Windows 7 May Get Family Pack Discount

Microsoft may be introducing a Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium, with a shared license for three computers in the same household. The license details in the latest build of Windows 7 have the following clause under 'Installation and Use Rights': "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," according to ZDNet's Ed Bott.

The Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium would fall in line with similar licensing Microsoft already has for the Home & Student Edition of Microsoft Office 2007. There's no word on Family Pack pricing yet, but Bott's guess is that we'll see a Family Pack with a $189 price tag. Although he doesn't explicitly state this, Bott suggests that a price of $189 would be used since it undercuts by ten dollars Apple's comparable Family Pack that gives you five OS X licenses for $199.

That may seem reasonable, but I'm doubtful since I don't see why Microsoft would feel the need to compete with Apple on boxed software. When you buy a copy of Windows you can throw the OS on almost any computer with enough horsepower, but OS X requires a Mac. Yes, I know all about the Hackintosh community where you install OS X on a Windows machine, but PCs running OS X is not a big enough market to cause Microsoft concern.

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