The Technology Guarantee program for Windows 7 is similar to the upgrade program Microsoft offered during the time leading up to the launch of Vista. In short, customers who purchase a Vista PC between a specific date and the release of Windows 7 will get a free upgrade copy of Windows 7. That specific date has been speculated before to be July 1, but according to a leaked Best Buy memo obtained by Engadget, it might actually be starting five days before that. There are three main points in the memo that are worth mentioning:

The Technology Guarantee program will begin on June 26

The Technology Guarantee program will also cover individual software purchases of Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Ultimate

Between June 26 and July 11, you will be able to prepurchase some Windows 7 versions: $49.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and $99.99 for Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

While the third point about pricing is a very interesting one, since it might end up being Best Buy-specific and it's only during a promotional period, I'm not going to get too excited (though I would love for the prices to be this low). Microsoft has yet to reveal Windows 7 pricing for full versions and upgrade versions, but those are likely to be announced later this month.

The second point is the one that is the one that captures my attention the most, because the XP to Vista upgrade program was only for computers purchased with XP preinstalled. If this program ends up being for computers purchased with Vista as well as Vista boxed purchases, then Microsoft has taken another step in the right direction for its upcoming operating system.