Not knowing anything about your setup, all I can say is..... Good for you?   

After more research I learned that just about any Intel CPU after the Pentium Pro can handle up to 32 GB of RAM when using Linux. You need both the PAE kernel and a PAE enabled CPU. All intel CPUs after the Pentium Pro are PAE enabled.

So it looks like I can address over 4 GB of memory if I want to using 32 bit version of Linux. Windows is stuck at 3.5 GB.

Jafo, Starkers...is there something special about the version of Windows you run in OZ or is it the same version we have in the States?

Reason I ask is with as many friends you have here, I can't imagine why you would have to pay that high of a price for it.

Just a thought.

It'll be the same as the US ver...as they appear to contain both permutations of English spelling, etc.

Pricing will likely be 'equivalent' to the US [taking exchange rates into account].  The cost for me in particular is not that of an upgrade....but needs to be a 'full licence' as it's a new machine with no prior licence [other than the 7 RC].

I had thought of it, actually, though I'm waiting for the prices here to be announced officially before making a decision.  The price range I was quoted was provided by industry insiders who say they were tentative, though likely close to the mark.  Going by what we paid here for Vista Ultimate (Full), official price AUD $453, I'd say they'd be not too far off.

Also need to take into account the GST, shipping and other gov't levies: ie, import duties.  So yeah, expect to pay similar prices to those of Vista.

OK, while writing I thought that I'd check out official Oz pricing: see here

Home Premium Upgrade @ $199.... Full @ $299

Professional Upgrade @ $399... Full @ $449

Ultimate Upgrade @ $429... Full @ $469

Prices for OEM and Academic versions have not been announced as yet, but expect them to be roughly $30 - $40 less than the Full versions

If you have a spare copy of XP/Vista laying around perhaps you could install that prior to running a Win 7 Upgrade... dunno if you can use your former rig's copy of XP without activating it, but that may also be worth a look at those prices.

Considering all the headaches, lost time and productivity in my professional practice since Windows 3.0 - Microsoft should be paying me to use their software. Vista alone turned out to be the worst of the batch (XP was perhaps the best that I morn the lose of as I removed it from my computer and kept it on my wife's laptop). When you use an operating system with the company's own software (Office 2007) you expect not to have a final release be nothing more than the next Beta version. The excuse: there are too many software and hardware companies that may cause conflicts. This might night happen if MS opened their code to after-market developers (something like Mozilla that I prefer to IE and Outlook) can work out the conflicts before MS releases their software so that it can crash our computers and we spend the thousands in down time or lost documents, spreadsheets, drawings etc that a professional company relies on. No wonder every Dentist that I have visited in the last two years is still on XP regardless of upgrading to a dual core processor.

If I have to pay for it, then I would set a limit of $80.00 for the Ultimate Professional with a limit of five machines in one office or home included in this fee.

Being held up without a competitive operating system sucks. We need multiple operating systems that is open so that support software developers will work on each system and the operating systems can compete on features, appearance and reliability. Stop holding us up with false promises and crappy software!

Yes, Vista had initial problems because it was built around new coding and many apps presented installation/operational issues, but Win7 is based on the much improved Vista code, is very stable/reliable even in beta/RC, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that it'll work right out of the box on just about any modern hardware with all the major apps, and more.

Will Win 7 be perfect/flawless?  No!  It was designed by humans, and humans are not flawless; however, Win 7 is definitely the best OS Microsoft has ever developed and has far fewer bugs than even XP when it was first released.

I do agree with you on price, however. Given the state of the economy worldwide and downward market trends, I think MS has put too big a price on Win 7 editions (particularly here in Australia) and its overall sales will suffer as users refuse or can not afford to pay the hefty fee. For me to purchase 2 licenses for Win 7 Home Premium for my household it would be AUD $598 and for Ultimate the cost would be $62 shy of AUD $1,000, which is far too steep for ordinary people

So yeah, volume licensing is another failure of MS and (as it did with Office 2007, 3 intallations per copy) it should offer discount volume licensing to ALL users to make the switch to Win 7 more attractive, particularly to families and small businesses. If *say* all Win 7 licenses included installation for 3 machines at around $80, and *say* an extra $20 for subsequent installations, more households would put Win 7 on more machines, thus reducing the need/demand for MS to support XP and Vista: ie, patches and security fixes, etc.

Unfortunately, Microsoft is highly unlikely to do this and it will be 1 singular copy per singular machine.  For some reason it does not believe in the philosophy that it is easier to get $1 from a million people than it is to get a million dollars from one person or just a few.  It makes sense, but sadly, projected sales figures on a set price (aka, profit motivation/greed) takes precedence over sense.

Like all big businesses, it will extract as much as it thinks the market can bear, based on average incomes, etc.  However, many people earn well below the supposed "average" income, and in today's economic climate, many are out of work and struggling just to keep a roof over their head, so these people will give upgrading to Win 7 a miss and stick with XP and Win 2000, etc... something MS would rather they did not do.  Oh well, maybe one day they will learn... though I won't hold my breath.

Here's something interesting that might prove you wrong.

>LINK<

XP will stay on all my machines, no matter the price of W7, for a loooong time.  W7 prices are still too steep and the benefits too meager, particularly in a mixed business-personal environment.  Barring unanticipated price drops, W7 will show up in our shop or home only when a machine has to be replaced and there is no other Windows OS option (i.e., can't get XP anymore), and I will definitely look to repair machines when they break rather than replace them if at all possible.  Should the cost of a W7 version that 'works' in a network domain drop to $50 or less, then I'd consider it - not necessarily buy it, but consider it.

If that turns out to be the case and "Family Packs" become permanently available everywhere, it'll be a step in the right direction. I/we have 3 rigs here and that would save us bucket loads of cash... so here's hoping.

Thanks for the link, btw.

I think the recent deal--at $50 to upgrade to Home Premium--is a fair price. However, the expected retail of $120 is too much. So, IMO, the price should be $50 for Home Premium and not more than $100 for Pro.

If only MS had extended that deal worldwide... it may have helped woo back overseas Linux and Mac defectors, those overseas consumers who are sitting on the fence and undecided about Win 7/Windows in general. 

MS has a habit of making special deals/certain things available only in the US and Canada... hmmm, wonder why it thinks PC borders end there??

Thank yourself lucky, then, you don't have to pay the Aussie price of $199!  At the current exchange rate, USD $120 equates to AUD $154.... so why the discrepancy of $45 per Upgrade copy?  It wouldn't cost that for S&H.... so somebody is slugging Oz consumers!!!!

I think that Microsoft should offer a special license for home network users.  The price should be around $200 and that should include a license to install on all of the computers in the user's personal household, up to 3.  The computers should have to be networked together on a home network (for Microsoft to be assured that the computers are in the same household, and also to enable extra home network perks that Microsoft should include in the deal.  Since they will be connected to the same network, the activation should also be done automatically: if I replace a computer's hard drive, the new installation should detect that it is on a network with two other computers sharing a license and say "hey, I'm smart enough to know that I'm installed legally so you don't have to activate me". I'm so tired of Windows being so damn stupid.

I believe there is a rumor going around that there is a family pack being offered, as an upgrade for the home version, not pro or ultimate. It would be great if they did the same for full retail version.

They should pay me to use their windows 7.