What Price Point Should Microsoft Set for Windows 7?

Published on January 22, 2009 By Island Dog In Personal Computing

The momentum for Windows 7 continues to build, and it seems so far that Microsoft is doing a good job at redeeming the Windows name after Vista. Windows 7 is fast, seemingly very stable, application compatibility seems good, and the reaction from the tech community and media is far more favorable than it has been in the past couple of years.

So the technical side of Windows 7 is going pretty well, and we haven’t seen much out of marketing yet, but there have been many discussions online about how much Windows 7 will actually cost consumers. Some have suggested it should be free, which is quite ridiculous, and others speculate it will be similar to what Windows Vista was.

One of my biggest displeasures with Windows Vista wasn’t so much on the technical side, as it was with the actual price and the lack of license bundles. With some Vista licenses averaging out around $200, it just wasn’t economically feasible to outfit my entire house with copies of Vista, which I would have liked to have done. I have roughly 5 PC’s in my house, so give or a take a bit, it could have easily cost over $1000 to get my home setup with Vista.

Now I certainly don’t expect Windows 7 to be free, but I’m now wondering how Microsoft will set the pricing for new and upgrade purchases. I really hope it reasonably priced, because going too high will have a real negative impact in my opinion. I would like to see a simple upgrade from either Vista or XP for $99, with a 3-license family pack for $150. I think that would be very competitive, and get even more people to upgrade.

What do you think?

Comments (Page 13)

181

taltamir

on Jan 26, 2009

Meant as a prayer ... LOL ... i.e. "It should only come true." But if G-d were running M$, would there be 5,000 layoffs?

Someone has never read the bible... mmmhmm.. I suggest you start with the story of Job, and how god and satan got over an argument over the reason people love god. (note that satan never actually lifts a finger to harm job, God is the one doing it to prove a point to satan... so either satan outsmarted god, or god is an ass)

182

landisaurus

on Jan 26, 2009

I can only hope that w7 will be the last os for quite sometime....i mean look at the gap between xp and vista..huge....... if ms again comes out with another os next year.....ill be throwing up my hands.....i certainly cant afford a new os every year or so.....its unfair and i think nothing more than a scheme for ms to make more money....... *grrr*

Well Windows server 2003 came out right after XP. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is a server version to be released within a year and do not count that as a new OS.

If you count NT/2000/server 2003 as its own string of OS's seperate from windows 3/95/98/ME/XP then the average is 2-3 years between OS versions (they are 1992/1995/1998/2000/2002 respectivly) I expect this that Windows 7-8 gap will be the same 2 years. Initial versions of Longhorn (that became vista) came out in 2005-2006 again meeting this 2-3 year gap and making 2-3 year to windows 7 still sync up. Just long horn wasn't remotely stable until 2007 when they FINALLY made public release. However you see the link is still there. 2000 (me) > 2001/2002 (XP) > 2005 (Longhorn: Not released) > 2007 (vista) > 2009 (win 7) you still have a fairly consistant about 2 year gap between OS.

Alternatively, the initial versions of XP came out in 2001 I believe (as I just looked it up. I remember it being 2002, but so goes memory), meaning that the ME-XP gap could be said to be 1 year, which would be similar to Vista (spring 2008)-Win7. ME was something "new" and XP was this same idea "but done right". If it follows the ME to XP/ Vista to Win7 tradition then we won't see a WIN 8 for like 4 years, and it will suck. Then WIN9 will come out about a year later and be good.

EDIT: -the point is not to growl an MS for releasing on a schedule. Its not JUST a scheme, they follow a fairly consistant development cycle and since I don't see longhorn on my system (or any other) they obviously arn't so stupid to release unless they think its something worth releasing. As a tech-support agent, I defend vista for being much more stupid-user friendly and was a very good step in the right direction. I don't use it myself, but I feel that most of the changes it makes are very logical and the new interface I think is an improvement if I can get over the fact that "its not like it used to be"

My favorite quote on that "Just because we've always done it, doesn't mean its not stupid". Vista was an attempt to fix something broken (office is a better example, the classic file/edit/view toolbar is dumb / out of date and should be done away for something better )

183

k10w3

on Jan 26, 2009

taltamir

reply 6

This is totally off topic, and I would love to discuss it debth with you, I'm sure we'll agree on a most things, but the book only discusses one man's test of faith, not the reason "people love god." And now I'm going to spend the rest of the night pondering the question of which operating system G-d would use, and why. Personally, I think He'd use Leopard, since that's Apple's OS, and we know how important an apple was in the whole garden story.

184

landisaurus

on Jan 26, 2009

Personally, I think He'd use Leopard, since that's Apple's OS, and we know how important an apple was in the whole garden story.

Well I think it was more about "fruit of wisdom" in general. I do not believe an "apple" is a 100% accurate translation.

That being said, I do not believe he would use Leopard because Leopard has problems with WEP-open vs. WEP-shared security for some reason. Not as much as 10.3 did, but more than 10.4 did (in my experiance). I can't imagine he would use something that can't consistantly connect to a 802.11 standard (no matter how lame WEP is).

185

ZubaZ

on Jan 26, 2009

I think his son would be a great person to have as teh head of my IT department .. . . . .

becaus.. . . ..

... .

Jesus saves.

on Jan 26, 2009

on Jan 26, 2009

Clearly he's from the Dark Ages....saving on floppies.....

....can't have much to save, either ....

188

Sole Soul

on Jan 26, 2009

Jafo

reply 12

Clearly he's from the Dark Ages....saving on floppies.....

....can't have much to save, either ....

He's Jesus.

He can fit however much onto a floppy he wants.

189

ZubaZ

on Jan 26, 2009

He's Jesus.

He can fit however much onto a floppy he wants.

Holy crap! Laughing so hard tears are SHOOTING out my eyes!

190

Neilo

on Jan 26, 2009

LAMO++

191

DrJBHL

on Jan 26, 2009

Zubaz

reply 10

I think his son would be a great person to have as teh head of my IT department .. . . . .

becaus.. . . ..

... . Reduced 93%Original 455 x 469

Jesus saves.

True, Zu ..... But Moses Invests!

192

Jafo

on Jan 26, 2009

LAMO++

Typo?

I don't think so ....

on Jan 27, 2009

on Jan 27, 2009

He's Jesus.

He can fit however much onto a floppy he wants.

Not really.

God has to play by His own rules,

195

nexuiz

on Jan 27, 2009

i'm currently running a copy of the Windows 7 beta and i'm quite dissapointed so far. OK i kinda like the new startmenu but the OS allways crashes my (fully updated) SoaSE (with newest WHQL-drivers from Nvidia) and a bunch of other apps i use on a daily basis.. either they manage to get it working properly until the final release or i'll just have to stick with Vista for a couple more years.

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