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Similar to what happened right after  the release of Windows Vista a few years ago, in a near future, people who will buy  a computer with Windows Vista pre-installed will have the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7 for free. This upgrade program, called Windows 7 Technology Guarantee Program, has recently been published to Microsoft OEM partners for feedback under the temporary name of  Windows 7 Upgrade Program. It will become active on July 1, 2009.

Here is a list of what an user will be entitled to get, based on what operating system he has pre-installed on his computer.

Windows Vista Home Premium – Windows 7 Home Premium

Windows Vista Business – Windows 7 Professional

Windows Vista Ultimate – Windows 7 Ultimate

Useless to say, to be entitled to this upgrade, the user needs a Windows Vista PCs preinstalled with qualifying (no, your hacked Windows Vista won’t give you any right!) software. Other restriction include:

• A language version of the qualifying Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the same language version of the Windows 7 upgrade software.
• The Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the associated edition of the upgrade software.  For example, Windows Vista Home Premium K edition can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium K edition.
• OEMs must ship media as defined in these permitted upgrade paths. No other upgrade paths are available and supported under the Program.
• If an end user attempts to upgrade to an unsupported upgrade path, the end user may have to re-format the PC hard drive and/or may lose applications, files and settings available with the previous installed version of Windows. For example, the following upgrades are not allowed in the program :
  - Upgrades from Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Starter
  - Upgrades from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate
  - Upgrades from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Ultimate

Source: TechArp