Interesting switch tactic, possibly could be expanded into MS Store discounts for showing Android, iOS, and Mac OS.<p>Apple stores will transfer your PC docs to a Mac, I think for free via Personal Setup. Will MS stores do this too?
I think they would be better off offering Win7 at discounted price. My wife asked me to install Ubuntu on her new laptop after short experiment with Win8 and now she is also trying to convince her very untechnical parents to switch from Win XP to Ubuntu.
I understand Microsoft's concern but stuff like this will not help.
Take my neighbor for example, I'm quite sure he will still be using his old computer until it breaks, happily running Windows XP with no idea that the support or updates (that he never have installed anyway) has ended, people like him doesn't understand what it's all about and therefore doesn't care.
All I can do is to tell him that it's time for an upgrade but he will insist to keep on using it (at least I managed to install Firefox and Avast on his computer a couple of years ago).
Looking at the store - it's frustrating how it seems like HP is the only company that makes the kind of machines I want to buy, and I <i>loathe</i> HP hardware.
Let me buy a damned non-OEM, non-third-party-warehoused Windows 7 (Pro) license for my mother, who is NOT comfortable and not likely to become comfortable with Windows 8.<p>Killing Windows 7 license sales scant months before XP EOL is yet another clusterf-ck on MS's part.<p>P.S. "The customer is always right." Now that you have more effective competition, MS, it may be time to heed this.<p>P.P.S. If anyone has a valid, reliable source for these (I mean, for purchase -- I'm not asking for anything dodge-y), I'd appreciate a pointer.