Windows 7 preorders begin in the UK, France, and Germany

Today residents in the UK, Germany, and France have the opportunity to preorder Windows 7 upgrade versions of both Home Premium and Professional editions (read: no deal for Ultimate) for significantly reduced prices. The deal lasts until August 14 but Microsoft emphasizes that this date can only be taken into consideration while remembering the phrase "while supplies last." The software giant refused to reveal how many copies it was allowing to be sold at the reduced rates.

Here's the list of retailers that are offering the preorder deal (online only).

UK: Comet, PC World, Argos, Amazon, Tesco, Littlewoods, Micro Anvika, Currys, Dixons, Staples
, ebuyer.com, play.com, John Lewis, Misco, and DABS

France: Auchan, Boulanger, Carrefour, Cora, Darty, FNAC, Geant Casino, Hyper U, Media Saturn, Rue Du Commerce, CDiscount, Surcouf, Conforama, Leclerc, Virgin, Office Dépôt, Top Office, Pixmania, LDLC, Matériel.net, Grosbill, and Amazon

Germany: Mediamarkt, Saturn, Expert, EP/Medimax, Euronics, Amazon, Conrad, Otto, Notebooksbilliger, Neckermann, Wave, Atelco, Arlt, K&M, Avitos, Home of HW, and Cyperport

Only some retailers had a prominent banner of the offer on their homepage (chances are you'll have to do a product search for "Windows 7" to the two products). The Microsoft Store is also offering the deals in the three countries: the UK, France, and Germany. For whatever reason, at publishing time the Germany store was not showing the preorder deals. Furthermore, high demand unfortunately took the online store down for some time and Microsoft was forced to put up the following error message:

Due to the eagerly anticipated Windows 7 pre-order offer we're experiencing a higher level of demand on our website than usual. This means you can't access the site right now and we're sorry about that. We'll be back up and running as soon as we can so please try again soon to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7!

Last month's Windows 7 pricing announcement was overwhelming, to say the least. So to reiterate, the pricing for the preorders that start today is as follows:

UK: Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (£99.99)

France and Germany: Windows 7 Home Premium (€49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (€109.99)

These upgrade versions can be purchased by both XP users and Vista users. Once preordered, your copy of Windows 7 will arrive on or after the day of general availability, October 22, 2009. If you have Windows XP, you'll have to perform a clean install and will have to do the backup process yourself. If you are moving from 32-bit to 64-bit, you'll have to do a clean install. If you are moving to a version that is lower on the food chain (from Ultimate to Professional or Home Premium, or from Professional to Home Premium), you will have to perform a clean install.Otherwise, the upgrade installation will take care of everything.