Microsoft on Thursday unveiled pricing information for Windows 7, and announced that its upgrade option program will kick off on Friday.

The company also said it would offer discounted upgrade pre-orders for a limited time.

Starting Friday, consumers who purchase a PC with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate at participating retailers will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available. The offer will run until Jan. 31, 2010.

For those waiting until the October 22 release date, a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade will cost $119.99 and the full package will retail for $199.99.

The Windows 7 Professional upgrade will cost $199.99 and the full system will be $299.99. For Windows 7 Ultimate, the upgrade version will retail for $219.99 and the full version will set you back $319.99.

Microsoft said these prices are about 10 percent less than what they charged for Vista – the Home Premium upgrade version of which retailed for $129.99 at launch.

For Windows enthusiasts who are planning ahead, Microsoft is running a promotion that will offer a more than 50 percent discount on the premium and professional upgrade versions of the operating system.

From June 26 to July 11, consumers in the U.S. can pre-order the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $49.99 and the Windows 7 Professional upgrade for $99.99. The offer will be available online via retailers like Best Buy, Amazon.com, or the Microsoft Store.

The offer also applies to consumers in Canada from June 26 to July 11, in Japan from June 26 to July 5, and in the U.K., France, and Germany from July 15 to August 14. Prices will vary by region, however.

Users with an XP system can perform a clean installation using the upgrade version of Windows 7. Windows Vista users can do the same thing or perform an in-place upgrade, which maintains all the data, files, and applications on their Vista machine, a Microsoft spokesman said.

OEMs will start shipping Windows 7 machines on October 22. At launch, the OS will be available in 14 languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong).

The remaining languages will be added on October 31.

In early 2007, deeply discounted OEM versions of Vista started showing up on e-tailers like Newegg.com. Microsoft also offered a Vista Family Pack, which allowed the purchase of up to two copies of Vista Home Premium for $49.99, provided that a customer buy Windows Vista Ultimate at full price, through retail.

A Windows 7 Family Pack is still under discussion, according to a Microsoft spokesman. As for cheap OEM versions of the OS, the spokesman said that since Newegg is primarily for systems builders, Microsoft does not consider that the retail sale of OEM licensed copies.

"It's possible that something similar would emerge, but it wouldn't be something Microsoft would encourage for broad use," he said.

Microsoft also released packaging details for Windows 7 this week, photos of which are available on Appscout.com.

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