Microsoft have announced the Anytime upgrade pricing for Windows 7. Essentially this allows you to upgrade your currently running copy of Windows 7 to a more capable version, just by entering a new license key. Here in Australia, you will be able to purchase the license key online directly in Windows, in some other countries you’ll need to go to a store and buy a box with a new license key for the upgrade.

Windows Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack Pricing – Windows 7 Team Blog – The Windows Blog .

It’s an interesting concept – the example they give is if you get a cheap netbook that over time becomes your primary computer, you can upgrade Windows and keep all your documents, settings and applications and not have to reinstall anything, it just unlocks more functionality.

I find it strange that Microsoft feel the need to segregate the market like this, having become used to just one flavour of Mac OS X that is pretty full-featured and two of Mac OS X Server that differ only in the number of simultaneous AFP connections (10 and unlimited) for file sharing.