Hello. I'd like to know if anyone has purchased the Windows Upgrade Offer (www DOT windowsupgradeoffer DOT com), and could tell me a bit about the purchase date verification. I have a system bought just before the eligibility period, and (most likely) no sales ticket. Is Microsoft's verification of the purchase date strict? I've bought an Asus notebook a tad before june 2, the beginning of the offer eligibility period, and it has several problems which I attribute to lack of drivers (!), which is why I want to upgrade. Asus has been unable to fix the issue; they won't offer neither the original system image with crapware for reinstallation, nor proper updated drivers. I expect win8 to fix those problems. Moreover, I bought this system in another country (US Best Buy), and I don't think I will be able to locate the purchase ticket, given I never expected to use it again. Might be able to find it somewhere, but it's unlikely. Thanks!
I bought 2 laptops since June & filled out the "Register for the Windows Upgrade Offer" online form. 1st they only ask for your name (full), email & phone #. 2nd they ask for "Windows 7 PC purchase info." Date of purchase, Name of retailer, PC brand & PC model. 3rd at the bottom is the Security Check you type in to make sure you aren’t a bot. Nothing about a PC serial # or any (other) way besides above they might check for truthfulness. Later I received a email confirming my registration. Edit Oh ya, 1- I bought from a retail (B&M) store & the other I bought from a Amazon (online) retailer.
Probably data are collected from the equipment during the process of requesting the offer because request must be made of qualified computer. No purchase ticket required.
Probably no. They should collect something about the system installed when submitting the form of Upgrade Offer and may verify the information provided with dealers. For the user should be all online or by fone. One thing I noticed was the date of sale in the bios of my notebook
Can they take personal info off your BIOS without permission? I actually think they wont care cuz they know 8 won't be liked by the masses who are used to 7.
Data from bios I think it's no considered personal info by MS Look, I thinking W8 a good system. I think the masses will not use because will be hard bypass activation system.
Microsoft's E-mail Response Said . . . Ordering Your Upgrade Windows Upgrade Offer will be available to order from October 26, 2012 until February 28, 2013. Around October 26, 2012, you will receive another email that includes your personal promotion code which enables you to receive the special promotional pricing for the digital download of Windows 8 Pro. That email will also include instructions on how to order the Windows 8 Pro download and how to purchase an optional DVD. Since the email will be sent to the email address you provided when you registered. If you change your email address prior to October 26, 2012, please visit the My Order webpage indicated above and update your email address. This will ensure your promotion code and ordering instructions are sent to the appropriate email address. Note: You must order your upgrade using the PC that you wish to upgrade.
Haha, purchase date from BIOS? That's ridiculous. Just stop for a moment and think about this from MSFT's perspective. 1) There is no standardized way to determine sale date. I have a hard time believing that such data could be found in the BIOS, but let's say that, for some models, it is. The fact still remains that such information is not available for most computer models. 2) Serial numbers are often found in BIOS, but again, not all. 3) There is no standardized way to store this info in BIOS, so there would be significant engineering complexity to fetch such data. 4) Even if you could get a serial number, how could you match that with a purchase date? If it's Dell selling to you direct, fine, but what if you bought it in a store? That requires that the store report the serial number's sale date (not all do), that the manufacturer collects and maintains this data, and that Microsoft is given access to this data. Well, guess what? It doesn't work like this. HP, for example, only logs the manufacturing date of a serial number; it either doesn't get (or doesn't store this info). 5) The offer is available to any Windows 7 computer. Including those from non-royalty OEMs. This is why there is a "custom built" option in Microsoft's form. This is why MicroCenter (or maybe it was Newegg?) was briefly advertising a the $15 upgrade with W7 OEM copies. The bottom line is, the kind of infrastructure needed (reporting from retailers, a lot of bookkeeping by manufacturers, some standardized way to make all this coherent, and hell, even BIOS data isn't standardized) to verify purchase date is daunting, complex, and bloody expensive. And even if Microsoft is willing to incur that kind of cost, the OEMs and retailers almost certainly are not. And all this to do what? Prevent a relatively small number of people from saving $35 on an upgrade that Microsoft is desperately trying to sell in the first place? The cost-benefit doesn't even come remotely close, and that's before one realizes that this offer applies to all OEMs, not just the royalty OEMs, which makes enforcement even more ludicrous of an idea. (For example, imagine hiring people to check pictures of receipts, and then hiring people to handle instructing people on how to send the receipts over and taking care of situations where receipts are lost or other issues. Let's say this adds an extra 50 cents of extra labor to process each request. And lets say that out of every 100 requests, there is one fake-date request. That means they spent $50 on validation to prevent one guy from getting a $35 discount. You see what I mean now?) Now you see how absolutely ridiculous and laughable it is to see people fretting about BIOS privacy.
From the Program Information page on upgrade offers website (pay attention to where I bolded): While the offer will be limited to eligible customers who purchase a qualified PC, the upgrade may be installed on any compatible Windows-based PC with a qualifying operating system. Visit ... for information about Windows 8 minimum requirements. Customers should visit their PC manufacturer’s website for more information about how to upgrade their PC to Windows 8, including updated software and drivers.
My guess is their system will check the key of the machine the person will order from against their database . No sales date.....We shall find out soon...
I tried to register earlier today with valid information except for the date of purchased (September 2011), then got this: [h=2]Your Registration ID: WT3 - - - - - - - 0[/h] "You have successfully registered for the Windows 8 Upgrade Offer. If you need to update your email address or phone number, please click here." "We’ll send you another email when Windows 8 is available for purchase. If you need to update your email address or phone number, please click here." I really am hoping it will accept the approved registration, even if the date input is not within the upgrade offer.