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Dell Indicates Windows 7 Pricing Will Be Higher

Posted by kdawson on from the confidence-or-arrogance-in-a-recession dept.

ausekilis sends us word that a Dell spokesman said, without giving numbers, that Windows 7 pricing will be higher than Vista's or XP's. "Windows 7 pricing is potentially an obstacle to Windows 7 adoption for some users, though in just about every other aspect the operating system is beating Vista, according to a Dell marketing executive. ... [Darrell] Ward continued, 'In tough economic times, I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a stronger swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista. ... Schools and government agencies may not be able to afford (the additional cost). Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they'd like,' Ward said.'"

12 of 485 comments (clear)

  1. Now If We Could Just Get ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now if we could just get Dell to put a little drop down option in its OS & Productivity Suite selection to have an option for "Ubuntu & Open Office (subtract $200)" on all of their computers. And then to have it actually be $200 cheaper with the exact hardware.

    Then we might be talking about "2009: The Year of the Recession and Linux on the Desktop."

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... by frecky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You will never get the full Windows price back if you want Linux because Windows cost less with all the adware, spyware, trial that comes pre-installed with the computer.

    2. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... by NineNine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then we might be talking about "2009: The Year of the Recession and Linux on the Desktop."

      Based on the last decade of Linux adoption, I think it's pretty clear that most desktop users are willing to pay a hundred bucks or two for Windows. I know that certainly am.

    3. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... by davester666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really? Most desktop users?

      I would guess that MOST desktop users haven't knowingly made the choice or are even aware that there is choice other than Windows. Some portion of computer buyers are aware of Apple computers and that they come with a different operating system.

      Sure, some of the major manufacturers have occasionally offered a couple of models of computers with some variant of Linux available pre-installed, some even targeted for home and/or business end-users. But nobody (even today) has targeted a widespread ad compaign to even make people aware that there is such a thing as a 'Linux' choice (or Ubuntu or whatever).

      Of all the computers destined for end-user use (either for business or home use), for non-techies (as in, the vast majority of people who use computers to do things, not do things to use computers), how many do you think can a) name an operating system at all (ie, Windows or MacOS), or b) name an OS other those two.

      Simply put, I don't think you can say people have 'chosen' Windows over Linux, simply because they don't even know Linux exists.

      And this is largely because of (IMHO) Microsoft's tactics in the 80's and 90's, that required computer manufacturers to either sell only computers with Microsoft operating systems or computers with non-Microsoft operating systems [or that you sell other operating systems, but the computer the customer got could only have the MS-operating system loaded (and paid for) and the customer had to erase it and install the other OS, etc].

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    4. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh PLEASE! You want to know why the OEMs ain't selling Linux boxes now? It is because the hardware you pick up to go with your new PC at Walmart, or Best Buy, or Staples don't work in Linux, that's why. Linux is a fricking support nightmare when it comes to home users!

      I'd love to see YOU have to work support desk when someone like Dell rolled out a "home Linux" and had to deal with all the pissed off customers because they can't print with the brand new printer they just got at Walmart. I can just imagine your answer would probably "LOL Luser! LOL Winprinterz!" which is why for the foreseeable future Linux will be staying at 1% or less for home users. For servers Linux rocks. That is because it has serious money being spent by Red Hat and Novell to make sure that hardware works. Home users? It's a total crapshoot whether it will work or not.

      All those that want Linux to succeed needs to face some facts-1.-You ain't NEVER gonna get home users to do 'research" before they go shopping. It ain't gonna hapn, capn. -2.- If it don't work it is YOUR FAULT. Don't blame the manufacturer, or the M$FT monopoly, or lack of open specs. Excuses are worthless. If it doesn't work your "free as in beer and freedom" is "free as in worthless" to the customer.

      If you want the Dells and Acers and the mom & pop shops all pushing Linux and supporting it, then you have got to step up to the plate. Make DAMNED SURE that everything in Walmart, Staples, Office Depo, and Best Buy "just works" PERIOD. Because the customers don't care about "free as in beer or freedom" they just want that new all in one they picked up at Walmart to work. In Windows they get a shiny disc with a pretty animation of a friendly helper who hold their hand and walks them through everything. In Linux if you are LUCKY you get told "open up bash and type" some big ass line of arcane commands. That is if you are lucky, which is frankly unacceptable in and of itself. But more likely with consumer gear they are gonna get told "Sorry but that ain't NEVER gonna work" or worse some asshat going "LOL Winprinters!". Which translates to "Please take this machine back where you got it and demand Windows, where it will work.".

      Of this I know, because I have tried 4 times in the last 4 years to sell Linux boxes. Frankly it is 1000 times cheaper to buy a copy of XP Home and figure it into the sale price than it was to deal with the support nightmare that is consumer gear under Linux. Hell it was easier to slap Win98 and sell them than it was to deal with a brand new Ubuntu. At least Win98 supports the damned printers at Walmart.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. It is called signaling by davebarnes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dell is obviously unhappy with the price and they are signalling (Cards. a play that reveals to one's partner a wish that he or she continue or discontinue the suit led.) to Microsoft their discontent.

    --
    Dave Barnes 9 breweries within walking distance of my house
  3. something doesn't add up here... by ecalkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    microsoft is a company sitting on 25 billion dollars. they apparently sold $3-4 billion in bonds? they are *raising* prices during some of the worst economic times that a lot of people of have seen.

        it's like they have a pressing need for more than $30 billion?

        for a company that needs to sell operating systems to maintain their future, it doesn't make sense.

    e

  4. No, probably not by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    See that won't happen for two reasons. One is that MS gives you better licensing when you bundle Windows with all systems from a line. However the major reason is that Dell doesn't want to put up with the shit it would generate. It would be a tech support nightmare if they did that on main stream, consumer systems. You'd get a great many people doing it because it saves money. However they'd give no thought to if their apps would work or if they were willing to spend the time learning a new OS and so on. They'd get flooded with calls about it and have all sorts of angry people.

    That's why when companies do offer things like Linux or no OS options, they do so on business type machines. When they are selling to an organization with their own support, they hope you can figure out what will and will not work for you. For home users? Ya not so much. They'd buy it, try to install a game, then complain because it didn't work.

    Also, based on the prices Dell pays, it'd be $100 or less per computer.

  5. I don't know that they are really raising prices by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Note that Dell doesn't actually come out and say that. They aren't saying "MS is charging us $20 more per copy." They are hinting at it, but hedging their terms. What it smells like to me is Dell wants a better rate than they've been getting in the past, and this is one of the tactics they are using to get it.

    Companies posture over pricing all the time, and sometimes publicly. If Dell can get people mad at MS for their high prices, even if the prices are no higher than they normally are, then maybe they get more leverage.

    So while I have no inside knowledge of the situation, that's my bet. MS is keeping 7 prices the same, and Dell thinks they should be cut.

  6. Perceived Value by Phroggy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sometimes if you make it more expensive, people will buy it for that reason alone. They see the higher price, and think that there must be a good reason for it to be a little bit more expensive than the alternatives.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  7. Re:Windows 7 still better than OS X 10.2 by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Being forced to run 10.2 is much like being stuck with any machine old enough to have come with 10.2 pre-installed.

    You got it free because it is OLD, not because it's inherently bad.

    This guy probably has a current Mac these days.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  8. Small business by Groggnrath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they'd like

    Translation: They'll buy it anyway, because MS could shit in a box and small Businesses with little to no technical support or knowledge would still feel forced to buy it because they don't know they don't have to.