Is Family Pack Licensing for Windows 7 Becoming a Reality?

My good friend Kristan Kenny has made quite the discovery as he dug around in some files from a recently leaked copy of Windows 7.  Over at his Digital Life site he shares what he found in the Windows 7 Home Premium license terms. 

Here are two key excerpts:

b. Family Pack. If you are a “Qualified Family Pack User”, you may install one copy of the software marked as “Family Pack” on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the “licensed computers” and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.

This is quite interesting and will please many people if it turns out to be true, however it looks like this may only be for Windows 7 Home Premium; when I compared the license agreements, I noticed that Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate editions do not include a “family pack” clause.

Ed Bott posted a follow up story to Kristan’s tip about this and predicts that Microsoft will sell this family pack for $189.  In fact, Ed wrote about this possibility a month ago when he discussed Windows 7 pricing before it was officially announced.

I say good on you Microsoft for acknowledging the cost a household can encounter to upgrade more than one computer in a home.  Since there are typically multiple PC’s in homes this type of license makes total sense.

Related Posts:

• Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack Pricing Revealed
• Free Windows 7 Upgrade for Windows Vista Owners
• Windows 7 Family Pack Making a Comeback
• Windows 7 Release To Manufacturing Gains Some Clarity. Family Pack License a Reality.
• Windows Anytime Upgrade Process

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