14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System are both live over at Windows Marketplace. The Redmond Company is enabling users to buy and download its flagship products. Via Windows Marketplace, Microsoft is making available Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate.
However, Windows Marketplace is only offering the upgrade versions of Windows Vista for download. Users that buy the upgrade editions must already have a prior genuine version of Windows installed on their machine due to the fact that they will not be able to perform a clean install of Vista with an upgrade key.
As of now, Windows Marketplace is only available in the United States. Microsoft informed that the expansion of the digital locker for international markets is considered, but nothing more. The Redmond Company has failed to provide additional details as of when it plans to add international availability for the products featured on Windows Marketplace.
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Office Standard 2007, Office Professional 2007, Office Standard 2007 - UPGRADE, and Office Professional 2007 - UPGRADE are all available for purchase and download via digital locker.
Microsoft estimates that the download of Windows Vista will take from 103 hours and 38 minutes on a 56K connection to just 14 hours and 12 minutes on DSL. For Office 2007, the estimated download times are 12 hours and 24 minutes (56K) and 1 hour and 42 minutes (DSL).
With each Vista purchase and download, Windows Marketplace will also provide users with a 25-character long Windows Vista license key.