Australians locked out of Vista discounts

cowboy · **24th January 2007, 11:25 AM**

Microsoft Australia has confirmed that Australians will not be allowed to download Vista through the Windows Marketplace, take advantage of the "Anytime Upgrade", or buy with family discount.
A spokesperson said the family pack discount, which allowed purchasers of Vista Ultimate to buy two additional licences to Vista Home Premium for only $US49 each, was not available in Australia because "as many Australian software promotions only run in Australia - this is one that only runs in the US."
In relation to the Anytime Upgrade scheme, where a user of Home Basic, for example, could pay a one-off fee to transform their Vista installation into Home Premium on the spot, the spokesperson said, "Microsoft Australia is currently evaluating the suitability of deploying Microsoft Windows Anytime Upgrade in Australia, but we have no announcements to make at this stage."
And what about the ability to get instant gratification by downloading the Vista DVD?
"Windows Marketplace exists in various geographies around the world," the spokesperson said. "Those geographies that already have Windows Marketplace will have the download ability. Australia has not had Windows Marketplace to date and as a geography without Windows Marketplace it would be hard to offer a download via Windows Marketplace."
Microsoft Australia would not give any reason why the family pack discount, Anytime Upgrade or Vista downloads were blocked to Australians.

http://www.apcstart.com/5139/austral..._and_discounts

supafly · **24th January 2007, 11:50 AM**

geez, thats pretty louzy, but what can you do i guess. Im happy ust buying Home Premium for now, and ill probably buy Ultimate for another machine later in the future.

Eaglehawk · **24th January 2007, 12:37 PM**

*hands Microsoft a gun*

*points to their foot*

And they wonder why piracy is a problem...

mjj1998 · **24th January 2007, 12:38 PM**

That blows

I for one was looking to take advantage of the Family Discount offer; looks like I'll be leaving XP on more machines than initally planned now..... I'd have thought M$ would want to push Vista via as many channels as possible!

TonPousti · **24th January 2007, 12:59 PM**

Ive allready got my RTM Version of Vista for my MCE machine. l will attempt to reinstall shorty.. I imagine and would hope that i will have less, if not none of the driver issues that i was plagued with a month ago for my set up, but hey my main rig (gaming), other that my MCE machine, will need to be upgraded to vista as well. Maybe it wont be as soon as i thought it would....

Its a shame that we are always overlooked . I mean C'mon they still think that we keep kangaroos as pets in our backyards...

We may only be 20 million or so but i read somewhere that we are the highest adopter of new technology per capita....

In other words we have dollars to spend and we spend it.

KC

topofall · **2nd February 2007, 08:31 PM**

Seems it's only USA and Canada that get any decent prices and terms from Microcrap - we here in 'rip-off Britain' are suffering as well - no family offer, no downloads etc! That's why I bought Home Premium Upgrade OEM for just over a third of the shop price!

agent86oz · **19th February 2007, 12:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by topofall

Seems it's only USA and Canada that get any decent prices and terms from Microcrap - we here in 'rip-off Britain' are suffering as well - no family offer, no downloads etc! That's why I bought Home Premium Upgrade OEM for just over a third of the shop price!

If you are in The UK or Europe try here https://vaio.windowsanytimeupgrade-e.../Purchase.aspx $119 Euro which is about $200 Australian so if you have friends in the UK or Europe they might be able to help you out. The price was well under any other available from the UK so it might be a mistake. You can get it also from USA http://www.computers.us.fujitsu.com/store/index.shtml on the left hand side you will see the graphic Windows Anytime Upgrade which is cheaper again and is one of the least expensive US sites. They have a contact link for international purchasers on their site so on an outside chance I have left them a message about ordering without using their form that requires a USA postal address Credit Card. I will report how I go.