Because Nobody Actually Pays For Windows, Right?

[snousle]

OK, Windows 7 is out and I would like to ditch Vista entirely - particularly the version that came with my TouchSmart - but I no longer have the connections that relieved me from, you know, actually paying for it. I also don't want an "upgrade" that requires me to find disks that are never available when you need them. I'm after the full, standalone version, not tied to specific hardware and not flaky pirated crap.

Suggestions? Or has Microsoft finally won this game?

Update: Admittedly, the $150 price for the Win 7 "family pack" is not so bad, but this is apparently an "upgrade" rather than a standalone license (though nothing on Amazon's page tells you that), and I'm confused on a few things... like, do you need to find the original install disks for whatever you're upgrading from? What if your hard disk dies and you have no choice but to do a clean install? I wouldn't mind just paying the upgrade price for my 3 computers, but I would hate to get stuck with less than 3 installations in practice, particularly since I don't have the original install disks for the notebook and whether I can find them for my desktop is kind of questionable. Thoughts?

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

None of the tech sites I've scanned seem to know yet what the process will be for "validating" an Upgrade edition of W7. My guess is that info will come out soon after people get their copies on the 22nd. Give it a few days and the answers will come... ;)

(My question is whether a W7 Upgrade installer would accept a copy of WinFLiP as a valid base to start from...!)

Frankly, I think M$ counts on people misplacing their previous version discs and thus winding up buying the "full" edition; that's one reason I am careful to keep all such discs in one place so I never have to give them any more money than absolutely necessary!