lewis and Tesco.