Microsoft's new consumer operating system pricing strategy

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: GeneValgene

Originally posted by: darkxshade
I'd rather windows 7 be like the next xp and last about a decade.

QFT

Don't count on it. When I interviewed at M$ some already had preliminary copies of Windows 8 on their laptops.

 

[Modelworks]

The old method is like a subscription. I have that with Autodesk. Each year you pay a fee and get any update/future release at no extra cost. If you stop paying , even for just one year, then the next upgrade is full price. It sucks really because you have to hope that the next software release will be worth the cost you already paid for the year.

If MS did that they would lose a lot of people.
I think the lowest end Win7 edition will be enough for most home users.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Dari
I forgot where I read it but Microsoft said they admired Apple's operating system strategy. Apple has (arguably) churned out 7 service packs in 10 years and their customers have lined up to pay for each one. Microsoft has churned out only 4 in that time period. IIRC, Microsoft has a program for businesses where customers pay a yearly fee and are able to get the latest operating system. I don't think it caught on so they've decided to try a different way by going the Apple route. Windows 7 may be the starting point of this new pricing model.

So, my question is, will you buy a brand new operating system from Microsoft in 2-3 years time like Apple users do if the features were compelling enough?

Fixed that for you.

Yeah... you have no idea what you're talking about.

They haven't been 7 new full operating systems, but the prices have ranged from $0 to $29 up to $129 for a complete, non-gimped version. Pricing depends on how much they've improved in the new version.

The thing that MS should think about copying from Apple with regard to OS releases and pricing is Apple's family packs. 5 licenses for less than the cost of two individual licenses. I doubt there are many Anandtech members who wouldn't come out ahead with that pricing scheme.

Looks like Microsoft was listening.

 

[Acanthus]

I am staying with Vista, there is nothing compelling about windows 7.

 

[hans007]

the mac pricing isn't exactly the same anyway, since uh you have to buy a mac.

I mean , if windows puts out say 4 OSes for $100 each, and apple puts out 8 for $50 each

its like if gilette made you buy a razor for $200 and blades were $1 and you use 8 blades in 5 years. and microsoft was schick and you could buy the razor for $100 from thousands of vendors, and blades came from microsoft for $2 and you only actually had to pay for 4 of them and they would resharpen some of your blades for free sometimes.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Dari
I forgot where I read it but Microsoft said they admired Apple's operating system strategy. Apple has (arguably) churned out 7 service packs in 10 years and their customers have lined up to pay for each one. Microsoft has churned out only 4 in that time period. IIRC, Microsoft has a program for businesses where customers pay a yearly fee and are able to get the latest operating system. I don't think it caught on so they've decided to try a different way by going the Apple route. Windows 7 may be the starting point of this new pricing model.

So, my question is, will you buy a brand new operating system from Microsoft in 2-3 years time like Apple users do if the features were compelling enough?

Fixed that for you.

LOL. :thumbsup: That is very true.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Dari
I forgot where I read it but Microsoft said they admired Apple's operating system strategy. Apple has (arguably) churned out 7 operating systems in 10 years and their customers have lined up to pay for each one. Microsoft has churned out only 4 in that time period. IIRC, Microsoft has a program for businesses where customers pay a yearly fee and are able to get the latest operating system. I don't think it caught on so they've decided to try a different way by going the Apple route. Windows 7 may be the starting point of this new pricing model.

So, my question is, will you buy a brand new operating system from Microsoft in 2-3 years time like Apple users do if the features were compelling enough?

buy? no
"obtain"? yes

there probably will be a version of Windows 7 where you dont have to register, right?
(like Vista?)

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Dari
I forgot where I read it but Microsoft said they admired Apple's operating system strategy. Apple has (arguably) churned out 7 service packs in 10 years and their customers have lined up to pay for each one. Microsoft has churned out only 4 in that time period. IIRC, Microsoft has a program for businesses where customers pay a yearly fee and are able to get the latest operating system. I don't think it caught on so they've decided to try a different way by going the Apple route. Windows 7 may be the starting point of this new pricing model.

So, my question is, will you buy a brand new operating system from Microsoft in 2-3 years time like Apple users do if the features were compelling enough?

Fixed that for you.

Yeah... you have no idea what you're talking about.

They haven't been 7 new full operating systems, but the prices have ranged from $0 to $29 up to $129 for a complete, non-gimped version. Pricing depends on how much they've improved in the new version.

The thing that MS should think about copying from Apple with regard to OS releases and pricing is Apple's family packs. 5 licenses for less than the cost of two individual licenses. I doubt there are many Anandtech members who wouldn't come out ahead with that pricing scheme.

yup. ms advantage is free service packs.
disadvantage is no family packs. and way too many bs versions of their os.

 

[frostedflakes]

XP was an anomaly, previous versions of Windows had been released on a similar 2-3 year time frame between releases.

I don't necessarily have a problem with closer releases, but I'm not going to be tripping over myself to buy the latest release when it's available. I'd probably skip every other release unless I had a very compelling reason to do otherwise.

 

[spaceman]

im on thew 5yr plan

 

[randomlinh]

I had to buy Vista 64bit, couldn't get it through work, and couldn't wait for Windows 7. My only gripe is enterprise and ultimate have bitlocker/thumb drive bitlocker... this should be available to everything, at least the thumb drive bitlocker feature.

Hopefully 64bit version will be available through work, or else I'll have to wait for a ~$100 OEM version.

 

[Lithium381]

I've always been WAY behind the curve. I didn't install Win95 until 1999, upgraded to Win98 in 2001, stuck with that until 2006 when i got XP. No need!

 

[kalrith]

Nope. I upgrade every other OS. I don't think I missed out on anything by skipping Windows 2000 (or ME...shudder) and Vista.

Windows 98 -> Windows XP -> Windows 7

I also usually don't upgrade to a new OS until it's been out for a year or two, but the pricing of the Windows 7 presale was too tempting, so I ordered 3 copies of Home Premium. It also sounds like Windows 7 RC1 is pretty stable, so the released version should be even moreso.

 

[xanis]

The last OS I purchased was XP Home w/ SP2... and that was roughly 4-5 years ago. Considering that it's STILL installed on my old crapbox and that it's still a good OS, no, I don't think I'll be buying a new OS from MS every 2-3 years.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

The reason people get new versions o fhte APpple OS is because it is more stable than the previous version and has more USEFUL tools. It's amazing what can happen over many years if you don't try to reinvent hte wheel but instead try to inprove the roundness through each iteration. Seems like MSFT lieks to toggle between triangles (Vista) and squares (Windows 7) and many sided polygons (Windows 7 SP 5). Only the many sided polygon is woprth paying for and with Apple, that is what you always get.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
The reason people get new versions o fhte APpple OS is because it is more stable than the previous version and has more USEFUL tools. It's amazing what can happen over many years if you don't try to reinvent hte wheel but instead try to inprove the roundness through each iteration. Seems like MSFT lieks to toggle between triangles (Vista) and squares (Windows 7) and many sided polygons (Windows 7 SP 5). Only the many sided polygon is woprth paying for and with Apple, that is what you always get.

I'm not going to turn this into a Windows vs. OSX debate, but I mostly agree with you. The jump from 10.4 to 10.5 was pretty darn good... especially because I got the upgrade free, courtesy of my school.

 

[Kirby]

Academic Alliance FTW.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
The reason people get new versions o fhte APpple OS is because it is more stable than the previous version and has more USEFUL tools. It's amazing what can happen over many years if you don't try to reinvent hte wheel but instead try to inprove the roundness through each iteration. Seems like MSFT lieks to toggle between triangles (Vista) and squares (Windows 7) and many sided polygons (Windows 7 SP 5). Only the many sided polygon is woprth paying for and with Apple, that is what you always get.

Apple's typical OS X releases fall somewhere between service packs and full releases for Windows in terms of how much they change. Service packs usually just change some under-the-hood stuff and might add one or two new features, whereas a full Windows release tends to change more than, say, Jaguar to Panther or Panther to Tiger. Apple, however, has started spacing their releases out a bit more and making them more meaningful, even as MS tries to put them closer together, so now they're meeting somewhere in the middle.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Lithium381
I've always been WAY behind the curve. I didn't install Win95 until 1999, upgraded to Win98 in 2001, stuck with that until 2006 when i got XP. No need!

FYI, the cake is a lie

 

[StageLeft]

I don't believe in paying for software and thus have never, ever paid for an OS. Actually that's not true, I bought DOS 6, or rather my dad did, but it sucked, so...

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I don't believe in paying for software and thus have never, ever paid for an OS. Actually that's not true, I bought DOS 6, or rather my dad did, but it sucked, so...

oh lawdy

 

[iGas]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I don't believe in paying for software and thus have never, ever paid for an OS. Actually that's not true, I bought DOS 6, or rather my dad did, but it sucked, so...

Spoken like a true pirate.....arrrg.....aren't you an IT worker?

 

[tfinch2]

I'll get Windows 7 when I buy a new laptop. Until then, Windows XP is just fine.

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Dari
I forgot where I read it but Microsoft said they admired Apple's operating system strategy. Apple has (arguably) churned out 7 service packs in 10 years and their customers have lined up to pay for each one. Microsoft has churned out only 4 in that time period. IIRC, Microsoft has a program for businesses where customers pay a yearly fee and are able to get the latest operating system. I don't think it caught on so they've decided to try a different way by going the Apple route. Windows 7 may be the starting point of this new pricing model.

So, my question is, will you buy a brand new operating system from Microsoft in 2-3 years time like Apple users do if the features were compelling enough?

Fixed that for you.

The only people that say this, oddly enough, have not used OS X for any relevant amount of time.

Windows 7 is a service pack to Vista too then. I've used Vista since M4 and Windows 7 since 7068. 7 is obviously better, but its still Vista. Its what it should have been 2 years ago.

 

[Kev]

Fuck that. XP till I die.