How to Get Windows 7 Cheap or Free

Windows 7 is right around the corner -- it is officially available on October 22. In anticipation of that, we've rounded up a clown's bounty of ways for you to get your own copy of Windows 7 at far less than the retail price. Surely you qualify for one of these methods:

Windows 7 Family Pack. We told you last week about how you can get 3 Home Premium Upgrade Licenses for $149, which can save you about $200.

90 Day Trial of Windows 7 Enterprise. If you read Business Hacks daily, you already know about this one too -- we told you that Microsoft has made a free trial of the Windows 7 Enterprise edition available to companies that don't qualify for other programs, like MSDN.

MSDN Academic Alliance Program. MSDN AA helps secondary and higher education students get their hands on certain kinds of software -- including Windows -- cheap or free. If you qualify for this program, you might be able to snag a copy of Windows 7 Professional.

There are a few other ways to potentially nab a copy of Windows 7 on the cheap as well -- read the whole list at Download Squad.