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With Windows 7 releasing next month, it only makes sense that Microsoft would do whatever it can to drum up support for the new OS.  There were pre-order price cuts over the summer, though it was fairly easy to miss out on, and was really only announced among those who follow the tech industry closely.  There had to be something to get others to jump on board, and Microsoft’s target for this wave looks to be college students.

To further promote Windows 7, Microsoft has launched Win741, which actually means “Windows 7, inspired by millions, built by thousands, designed 4 one. You are the one.”  The website is Microsoft trying to appeal to college students through allowing them to share pictures and video of their Windows experience, short videos that show some of 7’s new features, and exclusive Family Guy clips.  Microsoft is even touring college campuses showing off Windows 7 and showing movies that asks the users to vote on.  Among all these options, there’s the most important one marked “but,” which will allow anyone who attends an American college to purchase Windows 7 for $29.99, which amounts to $80 off Windows 7 Home Premium, or just $0.99 more than Snow Leopard.

It’s great to see Microsoft offering college kids a steep discount on Windows 7, though while it might have the right idea, there is a possibility it could backfire.  Windows 7 will not likely be supported by many college computer networks on release date, just as Vista was unsupported by many colleges upon release.  It could possibly lead to a lot of complaints to both college computer networks, and to Microsoft.  It does all depend on how the college runs it’s network, though I can speak from experience that my college doesn’t support the current Windows 7 RC1, and there’s no way I could find to get around the Cisco NAC client it uses to connect to the network.  Although, to be fair, the only reason I can get Snow Leopard to work on the wired network is through client spoofing, as that OS isn’t actually supported either.

Read [Win741]  Read [InformationWeek]