Microsoft is bringing back the Windows 7 Family pack. It will be priced at $149.99 and will be available from October 3. The package will contain 3 upgrade licenses for Windows 7. Microsoft has made this move to celebrate the first year of Windows 7. To avail this offer, you will need a valid copy of Windows Xp or Windows Vista.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available for purchase from participating retailers. It can also be purchased online from the Microsoft Store. It will be available in other countries (Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, and others) after October 22. The retail version of Windows 7 was launched on October 22, 2009.

There are some reports that it may be available in Canada after October 5, just two days after availability in the US. However, this is not confirmed.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will probably receive a good response as many users will like to upgrade to the new OS without having to shell a lot of money. Most people have multiple computers at home and so this is going to be a money saver.

If you are currently running Windows XP and want to upgrade to Windows 7, you can do so because Windows 7 supports upgradation from Windows XP. You will have to purchase a new license. However, you will get discounted pricing.

From Wikipedia –

“Standard upgrade editions

Windows 7 supports upgrading from an applicable version of XP, and Vista to an applicable version of Windows 7 via Upgrade Editions. The options mean that users can update freely from any previous version to any of the new three retail editions of Windows 7: Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate (plus in Europe, and possibly South Korea, these Upgrade Editions also come in optional N versions). Discounted upgrade pricing is only available to current users of XP or Vista.”

If you live in the United Kingdom, you will have to pay £99.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, £189.99 for Windows 7 Professional Upgrade, and £199.99 for Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade.

When compared to Windows XP, Windows 7 requires higher system requirements. Windows XP only needs 128 MB of RAM to install. However, this is the bare minimum and you won’t be able to run software applications satisfactory with such low memory. To be able to run Windows XP satisfactory, you need it least 512 MB of RAM. On the other hand, Windows 7 requires at least 1 GB of RAM just to install the OS. If you have 2 GB or more, you can expect better performance. Any modern processor will be usually sufficient to run Windows 7.

Window 7 was designed for modern computers. In other words, you can install Windows 7 on older computers but it will not provide good performance. Older processors are comparatively slow when compared to modern processors. For example, Pentium 4 is significantly slower when compared to Core2Duo processors. If you install Windows 7 on a Pentium 4-based computer, you may experience some sluggish performance.

You also need a good graphic card to be able to run all the visual effects provided by Windows 7. Modern motherboards come with more powerful integrated graphic cards. For example, the motherboard that I’m currently using comes with 512 MB of video memory. This is more than sufficient to run all the visual effects that come with Windows 7. If you install Windows 7 on an older computer, you may experience slow performance and may not be able to run Aero effects.

If you have an older computer, it is better not to try to install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on it. A better option would to be upgrade your computer. However, if your computer is many years old, there’s little you can upgrade and even if you can upgrade it won’t be worth the investment. It is better to convert such computers to file servers or Linux machines or use them as hobby machines.

7stacks is a software application that brings the MacOS X stacking feature to Windows 7, Vista and Xp. In MacOS X, you can create a container of folders or files and make it accessible with one click on your taskbar. Now, the same option is available on Windows as well by using this application.

7stacks was developed by the author because of personal frustrations with Windows 7. The author felt that the superbar which comes with Windows 7 is quite similar to the MacOS X Dock.

The application is very effective once you have created your stack. However, it has some disadvantages. For example, it is not as smooth as the feature available on MacOS X.

After we have created your stack, you can customise the folder. The application provides three stack view options-vertical, grid, and menu.

The latest version that is version 1.5 beta-1 comes with numerous improvements such as improved speed and graphics performance, adjustable icon and font sizes and options for the stacks and grids with no captions.

For more information on the application, and to download it please visit http://www.alastria.com/index.php?p=software-7s.