Windows 7 Pre-Orders Massive In The U.K.

Windows 7 became available for pre-order yesterday in the UK, and it's been flying off the shelves.

It might still be three months until Windows 7 officially goes on sale, but yesterday a limited amount of Microsoft’s new OS went on sale in the UK, and the demand was high.

According to Amazon, one of the retailers for the software, demand in the first eight hours alone was higher than in the whole 17-week pre-order system for Vista. In the UK, the home version of Windows 7 has a pre-order price of around £50 ($75), with the professional version around twice that. This is much lower than the full retail price. Orders will ship October 22, the same day the software has its full release.

Chris Poad, software director at Amazon UK, told the BBC:

"Both Windows 7 upgrade packages shot to the top of the Amazon.com software bestsellers chart over in the US as soon as they were made available for pre-order at the end of June."

"With the significant discount currently on offer, a similar level of high demand was expected in the UK for what is undoubtedly the biggest software release for many years."

In the UK, users will have to perform a clean install rather than an upgrade, and new EU rules mean Internet Explorer won’t be included, so people will also need to install the browser of their choice.