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Microsoft Discloses Windows 7 Pricing
It's the tripnaut! writes "Information Week has posted prices for Windows 7. From the article: 'The full version of Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at $199, with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119. The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199. Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $319, with the upgrade version at $219.' In a nod to the global economic downturn, it is interesting to note that prices are 10% lower than Vista."
It's too much!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Seems like MS has realized that upgrading to Vista was useless as otherwise the upgrade from Vista should have been cheaper...
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
I ended up getting Vista Ultimate.
Never saw ANY of the benefits/Ultimate Content that was promised.
The upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Win 7 Ultimate should be free.
That will teach me for buying a boxed, non-OEM version of Windows I guess.
How does MS think this pricing is competitive in the least? Snow Leopard is going to be sold for $30 for upgrades while 7 costs $120?!!?! Really, MS needs to learn that those who actually buy their products in-box (not from OEMs) are going to be people who are their valuable customers who are going to have a lot of influence.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Yeesh... apple is releasing snow leopard for $29 and microsoft is still pricing stuff like this? When will they learn that a lower price will likely increase the number of people willing to pay for it instead of pirating it.
I'm glad that with Windows 7 Microsoft mostly reverted back to the kind of editions they marketed Windows XP with. It's now much more clear which one to buy when it is distinguised by Home and Professional, then Ultimate for the power user.
Apparently they have noticed their pricing was too ridiculous compared to other systems. Vista was the pinnacle of it, a crappy system that was sold for what... $499 retail?
Mac OS X starts off at $129 as well for new releases (and goes down from there) and $199 for a 5 license pack and I believe that Apple has been eating Microsoft for lunch on the home desktop market and is making inroads on the business as well.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
It seems to me that everyone I know has a pirated copy of windows: the few people people that have legal copies have them because they were bundled with the computer they bought. When was the last time someone actually went out specifically to bought a copy?
200 Buck's, might be worth waiting till the next version of Windows comes out since they are releasing it early and often nowadays.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
And I do not mean the store 7-11.
Here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/ptech/06/25/cnet.windows7.pricing.upgrade/index.html
From the article: "From Friday through July 11, consumers in the U.S. will be able to buy an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Home premium for $49 or Windows 7 Professional for $99."
No ultimate and an upgrade not full though. But the upgrade from XP is a full wipe install anyway.
And I do agree with others who said that upgrade from vista ultimate should be free to win 7 ultimate.
They've dropped Home Basic and moved Home Premium into its price slot.
Other than that, every version of Windows 7 costs as much as Vista does now.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Microsoft expects people to pay for Windows?
I doubt we are going to see any big move towards Windows 7 until people see that is is worth the price tag. I mean with all the issues people saw with Windows Vista, no one is going to want to upgrade their working Windows XP for a Windows 7 that could be just as bad as Vista. If we see that Windows 7 is stable and worth the money we might begin to see a larger transition to it 6 months from now.
Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
I think starting June 26, you can preorder the upgrades for a lot cheaper. $50 for a Home upgrade and $100 for a Pro upgrade.
Can I use the windows 7 license to legally run windows XP? ;)
Why should Microsoft care if the Win7 prices are "competitive" or not? They've got a captive audience consisting mainly of new PC buyers and existing corporate seats. I suspect they simply did an analysis to determine the amount that maximizes license revenue from those two fish in a barrel and didn't even consider the cost of other alternatives.
Best,
still 100% overpriced.
Sure, Mac OSX is less, but you are paying for that with the outrageously over-priced hardware.
$319 United States dollars for the opportunity to have my computer assimilated by a botnet? I think I'll stick with Ubuntu for free. I've also just realized that Windows Vista is much more difficult to administer than Linux has become so if you want simple and easy to manage, it's now Linux not Windows.
Well, free with purchase of overpriced computer.
If Apple hardware was sold at prices for comparable non-Apple hardware, they would have to raise their software prices or eat the loss.
Of course, there are some operating systems that are free, companies make their money on services.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Goin for the $200 price point after that last pile of shit you tried to sell us? And in this economy. You must be crazy..
$200 for some software that by itself wont do a god dammed thing for you. still gotta buy all the stuff to run on it.
And these are the prices for people who already have some sort of OS working on their system. Not the bundled with their brand new dell price.. The price you expect people to pay to upgrade their already working computer to the latest greatest? $200... really?
Home premium should start at $100. And the ultimate wizbang got everydammthingincluded should be a MAX of $200s
s
Look. after all these years its pretty obvious you guys at microsoft dont have a clue at all about what to do and how to make things work. I suggest you HIRE SOMEONE WITH A CLUE. Any geek off the street could do a better job these days. And hey. theres alot of them laid off right now. SO get out there. get you a clue!
I can't believe those cocksuckers at Microsoft didn't plan their release dates around an unforseen event happening to one fucking person. They're definitely at fault here. You know, as opposed to the guy that stole the laptop.
Whale
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8118749.stm
Wait, a copy of DOS 6.0 would have solved the Northrup Grumman problem in the other story?
"All exiting drives must be reformatted with Dos 6.0, which will Promote Data Volatility past the expected recovery half life."
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Anyone know if it is possible to move from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Pro with an upgrade, or does that require another full license?
t
...upgrading from Vista Home Edition, but then I discovered that it lacked features I needed, so I switched to Vista Professional. But then that didn't support my hardware and ran slow as a pig. So I switched to XP, which ran fine, but Microsoft might discontinue support for that any day. So I'll give them just one more chance and try Windows 7. Or just say, "F*ck it all" and go to Ubuntu.
What's the price going to be for that?
Have gnu, will travel.
In a nod to the global economic downturn, it is interesting to note that upgrade prices are still more expensive than a non-upgrade OEM copy with far more reinstallation hassles.
I still think it's a bit convenient that M$ takes 6+ years to develop something as awful as Vista, then spends less than 3 developing something remarkably usable, innovative and stable (at least compared to its predecessor.) I just thank Canonical, FOSS coders everywhere, and the good man upstairs for (K/U)buntu!
Or perhaps ANNOUCE THE FREAKIN' FREE UPGRADE DATE more than a day before it starts. That'd help.
It'd have helped alot actually.
import system.cool.Sig;
System Utilities should never cost more than $40.
Games should never cost more than $50.
Productivity apps can cost whatever, based on the size of their target market.
For businesses , its about reliability, not price. If they ship it with default admin user again, it has no way of being secure and reliable, with the UAC bug and all.
On the other hand, home user doesn't care about owning a legal copy, and will use pirated if presented the opportunity. Home users that buy original mostly do so UNKNOWINGLY, when buying laptop or brand machine. Or when the price is expressed as total - and the price is still right. That being said, those machines tend to be awful - for example where I live, a relatively big company sells their desktop machines with horrible hardware, Asus motherboards with tons of bios bugs, cheapest possible PSU, memory and disk. Price is OK, but without Windows user would get MUCH better machine for the same amount of money. So the choice is - bad bad machine with legal Windows, or decent machine with pirated Windows. (disclaimer: IMHO Asus is not too bad as mobos go, but really those specific motherboards are some of the worst Asus mobos that I've ever seen - and I've seen a LOT).
[flame suit on]
I know much of slashdot would vehemently disagree, but for the majority of users, Windows comes 'for free' with their PC. They buy a computer from Dell or whomever and it comes with Windows, then when the buy a new PC 4 or 5 years later, it comes with Windows again. Virtually no one I know 'buys' the OS - They'll simply get a the newest / latest when they buy a new computer.
[/flame]
So any geek off the street is smarter than Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
I bet those two guys laugh like maniacs about comments like that, whilst sitting on gold plated thrones and guzzling Krug.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
How many of you zealots have actually used the W7 release candidate? From the look of the comments, not many. It's a fantastic OS already, and I'm betting it will be very successful, increasing Microsoft's market share.
Oh, but this is slashdot. Anything Microsoft = bloat, crashes, unsecure. Get out of the 90's.
Add to that users that are too non-technical or frightened to try something different but hate the issues they constantly have with Vista. If there is a better reason to upgrade to Windows7 than "your machine is running Vista", I haven't heard it yet. IMHO. Spending that much to get rid of problems, not learn anything new, and not have to buy new versions of your existing software is the price point Microsoft is shooting for.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
They've got a captive audience consisting mainly of new PC buyers and existing corporate seats.
Exactly.
If you buy a new computer, it'll come with Windows 7. You'll wind up paying for it whether you want it or not.
And if you're a corporate client with one of their maintenance/upgrade/support plans you're already paying a yearly fee to use their software - so they're getting your money regardless of whether you upgrade(?) to Windows 7 or not.
That's the problem with Windows these days, there really is no competition. Microsoft's got a steady stream of cash and they don't really have to be better than anyone else.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
What exactly do I get for my hard-earned $199 or $119?
-A glorified file manager?
-Shiny new icons?
-a DRM crippled media player, that can only play "approved" formats
-Buggy drivers
-A "free" web browser, full of security holes
-Wordpad, Solitaire, Reversi?
-"Promised" compatibility with old software
-A crippled email application
-A crippled media recorder/editor
So lets see, I basically get a glorified file manager, and at worst case, need to repurchase new versions of most of the critical applications, unless I do so, my system is mostly useless, unless I'm satisfied with web broswing and typing in wordpad.
Sorry, not worth it. I'd rather pay/donate to slackware/ubuntu and get a DVD that contains USEFUL software.
You need to meet Bob.
Free Martian Whores!
"You didn't pay anything for Windows."
Since the price of Windows was included in the price of the computer, they may try to argue that you didn't pay anything for it. This one is easy to debunk. Windows costs money -- everyone knows that. Once you establish that Windows does indeed cost money (and you can't get it for free) then the only remaining issue is how much you paid. Since Microsoft contracts out with hardware vendors, there's no actual way to know how much Windows costs a given retailer. This being the case, I was asking for the price of an OEM copy of Windows XP Home SP2 that I found on Newegg, which was $89. In the end they gave me $52.50. I don't know if this is really how much Windows costs, but it's a non-trivial amount and I can well imagine that one of the world's largest computer makers can get a good deal on Windows licenses from Microsoft.
http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/59381
In this case, it was determined that Windows XP added $52.50 to the price of a Dell PC.
I suggest you HIRE SOMEONE WITH A CLUE.
It's not necessary to have clues, honesty, professionalism, courtesy, security, or lack of bugs when you have the market share Microsoft does. Hell, if I could make tons of money producing overpriced crap, I'd sell crap and overprice it, too!
Gees, guys, lay off poor Microsoft.
Free Martian Whores!
is how much will it be as an "OEM" version from the likes of Newegg when I purchase it with a HD? Because anyone paying Brick and Mortor retail pricing is just paying an ignorance-tax.
If you can't be good, be good at it!
Seriously, not the same market...
Mac computers can run Windows, but this is a second operating system purchase to the user, thus not the same primary OS market.
Windows users can not run Mac OS on their machines (at least not legally/easily) therefore this is again, a different market.
Mac OS upgrade has better be cheaper as their hardware costs a large amount more.
The only direct competition with windows on the desktop with generic hardware is linux (solaris/freebsd to lesser extent) but quite clearly this issue is much more complicated than pricing alone.
Well, price it competitive and sanely and I'll buy it. Keep it priced like it is and I'll just pirate it and make sure to recommend alternatives wherever possible.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Go back and take econ. Or basic math. Selling more units at a lower price does not necessarily increase profits. Of course, though, you are on slashdot and a complete idiot, and I am replying to you. Who is more of a schmuck?
If you buy a new computer, it'll come with Windows 7. You'll wind up paying for it whether you want it or not.
According to that pricelist, you're buying Windows 7 and getting a free computer that comes with it.
After the two years I had to spend on Windows Vista, I figure a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate is a justifiable compensation for all of the frustration and emotional trauma I have endured.
If we, in the Linux world, would stop all of the BS bickering, we could have taken advantage of this situation. Arguments over Gnome vs KDE vs whatever and the horrible treatment newbies get on the forums are killing any kind of mass migration.
I have been using Windows 7 for the last month or so (since it went from beta to RC) and, I have to say that I have liked MOST of the experience so far.
Stability is at least on par with XP (have not had to restart since I finished driver installs). Annoying messages have been minimal - they only appear when I am doing something that should require administrator credentials, such as installing a new application or driver.
Performance... I have no concrete figures but this also seems on par with XP.
The only down-side has been the installation time (hours, even on my beast) and the size of the OS(how DO you fit 20GB of data on a 3GB DVD anyways????).
So, the reason I want Windows 7 is so I can use all of my system's memory without a ramdisk/virtual memory hack and 64-bit support. There is really no other reason to upgrade because everything else seems on par with XP.
perhaps I could direct your attention to a fine catalog of vendors prepared to sell a PC in the natural state - start naked and free from all operating systems. For those who prefer not to pay for an unwanted proprietary operating system there are Naked Computers. If anyone sees a vendor out there with a naked system for sale please let me know. It has to be an up front option (full frontal if you prefer) not an under the counter, if you ask specially kind of deal. We are also mostly interested in complete computers, not a pile of bits, and we want a minimum order quantity of a single unit.
I have really no issues with Vista to be honest, and Windows 7 seems like it'd be alright. But seriously, if you're going to have an opinion and criticize other users for what they've said, at least post under your handle and have some balls so it doesn't look like cheap attempts at astroturfing.
I have purchased only one copy of Windows(tm) in the last years; XP Professional(tm), and I paid almost $300 for it (all in, after taxes). Yes, I know I was taken for a fool, more on this later.
Now, I know that OEMs can't possibly be paying anything CLOSE to that, because I can buy a computer now WITH Windows and pay just a bit more than that.
So, I was led to believe that as a single consumer, I was being ripped off, and the only way to get a reasonable price for Windows was with a new computer. Simple, right?
Wrong. My wife works as a middle-school teach in the TDSB (Toronto District School Board). They have, what, 40,000 (more?) employees. My wife just got an offer - buy Windows Vista(tm) (Business?) for $21, and Office(tm) for $21. As far as I can tell (from the literature), there don't seem to any resale restrictions. And no "OEM" restrictions. The literature also mentions that the retail price for Office is north of $600.
How much DO Windows and Office cost? Since only idiots would buy retail Windows or Office (yes, I used to be in that category), the only reason to have ANY "suggested retail price" is to attempt to establish some sort of valuation.
"It's expensive, it MUST be good",
but no-one actually pays that price
"but I got a GREAT deal on the software!".
And now the suggested retail pricing pops up here, just to help spread the meme.
Of course, it is possible that the purchase was subsidized by the TDSB, in which case I will be very upset. The TDSB just ok'd the use of OpenOffice, and thus should have no need to spend the money.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
It's too bad the 50% discount on upgrade pricing only lasts until July 11. $50 for an upgrade copy of Win7 seems workable. My problem is the odd division of features between versions. For example, Home Premium does not include a remote desktop server (client yes), but Windows Homer Server has the ability to remote into client computers. How dumb is it that Home Premium does not allow a remote desktop connection from Home Server? Hello, "Home!".
Where's the part of the summary telling people that they can upgrade for $49.99 by pre-ordering?
"Finally, as a way of saying thank you to our loyal Windows customers, we are excited to introduce a special time limited offer! We will offer people in select markets the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 at a more than 50% discount. In the US, this will mean you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for USD $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for USD $99.99. You can take advantage of this special offer online via select retail partners such as Best Buy or Amazon, or the online Microsoft Store (in participating markets).
This program begins tomorrow in the U.S., Canada and Japan. The offer ends July 11th in the U.S. and Canada and on July 5th for Japan or while supplies last. Customers in the UK, France and Germany, can pre-order their copy of Windows 7 starting July 15th and will run until August 14th (or supplies last) to ensure folks donâ(TM)t miss out on this. Act fast if you want to be the first in line to get Windows 7 at this screaming deal! Note: The special low pre-order price will vary per country."
Granted, it's a small window for a bloated Windows, but you have to applaud Microsoft for this. If you hate Vista and are convinced you want an upgrade, it's only $49.99 if you do in in the next few weeks.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Honestly, Vista was pretty much just a beta for 7, asking people to pay $119+ to upgrade an OS that shouldn't have been released is an insult. I'm not an MS hater, I'm running 7 and like it pretty well so far. Did my best to like Vista but went back to XP after a few months.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
You need a valid Win XP key to run XP Mode in Win7. It's a separate download. Basically just WinXP in a VM environment.
Most of the people who will pay $29 for snow leopard paid apple for their hardware. How many vista users bought their hardware from microsoft?
Microsoft sells a good deal of replacement keyboards and mice, as well as smaller mice for laptop PCs. Microsoft also sells Windows-compatible USB gamepads under the Xbox 360 brand.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
At the very least, it's good that they're providing an option to upgrade from XP and not just from Vista. I never took the Vista plunge on my XP box but I may very well take the Win7 plunge at some point down the road, so it'll be worth that to have a legit upgrade.
/* No Comment */
Those who bought new computers from Apple after June 8 get it for $9.95 to cover shipping and handling. :)
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Why should Microsoft care if the Win7 prices are "competitive" or not? They've got a captive audience
Resellers!!! I'm waiting to see what the differentials are on the Dell/HP models to get a sense of how they are getting screwed by Microsoft. The smaller resellers are going to get the worst of it. Hopefully, that will be enough economic motivation for more resellers to promote/package a Linux distro.
Retailers extract a pound of flesh for every unit sold, so Microsoft can't bully retailers as easily.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
This is what threw me into Linux ...remember how windows 3.1 would freeze and have to reboot etc etc..
Then when you tell them of the bugs they tell you oh its fixed in the next version which you have to buy
again....so why did i bay for the buggy stuff then ? So i just jumped in linux ...was buggy ...was hard to get X11 going (this in 94 'm talking about) ...but once it got going i did not
have to reboot for months.
Why struggle and spend your time with something you pay hard earned cash when you when you can
lose less time and work on something that is free and open....after all its just the OS....Most of the other stuff either you buy (matlab etc) or you have open version for or you run wine on it.
Nod to the economy? What the hell kind of BS is that? ...oh, wait - shills galore. Got it.
Much as I hate to admit it, I know that when I build a machine, install windows, install anti-virus, and make an image of it to revert to in an emergency, the cost of the license and the time it would take still ends up being cheaper than screwing with xorg.conf - if your time is worth $25 an hour, I mean.
Extract that over 2 years and the costs are quite minimal. The fact that Apple can charge anything for OS upgrades when their hardware is so obscenely overpriced is the real ripoff.
I really hated Windows Vista and immediately formatted my laptop to Ubuntu when I got it. However, I installed Windows 7 just for kicks one weekend and was then forced to use it the whole week since I was away from my install discs the whole week and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I hate Microsoft just as much as the next guy, but the product is definitely a legitimate upgrade from Vista (performance-wise), but still not nearly as performance conscious as XP was. Damn, I miss XP. (but not it's lack of software for Windows XP x64 Edition which I still use on my other box.)
BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.
Games should never cost more than $50.
Then why does a PC game for four players cost $159.96 plus shipping and tax? In other words, why does a PC game require that each player use a separate copy? And why does a year of World of Warcraft or many other MMORPGs cost well over $100?
Apple charges $29 for their OS upgrade, but the Mac user who's getting that cheap upgrade paid 50% more up front for the computer that he bought from Apple. Microsoft, despite selling a few keyboards and mice, is not a hardware company, and doesn't make its money by maintaining exclusive manufacturing control of the hardware that Windows runs on.
I heard the Pirate Edition was free. Just sayin.
let me say I overpay for hardware so I can use a nice Unix operating system with a great GUI without the need to tinker with it like Linux. Plus, I get more app support than Linux.
I'm paying extra so I don't have to use Windows. It's my decision and I think it is worth every penny.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
This sort of attitude is one of the main reasons why anti-piracy lobbyists get so much love from legislators.
If you pirate Windows, why the hell would you care about "alternatives" ? And vice-versa: if you're a linux fan, you don't need to pirate Windows.
One thing is certain: bragging about your hypocritical stance on /. is not going to make Microsoft lower their prices.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Yes, the OS is perceived as "free" by many. If you remember the dark days of Win ME, it really sucked, and a lot of people had problems with it. Yes, MS killed it as soon as they could, but that left millions of people with a crappy, poorly supported OS that developers didn't want to write apps and drivers for.
I expect people running Vista will soon be in the same boat, and the solution will be to spend $500 for a new computer or $119+ to upgrade the OS. Who wants to invest $119 in a 2-3 year old machine? MS should do the right thing and make the upgrade dirt cheap, to get all their users on the same page. But they have a near-monopoly so why should they care if they piss off millions of customers?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
and we like whine here at slashdot !! Howz it gonna look if we whine about $50 upgrades? Not very good.
Why would a home user pay hundreds of dollars for an OS when there are free options that are just as good if not better?
I can only see one major "pro" for a Windows OS in home use which is large video game market yet I see many cons like:
- high price-tag
- bloated and operates slow unless you have high end / very recent hardware (even with recent hardware it's notably slower)
- biggest target for viruses
- history of instability and security vulnerabilities
- majority of major applications for this OS also come with high price-tag
I can at least understand why some businesses use them since they have a higher budget and want to pay for extra phone support. So I can see how the "professional" and "server" versions sell. It's the "home" edition that doesn't make a lick of sense, especially in this economy.
I'm not an Apple zumbi, but I should applause the upgrade price for OS X: $ 29.
The users who were prisoned to Windows will see Windows 7 as second coming. Why? Their quality expectations are just ''it doesn't crash'', ''performs as fast as XP'.
I am actually testing the 64bit 7 on latest gen Mac Mini (with a real gpu) and I just shake my head asking ''dear MS, when will you learn what your users want?''. Issue starts with needlessly rebooting the system 3-4 times on such a basic (no scsi and fiber etc) computer while installing. Why? Why on earth your reboot a freaking machine 4 times? If I could find a place to feedback at MS, I was ready to submit that question. While on it, I will ask them if they will die if they put a eject icon instead of ''safely remove hardware'' in case of USB key drive.
Windows users won't sit and argue about the geometrical and perspective issue of dock (taskbar). It actually happened on OS X scene. Snow Leopard must be so good that people will upgrade their perfectly running Leopard which will be likely at 10.5.9+ levels to 10.6. The bar is really set high. For MS, it should just perform as XP and look like Vista. That is all they care about.
The problem is that because the deal is based on when the computer is purchased, any early announcement of the deal would hurt sales for those Microsoft partners until the day the upgrade deal starts as anyone who didn't need a new PC immediately would wait until June 26th.
I'm sure part of the contact with all of their retail and OEM partners states that they can't announce any sort of special deals like this in advance.
For some of us, the comparison is "our requirements are X, compare the price of the lowest-price MS solution and the lowest-priced Apple solution that meets our spec."
You do have a point though.
Apple having cheaper hardware is kind of like saying a high-end luxury car brand gives you free scheduled maintenance for 5 years. That's all fine and dandy but if you need basic transportation, it's not even on your radar. And rest assured, TANSTAAFL, you pay for the oil changes one way or another.
Now, if Apple had $299 bare-bones PCs and $399 bare-bones laptops and some low-to-mid-range models, then we could do a real low-end-of-the-market apples-to-Apple comparison.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I think his point is that those same legislators are abdicating their responsibility by allowing an effective monopoly (as pointed out by many previous posts) which then is free to abuse its market position. The point being then that capitalism is no longer working as advertised (i.e. increases consumer choice and leads to competitive pricing through... competition) and so one can either roll over pay up whatever they demand or rebel and pirate.
I have and use the Windows 7 RC. It is cleaner and faster than Vista. It looks nice. No complaints really.
I will never buy it though. Not because it is not a good operating system, but because after sinking $300 on Vista Ultimate x64, I feel that I am *entitled* to a free upgrade to Vista SP2 aka Windows 7. I disagree that $300 doesn't matter. I can buy 3TB of HDD. I can upgrade to 12GB or DDR3 RAM and still get another 1TB of HDD. I can get an additional Samsung 24'' LCD. I can upgrade from the i7 920 to the 950. All these area meaningful upgrades.
I use Ubuntu for everything, including my work, and Windows only for gaming. Ubuntu's GUI looks much better (with Compiz), is faster, and much more configurable.
I had hoped that they would do like Apple this time and offer a family pack license. I can get Leopard with five licenses for a little over $130, less than half the cost of a second standalone copy. With four PCs in my household (my game PC, wife's, and two the kids use), even the cheapest upgrade option is nearly $500 if I upgraded all of them.
From WineHQ
Myth 1:
Windows applications that do not make system calls will run just as fast as on Windows (no more no less).
I will agree on the having to test, but also on Windows, to an extent, you have to test to make sure that the device that says it works on Windows actually does properly.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
Too late for a friend of mine ... They
Soo... your friend has multiple personality disorder?
Or is he or she so fat as to equal multiple people?
Perhaps the doc stopped halfway through the sex change operation, leaving no genitalia to speak of, and due to lack of gender, you find yourself unable to find a suitable pronoun?
... By the way, if it's the gender thing, what's that like?
I have laptops that came with vista, I use ubuntu (dual boot w/ grub) most of the time now but I used to use vista and I might pay the 50 bucks to upgrade them to 64bit win7. I liked vista for the most part as it had ok tablet features and seemed relatively secure, even if it was hurling all over my resources. I only got maybe 1 or two blue screens in the year or two that I've had the machines, but by the far the most annoying occurance was when MS destroyed my box with one of their patches. Endless reboot cycle, had to go back to a restore point before the patch hit, and then MS apparently fixed the patch because I gave it some time and it took later. I didn't appreciate MS wasting my time like that, I almost called them.
So, in summary, I hope if I pay them the 100 bucks to get 2 legit copies of 64bit win7, they don't bork out my windows install like a bunch of jerkbags and waste my time again : \
Pre-order for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is $49. For Professional, it's $99.
Just an FYI...
When was the last time someone actually went out specifically to buy a copy?
Today:
The most popular items in Microsoft Windows. Updated hourly.
Software Best Sellers
24. Windows XP Home SP2 1056 Days In The Top 100.
the few people people that have legal copies have them because they were bundled with the computer they bought
In other words as close to 100% of the home and SOHO markets for the last twenty-five years as makes no difference.
sThe geek really, really, needs to spend less time looking in the mirror.
On http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare-editions there's a feature which only comes with the Ultimate edition: "Work in the language of your choice and switch between any of 35 languages." It's interesting that Microsoft, with all its billions, only supports 35 languages -- at a serious premium. Compare this to volunteer-based projects such as KDE, which has (admittedly varying) levels of support for over 60 languages. For free.
I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.
...Apple's OS and you can see that....oh wait, nevermind.
Which is why someone needs to start one of those anti-trust lawsuits Microsoft loves so much. How can any marketplace be competitive when an expensive product is sold cheaper than a free product. Really, the only way to stop Windows marketshare is to ensure that when you buy a Dell, you have to pay the retail price (ok, or a discounted price - but you have to pay extra) for the OS too.
If Dell had to be more transparent in its pricing, you might have the situation where you bought the hardware for X, the software for Y and a Dell-engineer installation (ie the disk duplication step) fee of Z. For Windows Y might be $100 and the installation $10, and Linux Y might be $0 but Z $200, but you'd see those prices and could decide to buy just the hardware and install your own OS. With the current situation, you just see that Windows is the cheapest option, which would be impossible in any other non-monopoly-based industry.
Heh heh! They could charge a billion for it, it won't matter to me. I'll just go and grab Debian GNU/Linux for free, and get a much better computing experience.
MS likes it when people buy new computers. Most new computers run Windows, and customers have shown a willingness to upgrade OTHER products at the same time (especially MS Office). Remember also that MS touts the low [initial] acquisition cost of PC hardware. This low cost is their primary sales tool, as Linux [OEM] PCs are relatively rare, and Apple is perceived as having a higher initial cost. I used the word "perceived" because Apple simply does not exist in the bargain basement sector of the market.
It is of paramount importance for MS to keep the hardware vendors away from Linux. This saves them the effort of keeping the users away from Linux. So MS throws a few perks to the hardware vendors, such as pricing software upgrades in such a way that most users would rather replace their machine. And once the decision is made to replace the machine, notice how MS' asking price falls of the face of the earth. Instead of $199 for an upgrade, it's down to the $50 "MS tax" (even less for netbooks) and made to look like $0.
Those Windows 7 upgrades are ONLY for the captive users who have high-end machines and consider themselves dedicated to the MS ecosystem. MS could never force EVERYONE to buy a new machine, so they offer something pricey for those who truly have either no choice OR no sensitivity to price. The manufacturers like it this way, and to MS they are the #1 customer.
It is not that bad compared to how long you can get use out of it and it will stay current. And comparing it to Mac OS X prices does not work.
I wish Microsoft pricing structure was lower, but comparing it to Mac OS X pricing is not a valid argument because OS X does not have service packs. It releases a 'new' OS every year or 2 instead and charges $40 for the upgrade, while service packs for Windows are free. Many of you have mentioned preferring XP over Vista which is still supported and still has updates and service packs for it and it came out 8 years ago. Average 4 OS X upgrades in that time and you have roughly the same price as the Win7 upgrade.
I don't hold any animosity over any OS on the market. I love OS X and hope to have a Mac in the future, I love Linux (openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu) and run it on a few machines, and I love Windows (XP over Vista, however Vista is getting better)
The point I am making is don't attack the pricing scheme too hard considering how many years of use you will get out of it. If you don't like Windows, don't use it, recommend alternatives to users of it on the basis of why they are better, not that Micro$oft is evil or that Windows is horrible. Like it or not, Windows does get the job done. My work computer and home laptop both run Vista and I have not had any problems with either, granted I waited until SP1 to install them. They run the programs that I need, programs that don't run on Mac or Linux, and some that don't have a FOSS or even reasonably priced alternative.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10272703-56.html
Did you say it shoud be free? You even got the "Vista Ultimate" bit right. Microsoft must be reading messages here on Slashdot.
How do you know we didn't organise the theft?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
if you use your computer to talk to the real world sometimes you are stuck with windows if you want to get the work done.
That's ludicrous, every OS can get on the internet. Adobe has PDF writers for every OD iinm, and Star Office will read your .doc files with ease, even though the formatting may be a little off.
The onlt three reasons I can see for Windows is Excel, the program that does slideshows (what's that called again, haven't used it for years), and playing some games.
Unfortunately, there are hardware vendors who don't bother supporting anything but windows
Sad that there are such narrow minded vendors, but true.
Free Martian Whores!
First of all, Win 7 is a nice OS, I have the release candidate and enjoy it much more than Vista. That being said, it's too expensive at $100. They should price it at $50 or at least have some sort of Family License (as Apple does) $200 for 4 PCs or something like that. If I'm going to have to go through the chore of upgrading 4 PCs, then at least give me something.
Didn't microsoft say those of us to got screwed with vista were getting windows 7 for free?
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/11/238222
Now you've done it, he's picking up his chair...
Free Martian Whores!
That's how it works now. Some vendors offer you the PC without OS or with various (for cost or not) OS options.
You're missing the point that nobody gives a shit about alternative OS's. Almost everyone (in terms of percentage) wants their new desktop PC to come with Windows, and that's how they're sold. You're buying a PC that works when you plug it in, and that's how it's sold. If you want to go outside the norm you'll have to buy from less mass-market sources.
And computers should never have more than 640K of RAM...
Seriously, just asking. I, personally, have seen nothing that makes be want to use it. MS has done nothing to make me believe that I will get several hundred dollars worth of value from Windows 7. There are many people reading /. who believe they will get several hundred dollars worth of value from switching to Windows 7. Please tell me your reasons. Please tell me where you think the value is.
Yes, I am asking you to do MS's job and explain the value of Windows 7 in a way that I will understand.
Stonewolf
I thought programmers were supposed to code for free; Microsoft is doing it all wrong.
So I'm thinking shelling out an additional $200 for stuff I don't use that makes it slower is ...
EPIC FAIL!
But, then, I live in the real world where Chinese customers can get the Windows 7 OS for less than $30 total.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
There we go.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Retail packages should be upgraded to the next version for free. From what I understand, there are oddities with terminal services between both Vista and Windows 7 that show the base OS is the same animal.
I'm not certain if I'll buy into Win 7 or not... we'll see.
Oh, is Microsoft actually supporting their users now?
Read this:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/06/windows-7-pricing-announced-cheaper-than-vista.ars
Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($99.99)
That's valid at Best Buy, Amazon, Fry's, etc etc. Yes, it's only for preorders so you can argue its merits as you like, but if you're actually interested in 7, it's the way to get it.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Microsoft Vista buyers to get free Windows 7
Free Martian Whores!
I just wiped my XP machine and installed CentOS this morning...
It doesn't really work. You can't really sit there and do a direct compare between the price of the Apple OS vs. Win7. Here's why :
A Mac Pro configured to the tits on the Apple Store site costs $18,075.00 and includes the following : 2.93Ghz Intel Xeon Quad-core processors X2, 32Gb (8x4Gb) of DDR3 1066 RAM, Mac Pro RAID card, 1TB 7200RPM SATA drive X4, Nvidia Geforce GT 120 512Mb video card X4, 18X superdrive (optical drive) X2, Apple Cinema HD 30" LCD display X2, Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Airport Extreme Wifi card, Apple Mini Display Port to DVI Adapter. Also obviously includes the standard case/powersupply/motherboard/sound card that you aren't allowed to change/choose during purchase. All this for a fucking HUGE $18,075.00!
A PC configured on NewEgg, with equivalent or better parts (except the optical superdrive, of which I didn't find any @ 18X), including the following : Antec 1200 Black Steel Case, ASUS Z8PE-D12X Mobo, XFX GX295NHHFF Geforce GTX 295 1795Mb 896-bit GDDR3 viedo card X4, ABS Tagan BX1300 1300W Modular Active PFC power supply, Intel Xeon W5580 Nehalem 3.2Ghz Quad Core processor X2, Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA 32Mb cache SATA drive X4, Logitech MX 5500 Revolution Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo, HP LP3065 30" LCD monitor X2, LG Super Multi-drive X2, Creative Sound-Blaster XFi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro sound card PCI-X, Encore ENLWI-N Wifi N adapter, Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler. All that for $10,017.79. Add another $200.00 or so for shipping, another $299.00 for Win7, and another maybe $30.00 for thermal paste/a cable here or there/whatever, and your topping out at less than $10,600.00 for a BETTER system.
The way I see it, I'd rather pay %100 for my computer and $120.00 to upgrade to Win7 than pay %180 for a computer AND $30.00 to upgrade my OS.
Now, to be fair, I only made the comparison on the extreme high end. At the average consumer level, the Apple premium is closer to %170.
Halitosis - (n.) Halle Berry's Camel Toe.
I've bought a few computers from IBuyPower now and have been very pleased with the results. While they specialize in customizable gaming computers, they do have some precofigured packages available for sale. You can navigate to the third set of customize options when checking out the computer package you want and select a pre-formatted, no OS hard drive. Again, this is more of a customize your own ePeen-computer type site, but they might warrant your attention.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
There is also supposedly a way to get the upgrade at half the cost initially.
So for upgrades:
Home Premium: $50
Pro: $100
http://gizmodo.com/5302371/windows-7-pricing-good-news-mostly
That would be nice for me, but we'll see.
I bought a copy of Vista 64 for my last build to run legacy software, roughly translated 'games', and it doesn't run a lot of them. I would have preferred to run 32 bit XP, but it wouldn't install. I'm doing everything I need to do on Linux these days, so I can't see ever buying another copy of Windows. At those prices, it is a very poor value proposition.
I doubt I'll be buying any. It's way too expensive for me, and doesn't contain any features that I don't have already. Come on, the Compiz cube is way better than that scraggy attempt Vista had. And I can search in the kernel sources for profanities! Beat that, Steves!
For Vista SP3
Just stick to XP or your favorite Linux distro.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
... for an actual start menu?
Ingredients: Turkey, Mechanically Separated Turkey, Water, Salt, Flavour.
Nope, nobody gives a shit about what comes on their PC as long as its "free".
Once you show them the bill for the Windows OS, they'll ask "but what about that other option you have there?"
Some people will want Windows because its Windows. Most people want whatever just works. As you can see by netbook sales which (despite the dubious claims by MS) show at least reasonable numbers of Linux installs.
Meh, what's the point of using Vista or 7? XP still does everything I need and much faster/better than Vista (and I'm guessing 7 too).
I would love a dirt-cheap "netbook" with a low-power cpu and chipset that:
*was built as sturdy as your typical sub-$1000 notebook
*had battery life on the high end of what is available on notebooks costing under $1000
*had a good wifi chipset
*had good, easy to use keyboard and trackpad and other ergonomics
*had a good, nice display
*is lightweight for its screen size and battery life
*had cheap-to-adequate everything else
It doesn't have to come with Windows, I would just use it for surfing and for remote-controlling other computers.
I can see that being under $400 easy, especially without the Microsoft Tax (TM).
As for $299 PCs, they are good for non-mobile "netbooks" and other "it's only a terminal"-type applications.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
It's not like half of the Internet didn't know the date since January.
We both said a lot of things that you are going to regret.
What is the OEM / SYSTEM builder price? The buy a new pc with vista and later go to 7 price?
$319 for a graphical program launcher loaded with DRM? wow.
The first rule of upgrades is: do not upgrade.
The second rule of upgrades is: DO NOT UPGRADE. EVER!!!
Seriously: I've worked at Microsoft, and I'm somewhat of a fanboi, but even I know that the only fully supported "upgrade" path is from a clean install of the old version, and even then you'll be lucky if it works right.
Microsoft will have to pony up more than $299 to get me to install Windows 7.
Somewhere hiding in a closet, I have an original "Microsoft Mouse" which had bundled with it, Microsoft Windows (1.x)!!
Sounds to me like it's more or less the same, except now it's bundled with any "New PC".
I had heard rumors that the upgrade would be free for Vista users since Vista sucked so badly. I guess this really proves why we should all turn to Ubuntu!
Die Microsoft, Die!
Sithlord Coward
This is /.
He is brave, but not insane!
We both said a lot of things that you are going to regret.
I reject your "nod to the global economic downturn". Fuck you. You need to do more than nod. How about get up out of your $14000 chair and hand me a copy? Either do a good deed, or stop fucking pretending you are. A 10% discount. That's not significant to consumers, don't you GET it?
Microsoft just can't bring themselves to do something totally pro-consumer. If there's nothing in it for them, they won't do it.
And, shut up capitalist zealots, I'm not saying they haven't the legal right to make a profit. I know what you're thinking, you fucking idiots! I'm just saying, their attitude makes me want to pirate their software, and they can change or not, it really has nothing to do with legality or capitalism. Just... do they want customers? Do they want people to like them?
Well, looks like I'll be clicking "Resolve Later" (just be patient Bill, the check's in the mail) for a couple years yet.
The ISO, and hence the DVD, is 3GB. I did not say that Win7 came on a DVD that was in some mystical, previously unheard of, 3GB format. Please have a little common sense.
Windows 7's interface?? I have not seen it. I continue to use AstonShell, which still works like a charm.
Windows XP is old. It's very old. It's so old that all the other operating systems are laughing at it (except the other Windows operating system - they just drool a lot). It will not support future generations of hardware, especially those that take advantage of 64-bit functionality. It does not support more than 4gb of memory space(subtract your devices memory space from this and you get the total remaining available memory in your system - many memory cards will chew up 512mb of this space). Windows XP has been Microsoft's best personal (and commercial??) OS yet, but you can only keep an old car on the road for so long before it's time for a new one.
Win7 seems to be exactly what the next generation of Windows should be.
I smell more Linux users... At least at my house, my children have not yet experienced Winblows and will be introduced to Mandrake or Ubuntu before they have been polluted by this garbage. A re-hashed version of Vista IMO, long live solid free OS's =] Also who wants to spend $399 to be a guinea pig for all the adware/malware monkeys for the next year until they finally get majority of the bugs worked out.
The latest Ubuntu release 9.04 was able to correctly detect and configure both my monitors, a 16:9 22" lcd monitor and a 16:9 lcd tv at different resolutions without any problems. I have been using dual monitors and tv out with Linux for years without significant problems. It used to require modifying xorg.conf but now it's pretty much automatic. Linux has come a long way in the last two years, the gnome desktop is now a complete environment as is the kde desktop. Administration is simple and easy to understand. Things are well documented and it's easy to get help if you need it. I no longer worry about introducing newbies to Linux because with a quick introduction they quickly acclimatise to the new environment and become productive in a very short time. Maybe it's time you took another look.
What I do NOT need is a fast or even average-speed CPU. I don't need much disk space. I don't need much RAM. Basically, I need ThinStation plus a web browser, along with good, modern, video, keyboard, mouse, weight, ergonomics, battery life, and WLAN technology.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Oh no, they dropped windows classic menu option?
Lame. If I can't turn all the crap off, I don't want it.
Not that i particularly want it, but if and when it arrives preloaded that will be a big incentive to get rid.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
That's all. Just as much work goes into an xbox game, and you probably get much more enjoyment from the game. Windows is and has always been too expensive for people not to pirate.
No, people want what they expect to get. People expect Windows on a PC. Your netbook sales argument is specious - netbooks are a newish thing, people's expectations aren't as set in that space.
With the release of Windows Vista & 7, everyone should now be aware that "There is a sucker born every minute" has now been officially changed to "There are 100 suckers born every minute"
Its also so they can include it in 'potential revenue lost' in piracy suits via the BSA.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Well, my vendor is FAR cheaper. You might have heard of them before, piratebay?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
So that could be actually more then you paid for your entire PC these days.
ya, makes tons of sense..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
MD5 is broken. There's an example based on documents and EXEs.
SHA1 is weakening, but there are no known practical collisions yet, that I know of. Even so, most Linux distros are now using SHA256 for their ISO sums and binary packages.
They should sell full versions (not upgrades) of every OS they've ever built for $35 (OEM only, no end user support). Then sell their current release at $60 upgrade / $70 new - and offer their genuine validation service at $35 to convert illegitimate installs to new keys. If it was $60 or $70 I would think, "Oh that's just about 1.5 tanks of gas. So I'll take a Win 7, 4 xp's, a 2000, and just for kicks give me one '98." There's $280 for MSFT, and I would actually feel satisfied that it was a fair purchase. The only reason why I bought a legit copy of XP was because eventually nothing useful would install without having sp2 updates. The only reason why I will upgrade is either lack of 3rd party development, or significant performance benefit from new OS's. The only reason why I bought Office 2007 was because it was on sale for a while, at about $50 (student) for the full version.
Why is Microsoft RETARDING the move to 64bit by FORCING users to pay the FULL PRICE and not allowing a 32bit xp to 64-bit Win7 UPGRADE ??!!! (or 32bit XP to 64 XP upgrade) It is little wonder that Apple sails by, since Apple encouraged upgrading from OS9 to OSX instead of PENALIZING ! Especially when Windows 7 consumes TWICE AS MUCH RAM ! (64bit allows over 4 GB of ram)
What game do you own that requires 4 people to play it
Only a select few games designed for the PC support split-screen with gamepads, such as on a PC connected to an HDTV (EA Sports series, Lego $MOVIE series, Serious Sam series). A few more support "spawn" installations where each player has to use a separate PC but only one player has to own a copy of the game (e.g. Starcraft). The majority require a separate serial number per player.
and requires one person to pay for all the copies?
Any game played by minor children. Child labor laws in effect throughout most of the developed world prohibit children from working for money to buy their own copies of video games.
It is morally reprehensible that INTEL was literally crucified when they came up with the idea of a processor ID and yet Microsoft gets away, fairly unscathed when they implement a hash of hardware data as part of WPA. To me, there is zero difference.
Or they could rebel and go out of their way to support the alternatives. But hey, people are lazy and why learn something new and truly kick Microsoft in the balls, when you can just go to TPB to get your warez and strenghten Microsoft's network effect on the cheap.
No, if people truly cared about punishing Microsoft they'd be using Linux, the BSDs or hell, even Minix. People who pirate Windows are nothing more than cheapskates, no matter how they try to paint it.
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
I'd like to see the installer DVD for Snow Leopard, surprise!, install on any Core 2 mobo. If Apple didn't advertise it and didn't promote it, and didn't officially support it, but let "it just work", imagine the turmoil in Redmond when a $39 competitor's upgrade runs on all of the hardware they were hoping to co-opt at $100+ a pop.
After all, later versions of the Leopard installer DVD will install surprise! onto certain Dell laptops without intervention, and this is not an accident of Dell design...
The Dell support staff will even give advice on how to make it work better!
Ask Me About... The 80's!
All you need is a legit XP Pro SP2 OEM installer CD image and any "authentic" serial number that you can copy off of the back of any PC you see anywhere and you can be 90% certain that it will install and authenticate with Genuine Advantage.
Install SP3 afterwords and you are good to go.
If it doesn't authenticate the first time, try another serial number from the POS terminal at your local grocery store or electronics retailer. Text the SN to yourself while waiting in line to pay.
Big secret: 90% of those XP Pro stickers have never been authenticated...
Ask Me About... The 80's!
Unbeknown to me I ordered Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit for System Builders - OEM for $99.99 USD edition just two days before this limited-time upgrade deal was announced and now the package is in the mail. Luckily for me, I intend to refuse delivery and Newegg will take the items back and refund me the money. I'll be able to recoup my costs.
Strangely if I bought my Vista version after June 26, 2009 I could get Windows 7 for only $9.99 USD for the upgrade, but because I placed the order on June 24th I don't get squat.
I just downloaded the Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit version for free and got a product key that will work all the way until March 1, 2010 and then expire June 1, 2010. I'm going to install this version on a new system upgrade that I just built with Intel Core i7 920 2.6 GHz, Asus P6T, G.Skill 6GB DDR3-1600 C8 memory, and Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE cooler.
If I purchase the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade pre-order for $49.99 USD by July 11, 2009 then I can jump from my Windows XP to Windows 7 for only $50 USD and I get to do a clean install anyway.
When October 22, 2009 rolls around and they release the full version of Windows 7 then I can either update, upgrade, or at worst do a clean reinstall to the full release RTM version then. I think that this is the path that I'm going to take and save myself half costs and skip Windows Vista along the way.
I read the title of your post, and thought you were talking about Michael Jackson..
"...while supplies last." - I must have woken up in bizzaro world today. These are digital bits and bobs(tm) - where the HELL is the restriction on supplies coming from, not from a limit on natural resources of any kind that I can see. It's a just a frenzy-inducing marketing line. Quick - TWO for the price of THREE - for a limited time only !!!!
You're missing some key aspects of the PC business.
Manufacturers like Dell and HP get alot of money from 3rd parties (like Intuit) to put trial version and nagware on the windows desktops.
This can often drive the effective net price of a windows desktop lower than one without an OS (+$50 for windows, -$150 for various bundled trialware/nagware).
In addition, if the manufacturer doesnt have their support infrastructure fully setup, then they may feel that there is a higher support cost to them for non-windows than windows.
Then there are marketing subsidies from Intel, AMD and Microsoft to put labels on the machines, etc.
There are many non-obvious aspects of the industry like this, its never as simple as hardware + os = total price.
Apart from the price what's the difference between 'Windows 7 Home Premium' and 'Windows 7 Ultimate'. Is it a case of taking 'Windows 7 Ultimate' and disabling core functionality and renaming it 'Windows 7 Home Premium', and then charging people more money to subsequently re-enable it ..
Windows 7 Home Premium $199, Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade $119, Windows 7 Professional $299, Windows 7 Professional upgrades $199, Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade $219, Windows 7 Ultimate $319
davecb5620@gmail.com
The number of computer games that are intended to be played in the same physical locale AND are not playable on the same screen is very small.
How about every first-person shooter or real time war sim that has ever been taken to a LAN party? The problem is that hardly any games designed for Windows 7 or any other PC-based platform are playable on the same screen because hardly any PC game developers have HTPCs in mind.
The vast majority of games that require multiple players buying a license to play on a machine for a single player at a time are Internet based (XBL, etc), and so even if it was kids buying it, it would be different parents buying for their kids, not one parent buying it for a kid and all his friends.
A focus on Internet play over local play leads to a situation where little Bonnie and Johnny who live in the same house, and then Bonnie asks to go to Chester's house just so she can play against Johnny. I'd say there's something wrong with this picture.
Actually not true.
I don't pirate windows, but I'll detail why one, even a linux fan, might need to.
I prefer Linux for nearly any task. However, there is one application I like to run and one which I must run, which require windows. One of them requires direct access to the hardware.
The result of this is that I must run Windows on my laptop. I use PuTTY and Xming to connect to a beefy Linux machie; the processing power of both machines and the speed and quality of my LAN ensures that my Linux applications do not suffer any in performance.
Had I not received a free copy of Vista Ultimate from Microsoft, I would have pirated XP, although I am a Linux fan. In doing so, I would still care about alternatives, as it is one of these alternatives that is my preference.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Well that brings my count of reasons to switch to GNU/Linux to about 1,000
"the same incorrect belief that nobody uses Vista"
Please, could you point me to the person that believes _nobody_ uses Vista?
Nonetheless, the non-uptake of the last version of Windows is staggering. It has been out for almost two and a half years, and I have yet to see more than a handful of computers running it. Our company stayed with XP on its several thousand desktops, as did most of the corporate world, AFAICT. This is even more astonishing in view of the fact that XP was already over five years old when Vista was released.
Imagine the chairs flying if this scenario were known to MS in, say, 2003:
"Six years from now, Longhorn will have been out for about three years, but the corporate world will avoid it like the plague, preferring to stick with XP. True, we will get it into people's homes because they won't have any choice on new computer purchases. For certain big OEMs, however, we can offer the option to stick with XP, because knowledgable users will be willing to pay extra for seven year-old XP rather than accept Longhorn".
Vista has been utter humiliation for Microsoft. They have succeeded in bloating the base system to where it won't run acceptably on anything less than what was recently considered a supercomputer. I remember a quip from around 1998 about bloat in Windows that went something like "In a few years, Windows will need a 500 mHz Octium with 200 MB RAM just to boot".
Now, Vista fans say things like "Vista isn't slow, it just needs a decent laptop, meaning a minimum of 2gHz and 2 GB RAM." wtf???
Why anyone would think MS will do any better the next time around defies comprehension.