Microsoft's latest (and oddest) Windows 7 promotion yet

Microsoft has been doing lots of early back-to-school and other kinds of promotions for Windows 7 in recent months. I haven't seen the company do much to entice potential customers to buy the Professional version of the product, though, until now.

Windows 7 Professional is the Windows 7 SKU targeted primarily at small business users. To get these customers to bite, Microsoft is offering them a $100 Southwest Airlines voucher. The details (from a June 22 "Windows for Your Business" blog post):

"Buy Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Professional upgrade at Amazon.com between now and July 16 and get a $100 USD voucher to use on your next Southwest Airlines business trip at SWABIZ.com. If you’re interested, you can go to Amazon.com to purchase and Amazon.com will email you a voucher code that you can redeem at SWABIZ.com, Southwest Airlines’ self-managed booking tool for small businesses to book air, car and hotel reservations."

Windows 7 Professional normally retails for between $260 and $300 (U.S.) for the full version and $160 and $200 (U.S.) for the upgrade version.

Speaking of Windows 7 offers, Microsoft added a couple new ones to its "dads and grads" list of promotions earlier this week. Here are the details:

• The Microsoft online Store is offering an HP Pavilion DM4 with Windows 7 Home Premium and an Xbox 360 Arcade for $794. This $200-off offer is only available for a limited time and is only for those in the U.S.
• Students not in the market for a new PC, but who want to upgrade to Windows 7, can get Windows 7 Professional via an upgrade offer $29.99 ("the lowest price available on any Windows 7 upgrade," the Softies say). The offer is available in Australia, Canada, France, Korea, Mexico, the UK, and the US and to qualify, students need a valid college or university email address (in the U.S. that’s a .edu address). The offer expires after September 6.