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Microsoft Cuts Vista Price In 70 Countries

Posted by kdawson on from the defibrillation-paddles dept.

dforristall alerts us to an odd move by Microsoft: cutting the price of retail boxes of Vista in many markets. Analysts didn't see this one coming, and they are scratching their heads a bit over it; one called it "very unheard of." The price cuts vary by country — they're largest in the developing world where piracy levels are high — and they don't apply to OEM copies of Vista, which account for 90% of sales. "Gartner analyst Michael Silver said the move... is puzzling... [He] noted that the market for such upgrades is fairly limited. Those who bought XP in the fourth quarter of 2006 got a coupon for a free Vista upgrade, while most of those who have bought systems since then have gotten Vista. Machines purchased prior to 2006 probably aren't all that attractive as candidates for a Vista upgrade... 'The whole notion of upgrading PCs has sort of fallen by the wayside.'"

9 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. They need to drop the price of XP by tritonman · · Score: 5, Funny

    THey need to drop the price of XP so I can buy it to replace my copy of Vista.

  2. This is aimed at power users... by tjstork · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a dual Opteron with a fairly decent graphics controller that would be an ideal candidate for Vista x64 Ultimate. But, for about $400 cheaper, (or $200 if you get the system builder edition), I downloaded Ubuntu and it works great.

    Taken together, Microsoft's actions of the last few weeks : decreasing the price of Vista, giving away Visual Studio to Students, publishing specifications, all point towards an effort to attract developers to their platform. Even the channel partnerships that I railed about earlier are structured to attract developers. Clearly, Microsoft knows something that we don't know, and, I think it is that Linux development is starting to reach a critical mass for them to be really concerned about it. I wonder how much trouble Microsoft realizes it is in.

    There is a demographic factor going on as well. A lot of we formerly reliable Windows zealots are now in our 30s and 40s, and suddenly money that would be spent on graphics cards and Windows upgrades is now getting plowed into our over-priced houses and our children. It's like, I would have stayed up in line to get Vista Ultimate the day it came out, but instead, I bought diapers, soy milk and a thomas the tank engine train set for my son. Having jonesed for some sort of an upgrade to my PC, I went with Ubuntu instead, and its pretty satisfying.

    Linux has hit that point where, it may not be the best in terms of a consumer operating system, but its often good enough, and installing it just works.

    --
    This is my sig.
    1. Re:This is aimed at power users... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Linux has hit that point where, it may not be the best in terms of a consumer operating system, but its often good enough, and installing it just works.

      That statement there might be the scariest thing for Microsoft. Microsoft pretty much based their entire business around "good enough." If Linux is "good enough" also and has the added benefit of being free, then that will take sales away from Microsoft. That combines with Microsoft's main competition (their own older versions which are "good enough" for most people) to make for a really bad situation for Microsoft to be in.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:This is aimed at power users... by aslvrstn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But what percent of people EVER install an operating system? Microsoft has the advantage of being "good enough" to not have people reinstall another operating system over top of them. That's all they need. Linux, however, needs to be "better enough" to force people to reinstall, or have someone reinstall, their OS.

    3. Re:This is aimed at power users... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a person who has been in the industry about as long as Microsoft, I can honestly confirm that their entire business model was originally based on "very cheap and good enough". Later on, they relied on the fact that "everybody uses it". This made sense, as the original PCs were nothing special from a performance point of view. In the beginning, the IBM name was enough to create a de-facto standard.

      From the very beginning, there were better alternatives to MS-DOS. Problem was, they were expensive and not viable on low-end hardware. Microsoft's attempts to move upscale have been a mixed bag. Apple did a better job [eventually] on the desktop, and Linux took over the low end of the spectrum (along with a huge threat on the server side and the possibility to go upscale on the desktop as well).

      This brings us to where we are today -- a scary time to be Microsoft. As far as pricing is concerned, how low do they need to go if Linux is free? Is low pricing of any use against OS X? I doubt it.

      It may be impossible for MS to maintain compatibility with the installed base AND go upscale at the same time. Either way, they are vulnerable to attack from competitors on all sides. From the customer point of view: If you have money to spend, OS X is great. If not, Linux is cheaper. Who needs Vista at any price?

  3. Re:The whole idea of upgrading PCs??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Speaking of your sig, that should be "Nazis" not "Nazi's".

  4. Not enough by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When Vista Ultimate upgrade costs almost $200 and Kubuntu 7.10 full costs $12 (if you don't feel like just downloading it) - it seems reasonable that some prices are going to have to come down somehwere.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  5. Re:i know whats coming next by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They got paid by large private and government interests to put Trusted Computing on everyones machines so they can engage in widespread information control. They would LIKE more money from the consumer, but they MUST achieve widespread deployment for this to be realized. If it's realized, they will have a power the likes of which has never been seen before on earth, and money will be the least of their concerns. If it's not, they will become a niche product. It's pretty obvious where their motives lie, and their actions are entirely sensible if you understand their motives.

    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  6. Re:i know whats coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If it's realized, they will have a power the likes of which has never been seen before on earth, and money will be the least of their concerns.

    Pinky: What are we going to do tonight, Brain?
    Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!