Users will be taking home less Wow come July 1, 2007. This because the Windows Vista Family Discount Program is scheduled for shut down at the end of this month. With the Windows Vista Family Discount Program, Microsoft was enabling customers of Windows Vista Ultimate to acquire two additional upgrade copies of Windows Vista Home Premium at a discount price. Judging by the estimated retail price of the Home Premium edition of Vista, Microsoft's discount is a healthy 60% off. Users that coughed up some $399 for a copy of Vista Ultimate could buy two Home Premium upgrade editions for as little as $49.99 instead of the official price of $159.

Microsoft announced from the get go that the offer was limited and only available to the U.S. and Canada. Now the company announced that the Vista discount ride will expire at the end of June. "Around the time of the Windows Vista launch we announced the Windows Vista Family Discount Program to further persuade families to become early adopters of Windows Vista. The program was introduced with a sunset clause that takes effect 11:59 PM Pacific Time on 30 June 2007. We've been pleased with the response to the program, which has enabled thousands of multi-computer families to upgrade more than one PC in their home to Windows Vista. Thanks to those of you who participated and also to those who helped seed and validate the original idea," stated Nick White, Microsoft Program Manager.

Microsoft's Windows Vista Family Discount Program was inherently compared to Apple's similar offering, the Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger Family Pack. In this sense, the Cupertino-based company has the upper hand over Microsoft as it allows users to install the same copy of Tiger on up to five Mac computers in the same household for just $199 when a single license for the operating system is $129. Nick White addressed some comments which revealed that the Vista discount package was a disappointing offer. "This was a trial for us to see how people responded to the offer and we've gotten lots of constructive criticism as to how we could make it better if we were to do it again in future. Know that your words are have been heard and will be taken into account if we do go that route," he explained.