Slashdot Mirror
Hidden Fees Discovered For "Free" Windows 7 Upgrade
An anonymous reader writes 'Thousands of recent computer purchasers who are expecting to receive free upgrades to Windows 7 when it is released on October 22 may be surprised to learn that some big computer makers are quietly tacking on hefty processing fees as high as $17 to mail out those disks to some buyers.' How about they process $0 to click a link and download a file?
Similar to paying $9.99 for going from Leopard to Snow Leopard (if you bought a Mac with Leopard recently).
It's annoying but it's not hefty.
And in this (Win7) case the price seems to be a manufacturer thing and not a MS thing. Ranging from $0 to $17.
Because of course the infrastructure to serve 3gb of data to each customer doesn't cost anything?
Not that I'm defending the practice of charging for a free upgrade, free upgrades should be free, postage free too, but suggesting doing it digitally means there would be no cost is ignorant. In the UK with the extortionate costs of bandwidth I think posting a CD first class via Royal Mail might in fact be cheaper.
A lot of people would just want to stick the Windows 7 DVD they receieve through the post in the drive too. Downloading an ISO and knowing how to burn an ISO rather than copying the file across like they do usually when writing CDs (if they've ever even written one before) would be too much for some users.
Open source projects can charge reasonable fees for distribution of source code. Why are these any different?
If the fee was stated *plainly* and the customer factored the fee into their decision, then fine. If instead businesses understand that people won't buy a new computer because they don't want Vista, and they entice customers with a FREE upgrade to Windows 7, then it HAD BETTER BE FREE. It doesn't matter if $17 doesn't break the bank. Even $0.01 is too much if I was coerced into a buying decision by a vendor who was withholding information. DISTRIBUTION COST IS IRRELEVANT. It doesn't matter if it costs money for the CD or online downloads. If they knew that it would cost money for distribution they weren't willing to eat, THEN YOU STATE UP FRONT THAT IT WON'T BE FREE. Otherwise, you keep your promise to the consumer. PERIOD. They simply have no excuses here. I don't understand why people don't understand this.
Since the PC manufacturers are advertising the free Vista-to-7 upgrade, the CD you receive is probably custom-tailored to work with your machine and its installed drivers. So it's not really any more difficult than popping-in the Win7 Restore CD and waiting.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I think that exposes the truth of copyrights to consumers a bit too clearly for corporate comfort.
Windows has traditionally been about receiving the product. You go to the store, give them that ungodly sum that they charge, and then come home with your shiny box and DVD. Now, online distribution is coming up, and Microsoft likely will go that way, but allowing them access to the whole thing before buying a key puts the issue into the spotlight too much. They've already downloaded the system for free, and now they'd be paying several hundred dollars for a code to unlock it. At that point even the simplest minded consumer will put together that all they really paid for was that key and the other stuff costs really nothing (which has always been the case, but it's not been so obvious).
If Microsoft only allows a download after paying the fee then there's still some level of abstraction. IE, the consumer feels like they're buying at least a big file.
Just my take on the issue anyways.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
i can imagine all the calls to Dell. i burned the iso to a dvd and it still won't boot
Then they should provide an executable binary which upon execution upgrades. No need for an iso.
I am the lawn!
Not an honest company? Take it you didn't bother to actually read the rebate offer or the price tag which both make mention of it being a visa debit card? That has nothing to do with dishonesty but rather being too lazy to read what you are in essence agreeing to. Are rebate cards a crappy deal? Yes, just the same as rebates in general are.
"Shipping and Handling" is a scam in whatever form it takes. This is especially true when those charges are excessive.
Yes - charging shipping to pass along a variable, customer dependent charge is outrageous!
Get back under your bridge.
You go to the store, give them that ungodly sum that they charge, and then come home with your shiny box and DVD.
Seriously, what is UNGODLY about what they charge for their product? You spend more in a MONTH on cable TV than what it costs to buy Vista Super Premium. And don't give me the "It's expensive because it doesn't work" BS. If it doesn't work, don't buy it.
Personally, I run one of each (Win,Mac,Ubuntu) at my house, and i have no problem with the cost i need to pay for Windows or mac. Different tools for different uses.
My user number is prime. Is yours?
Yes, you're right, the manufacturing cost of a "Key" is miniscule. Guess what, it's just like the cost of building a car. You don't think it costs 20,000 dollars in materials and labor to build a car, do you? Aren't you completely indignant that you had to pay that much? The nerve of car companies covering design and R&D costs and they expect to cover the costs of marketing their product in the sales price!? Well, that's outrageous!
Every product has hidden costs embedded into the price. In Microsofts case, it's dev time and marketing, and yes, a profit too. If you don't think the dev time yielded a high enough quality product, or a product you're interested in, by all means, go buy a Mac or download *nix. But, just because it costs next to nothing to create "keys" doesn't mean there weren't some very real expenses in delivering this product that need to be recouped.
If somebody offers me, in writing, $25 back if I buy something, I damn well expect to get $25 back.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
wow - did someone piss in your cereal this morning?
The OP did not say anything about copyrights being right or wrong, and didn't seem to to overly anti-copyright, and his point about microsoft's motives (or part of them) is arguably correct. He did mention that he thought the price of Windows is a lot, and he is free to think that if he wants. He didn't imply that it should be free or pirated.
I'm sure Microsoft is quite concerned about the abstraction between product and cost. People don't want to think about paying for development, testing and support. They want to pay for something they can hold in their hand or put on a shelf. That's why all the software boxes (and most other boxes) you see in the store are all bright and colourful, when a simple brown box would suffice. How many peoples comptur rooms do you go into and see software boxes on their shelves (collecting dust)? The box is a trophy. With a download there is no trophy.
Playing a 'word game' is EXACTLY what Microsoft is doing because they are afraid that if people 'think' that all they are paying for is an unlock code, then they won't be concerned when their brother in law 'gives' them the unlock code instead of buying it from Microsoft. So they make people think they are paying for a DVD, manual and box in addition to the software.
And there is nothing wrong with that, except for as other posters have pointed it adds cost to the product that it presumably passed on the the customer, as well as delays the release while the manufacturing process occurs. And Microsoft is fully within their rights to do both if they think that is the correct thing to do for their business.
So his bitch is that he got $25, but not in a form that would have allowed him to "make" it $26.25 via a reward scheme at his bank.
See why he comes across like a complete douche?
Frankly, no. They offered $25, and if it wasn't a cash or cash equivalent, they should have said that on the advertisement.
Unless there's some way to cash the credit card like a check (instead of spending it), in which case I'll concede that it's a cash equivalent.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.