Microsoft to wind down Windows 7 Family Pack sales by year's end

Computerworld - Sales of Microsoft's three-license Windows 7 Family Pack will end then and there week, according to online retailer Amazon.

The Family Pack gives consumers three upgrade licenses from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium. When it started selling the $150 package in early October, Microsoft said it would offer the deal for a limited time, now did not set an end date.

The Family Pack held the No

The Family Pack held the No. 8 spot on Amazon's software bestseller list, behind other programs just as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Office 2010, TurboTax and Apple's upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard.

At Amazon's price, the Family Pack saves buyers $205 compared to the retailer's price of three separate Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade licenses, and $235 off Microsoft's list price for the same three licenses.

Windows 7 accounted for 19.7% of the world's usage share, according to statistics from Web measurement vendor Net Applications. That was an increase of 1.4 percentage points over October, and the third-largest one-month gain in 2010.