Windows 7 pre-order demand leaves Microsoft's servers begging for mercy

 

Gallery

Posted on 15 Jul 2009 at 12:13

Microsoft and its launch partners began taking pre-orders for Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional in the UK at midnight as expected, but demand for the 'limited' pre-order offer meant the company's servers ground to a halt this morning.

The software giant is offering Windows 7 Home Premium for £49.99 and Windows 7 Professional for £99.99 until 10 August, but it said that "you'll have to be quick as prices are low, stocks are limited and it is first come first served."

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, servers for Microsoft's Online Store were unreachable - an apologetic message from Microsoft was all we could muster in our attempts to get to the site.

"Due to the eagerly anticipated Windows 7 pre-order offer we're experiencing a higher level of demand on our website than usual," the message read. "This means you can't access the site right now and we're sorry about that. We'll be back up and running as soon as we can so please try again soon to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7!"

It doesn't say much for Microsoft's ability to cope with demand, so we should be thankful that it has teamed up with a number of retail partners, who seem to be able to cope better with the demand than Microsoft itself. The partners include Amazon, Currys, Ebuyer, PC World and Play.

Ebuyer.com appears to be the cheapest if you're looking to buy Windows 7 Professional, but the site greets you with the message "Sorry, this product is currently out of stock" when you click the buy button. Amazon.co.uk, therefore, is the cheapest place to pre-order the two versions of Windows 7 currently on offer. Windows 7 Professional is priced at £89.97, while Windows Home Premium is £44.97 - two pence cheaper than it is on Ebuyer.

Just hours after release, Windows 7 raced to number one on the Amazon UK software chart and the retailer said that "Demand was so high that more copies of Windows 7 were pre-ordered in its first eight hours on site than Windows Vista achieved in its entire 17 week pre-order period."

That's pretty much the final nail in the coffin for Vista, we reckon.

Author: Tim Smalley