Not content with letting a good numeric opportunity pass it by, Microsoft Netherlands has announced that it'll be handing out up to 777 copies of
Windows 7 to residents of the small town of Zevenhuizen, the name of which translates to "seven houses." The installation requirements are a bit peculiar, however, as
Microsoft won't actually give you a disc, instead opting to either make you ship it to them or actually bring a technician to your house to do the dirty work. The offer isn't valid to Windows employees, those younger than 18 years, or people who use Macs or Linux machines as their primary computer -- however they prove that. Zevenhuizen residents who read Engadget (
hallo!) can point their browsers to the read link for all the relevant details -- signups end tomorrow, and installations will occur from October 17th through October 23rd.
[Via
Ars Technica]
posted Oct 16th 2009 1:32AM
Nice
Buy them all copies of Sev7en as well.
Buy them all? I'm currently using XP and MS will have to offer me
some serious moola to go thru very painful upgrade process, let alone
me paying for the upgrade. Backup data, reformat disk, install Win7,
reinstall all apps and restore data. That's absurd to say the least!
Can you imagine a company with thousands of users have to go
thru this. WTF MS was thinking?
They're probably thinking that most of their customers aren't morons, Wolfie.
No offense.
@Wolf
I thought the same thing when Ford forced me to upgrade my 1970 Maverick. Ugh, I had to move my flashlight and blanket from the trunk to the new car, as well as the pine tree air freshener. Can you believe a company that makes newer, updated models of their same product?? WTF was Ford thinking!
I'm just SO sure that you run XP that you couldn't possible be running OSX. Why would someone lie about using an operating system just to make it look bad? I'm sure you're not doing that
jivetrky@
Your analogy is bogus. No one needs flashlight and blanket in the car.
Apps and data are part of your computer and without them you will have
no reason to own a PC and run Windows.
arcticpenguins @
A typical fanboy like you made a typical assumption. Does this "76487-OEM-0011903-00106"
look familiar to you? This made you look stupid, isn't it?
Mark Anderson @
XP represents 75% of Windows users. The remaining 25% of users use Vista.
Most people would agree Vista is for morons which explains why majority of businesses
continue to use XP. I guess you must be one of the morons that uses Vista.
No offense.
@ wolfie
no one's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to upgrade your damn pc. either you want to or you don't, just stop being a little bitch about it.
Actually, Wolfie, that's more to do with refresh cycles although there's certainly a perceptual element.
To give you an example - the company I work for (which has in excess of 100,000 employees) upgraded to XP from NT in 2005/06. This was four to five years after XP was released and isn't an uncommon statistic given that it took XP four years to achieve 50% corporate market penetration.
Now you can throw words like 'moron' around if you want but you're just going to end up hurt because, unlike you, a lot of us know what we're talking about so either do a bit of research (there's this crazy invention called 'The Internet' which is apparently a bit of a library I hear) or shut the hell up and stop making a fool out of yourself.
This dude has a real point and you all down rank him and talk down to him like you guys know anything. You are all a bunch of fanboy tools with no real knowledge. You should all get back to work and quit down ranking people with real issues. Engadget, Do you even read this garbage that is your comment system?
Did you know that out of the 20 people i know who used to read engadget NONE of them do anymore, these exact tools in this thread have basically driven them away with their FUD.
Its just amazing how effing stupid you people are.
..this guy needs a lozenge.
bad.
actually the comments are the only reason im on engadget, otherwise, google reader would have sufficed B-)
@Tsing Tao
What was that? I cant read your comment...
I thought it was only Bungie that had a thing for 7.
what color is that guys hands?
White???
Nice one! I get it.
Oops = Oops
Well at lease it wasn't 666...
Please. This is MS. Lucifer wishes he could be as evil as Ballmer.
@mike
Your right. Apparently there can only be one spawn of Satan at a time and Steve Jobs is not giving up his spot.
Wasn't that the price of the Apple II?
Up to, huh?
Only 777 copies for a place with a population of 6 610?
Maybe 5800 or so use Macs. Or Linux. Or are under 18. What's with that anyway? Does Windows 7 have adult content...?
haven't you tried it yet? when you open the computer instead of the boring windows logo there's hardcore porn.
Win 7 are known to give some guys a boner, that should explain the 18+ requirement.
I'd certainly not let MS people in my house, to hell with that, and no; free stuff won't convince me.
MS could really use a better marketing head.
are you up for the job? We(microsoft) are always looking for talent that has no boundaries. /sarcasm
This is why Sony uses David Lynch to make insane advertisements. If you suspect your advertisements are going to be ridiculous no matter what you do, you might as well stop trying to make real advertisements and just go nuts.
A David Lynch Windows 7 advertising campaign would probably sell more product.
I swear I live in Zevenhuizen >>.
Ah - but which one? There are five in The Netherlands!
Why the prejudice against Macs and Linux?
ya know, that is pretty insane. You'd think Microsoft would prefer to displace Linux users with Windows users, rather than just replace XP users with 7 users.
I honestly don't understand. It's a tacit confession that people using those OSs would not switch if they had a direct comparison. I guess MS is trying to prevent someone from upgrading a friend's PC, but why would this matter to MS?
They have chosen Zevenhuizen Leek, because 'leek' loosely stands for noob.
It might sound like Microsoft had a hard time dreaming this one up, however, I guess it was quite common at one point to go round counting the number of houses in the village when you decided on a name. I'd feel pretty left out if I lived in one of the others:
One -
Een, Noordenveld Drenthe
Three -
Drie, Ermelo Gelderland
Four -
Vierhuizen De Marne Groningen
Vierhuizen Wûnseradiel Fryslân
Five:
Vijfhuizen Haarlemmermeer Noord-Holland
Vijfhuizen Oosterhout Noord-Brabant
Seven -
Zevenhuizen Bunschoten Utrecht
Zevenhuizen Heeze-Leende Noord-Brabant
Zevenhuizen Leek Groningen
Zevenhuizen Texel Noord-Holland
Zevenhuizen Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle Zuid-Holland
Eight -
Acht , Eindhoven Noord-Brabant
Ten- literally Ten Commandments...
Tiengeboden, Ubbergen Gelderland
Jerry Norbury
Amsterdam
I just made a friend very happy with this news!!... only to disappoint him a few minutes later when I found out it's not his "Zevenhuizen". ;-)
Alot of people are getting WIndows 7 earlier. Not fair
If you're a member of the MSDN (If you go to college and your school is a part of it) you can get Windows 7 Professional for free! In 32 bit and 64 bit flavors. I've been using the Win 7 I got from MSDN for close to a couple weeks now and it's awesome! :D
Not every university uses the same pricing policy. Texas Tech would give you the OS for free, but UT Austin makes you pay a nominal fee or issues a free disc to students during orientation, once.
What amazes me is that at both schools, students would buy their office and OS at Best Buy. I remember telling a lady at Fry's that she didn't need to buy her son Office for his studies... that he already paid for it with tuition.
They get no actual disk... So when they need to re-install their OS becasue of a virus, they screw it up, or an HD vailure.. THey are screwed...
I have to say if MS came knocking on my door and told me that if I shipped my laptop to them to have them install WIn7 for free, with no media... I would just give them the finger, and slam the door on their face.
Great. No-one cares.
Seriosuly "Get a virus'? What is this? 2006?
@Mark
Unfortunately TavisJohn has a point. The average user is not gonna know how to burn an ISO to disc even with instructions. Therefore, when they do get a virus, their HD crashes, or they feel it's time to reinstall their OS, they have nothing to use except to buy/find another copy of Windows 7. I work at a college Help Desk, which isn't fancy, I'm just a student myself, but our top issue is viruses. We offer free cleanup to all students and have a constant stream of them. The viruses they receive are usually because of their own stupidity (file sharing, clicking yes to install a video codec, not have anti-virus, etc.). And at the Help Desk, we don't do OS reinstalls (just our policy) or provide OS discs.
I think Windows 7 is great, but because of the importance of the OS, direct download should not be a common/default option (maybe an advanced one). I've been telling all students that buy Windows 7 for $29 to purchase the extra DVD for $15 or at least the extended download period for $5.
They aren't screwed, per se, they just need to pay for the new OS, or prevent this problem from occurring by making a proper backup image.
When Oprah gave me a Pontiac, I was screwed when I didn't change the oil in it.
@Mark Yes cause nobody gets virus's ever. Which is why i certainly dont have a weekend full of clients with the new super awesome disable all your protections and pretend to be an anti virus virus. Get over yourself, people get virus's on windows and they have to hire people like me to fix them, in case you didnt know there is still a thriving industry behind virus protection for windows cause not everyone spends 90 hours a week down ranking people on engadget.
You could:
Do a backup.
Find out the serial key and save it somewhere so you can restore it with any Win7 dvd.
Stop being a total idiot.
@Gimboa - I am sorry but that analogy fails. An "oil change" is nothing like original media.
Also if MS is going to install it for you, are they going to guarantee your data from loss during the upgrade? I doubt it.
Would any of you trust MS enough to send them your computer for them to install a new OS on it? I doubt it.
As far as an "Image Backup" If I were to image my HD, it would NOT fit onto a DVD... (Over 200gig on my boot drive) Besides I would rather install my OS from scratch. And I do NOT trust MS to do that properly.
There is no mention that these lucky "winners" will even get an ISO of the install disk... So even if they know HOW to burn it, they will have nothing to burn from.
And what happens when you take the machine to a shop for service? Many shops check if you have a valid OS install. No sticker of authenticity, no service.
To me this sounds like MS is going to just install Windows7 on their machines. Not give them a free copy of Win7... Could these "legit" copies of Win7 be flagged as pirated later? (Like my last legal copy of XP was when MS started the WGA crap)
And if MS is going to "Give" me an OS, then WHY IO SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR IT LATER? It is like winning a $40,000 car, then you scratch the paint and BAM you now have to pay for the car as well.
Most of the readers here would have no problem backing up and such. However MOST computer users would be totally SOL.
If most computer users were that smart, then there would not be soo many computer repair shops, and there would not be any need for Geek Squad.
It's a free gift, you jackass. Stop complaining.
Everyone needs something to complain about... =\
I get it. I must be one of the few people who can see that not all FREE things are really free, or worth it. :p
"Because ofcourse nobody has more right to the first use [of windows 7] than the inhabitants of Sevenhouses"
You're damn right!
indeed
So if man is five, then the devil is six...
Isn't "777" an Aleister fnord Crowley book? You know, along the lines of "The book of lies" and the like? :)
Microsoft - What have you been dabbling in :)
Hail Eris!
Why are Mac users excluded?
I prefer Mac, but I am also a realist, and I understand that sometimes Windows is necessary. An Intel Mac allows you to have both, and makes for an awesome solution.
Sooner or later Microsoft needs to learn that they are a software company, and it shouldn't matter to them what hardware it is used on.
Good news, we do offer Mac users in Zevenhuizen the preasure of using Windows 7 on their machines. (This line was taken out of the registration proces a couple of day's ago). Tomorrow we will be going into Zevenhuizen en we love to install Windows 7also on the Mac machines of any Zevenhuizenaar!
When Windows 9 comes out, they're planning on handing out nine rings containing the OS to various kings and rulers around the earth. However, deep in the volcanic vaults of Mt. St. Helens, one ring will be made with DRM keys to bind all the others to it...
So it'll be a bitch to re-activate if you ever have to re-install it on an upgraded machine.
BEST. Evar.
MAN! I live so close to Zevenhuizen..
why not Rotterdam - Zevenkamp (also a seven)
Holy macaroni !
Our offices are at 7777, 7th street !
Come on Microsoft ! Everyone that is related or has a "7" somewhere should be eligible !
Hey ! I also have a 7up can ! Wanna trade ?
Only if you commit all of the "7 deadly sins" beforehand...
En ik die maar dacht dat er geen andere nederlanders op engadget zaten ;)
Kittens, Cats, Sacks, Wives.
How many copies of Windows 7 are going to St. Ives?
7 deadly sins
7 ways to win...
7 holy paths to hell, and your trip begins.
7 downward slopes
7 bloodied hopes..
7 are your burning fires...
seven your desires.....
Damn you! I was going to post that.
First read 7 hours...
...instead of 7 houses. Could that be installation time then? *g*
Seriously:
Strange to exclude Mac and Linus users.
Do they fear competition that much?
Kabe
No exclusion of Mac users, we are happy to install Windows 7 on their machines. (Was an error in the initial registration form)
I have all seven sins. Can I get one copy?
" instead opting to either make you ship it to them or actually bring a technician to your house to do the dirty work"
So, to make sure when they ask "So how did your upgrade go?" the answer will always be "perfect" to avoid the bad press of the installs of Vista at rollout. Uh, no kidding.
They'll be able to claim "We upgraded 777 people in a town as an experiment, and nobody had installation problems. Even non-techies!". Well, you mean a bunch of highly trained technicians, doing this with a good backup before upgrade, did an upgrade, installed the latest drivers for all your stuff, and restored your data and it worked...
Multiples of seven?
Why, that's just multiplying by seven!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kayb743y6jY
Wait.... Microsofties in here are actually defending the OS being installed without giving the user MEDIA... WOW, just wow.
yeah
The Wow started a few years ago.
....
It's....free....
A lot of OEMs don't include the installation disk either, just a recovery disk (which you can make yourself).
"Krijg ik ook de officiële Windows 7 installatie DVD?
Ja, je ontvangt een originele Engelstalige Windows 7 Ultimate installatie DVD met een licentiecode. Deze is geschikt voor een installatie op 1 pc."
Translates to:
"Will I receive an official Windows 7 installation DVD?
Yes, you will receive an original English Windows 7 Ultimate installation DVD, including a product key. This is suitable for installtion on 1 PC."
There's also a question saying "I'm satisfied with my current version of Windows. Will I receive money if I don't participate?"
lol
And I'll keep asking. Where is the $150 Windows 7 Family Pack? Is not in Microsoft's Windows 7 official website, and is not in major online retailers. Was it all a lie?
No, it was a limited quantity offer, if I'm not mistaken.
'commercial non-actuated truth', not a lie.
MS doesn't lie, they would never claim silly stuff like that vista was all new and wasn't based on XP and had billions of developer hours for instance, never ever, and why not? Because surely the intelligent people of planet earth would never be fooled by lies.
@Tsing Tao
What was that? I cant read your comment...