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Windows 7 prices are too high

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Windows 7 prices are too high
By The Inquirer
Jun 29, 2009 | 22 Comments
Tags: windows | 7 | operating | systems | pricing

High cost might discourage take-up of new Microsoft OS. UPDATE: No local upgrade discounts in Oz. Yet...

A retail analyst with NPD Group, Stephen Baker, has said that Microsoft's pricing for Windows 7 is "way too much for the software."

Microsoft's least expensive Windows 7 upgrade will be for the Home Premium version and will cost $199 in Australia; $119.99 in the US. "That $US120 is a pretty big nut," said Baker, "especially when you can buy a new PC for around $US300."

In a post to the company blog, Baker said that Microsoft's Windows 7 upgrade prices, along with the pain of having to perform an incremental software upgrade, could deter punters from moving off Vista, with all of its problems, in order to "erase all vestiges of Vista from consumers' homes" and "move to a far superior platform with a better user experience."

Baker also criticised Microsoft for not offering a multi-licence family upgrade package for Windows 7, saying "In a world, at least in the US, where most homes are moving into a multiple PC environment, it would enhance the consumer home experience if they could upgrade all their home PCs at a single low price with a single boxed purchase."

He noted that Apple will be offering its Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard release for just $US29 for a single-licence upgrade and only $US49 for a five-licence family upgrade bundle. "This is a direction I would have much preferred to see Microsoft head," he said.

To that we would add that Microsoft's relatively high prices for its Windows 7 full system installation packages will discourage users from upgrading their older PCs that are still running Windows XP. The least expensive full package of Windows 7, the Home Premium version, will be priced at $299 in Australia and $199.99 in the US.

Sure, additional memory is relatively inexpensive now, but many people will likely hesitate to pay a hundred-fifty to two hundred more US clams on top of that just to acquire the company's latest OS.

If users with older PCs can't afford to shell out the better part of a grand to buy a new PC and monitor, they'll likely consider installing some user friendly flavour of Linux for free instead of ponying up the substantial wad of dosh needed to get Windows ME II SP7.

UPDATE: We've also learnt that while Microsoft is offering a 50 per cent discount for those pre-ordering their upgrade to users in other countries, that offer is not yet on the table here. We contacted MS, and were told "Microsoft is reviewing pre-order options for Australia, but have nothing to announce at present."

Way to be informative, guys.

 

theinquirer.net (c) 2009 Incisive Media

 
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22 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
tOrtise
Jun 29, 2009 3:20 PM
I'm finding it hard enough to save for a total PC upgrade from my AMD3200 AGP system to a DUO/QUAD system let alone another $200+ for Windows 7. XP for me, till death do we part.
A Hitman
Jun 29, 2009 3:50 PM
No way am I paying over $200 for Win7. Its not really that much better than vista.
Lazzarus2nd
Jun 29, 2009 4:03 PM
Forked out for three Vista licenses over the past year or so for my computers - no way will i upgrade to 7, vista works well and I have no problems.

Smacks of Win ME huh?
Nich...
Jun 29, 2009 4:04 PM
The least expensive full pack will be an OEM copy, not a retail copy. For shame.

Volume licencing for home environments may be useful, but how cheap do people really want to get? $200 for an OS that will last for at least 4 years, and receive numerous free updates over that lifespan is, IMO, a pretty reasonably deal.
LordBug
Jun 29, 2009 4:26 PM
Yarr me hearties...
I mean, oh golly gosh!
:P
iapplied
Jun 29, 2009 5:09 PM
Apparently customers that purchase Vista between now and the release of 7, will get a FREE UPGRADE to Windows 7!
This is to encourage people to not wait for 7 and purchase vista now:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/microsoft-unveils-windows-7-prices-20090626-czbg.html
Hawkeye
Jun 29, 2009 5:25 PM
Yeah... which is exactly what we reported last week :)

- DH
Paranoid_Android
Jun 29, 2009 5:52 PM
or you could download the RC today and use that for free till mid 2010? beats vista :P
galdarian
Jun 29, 2009 6:15 PM
How can they justify the AU$ markup.
Last I checked the US$ -> AU$ was ~$0.80

By my figuring that'd make the software about AU$150 and yet M$ wanna milk another $50 out of me?
MagnumXY
Jun 29, 2009 7:09 PM
"Volume licencing for home environments may be useful, but how cheap do people really want to get? $200 for an OS that will last for at least 4 years, and receive numerous free updates over that lifespan is, IMO, a pretty reasonably deal."

Yet Snow Leopard is 30 bux?
Enerjex
Jun 29, 2009 7:36 PM
I think the upgrade prices are a little steep, however the full version prices are pretty much what the vista ones are, so seems reasonable. Also the reference to snow leopard pricing... Apple stings you in your initial purchase, Macs are way too expensive for the initial hardware, so it's kind of factored in.
SceptreCore
Jun 29, 2009 8:24 PM
Be shrewd people, if you have vista now, stick with it... last it out. Unless your upgrading to an SSD based rig real soon, it's not worth worrying about going to seven. It offers a bit more performance over Vista, but if you have a good rig, your not going to notice much difference. Save the cash, and buy it later.
Paranoid_Android
Jun 29, 2009 9:01 PM
/agrees

for an OS that will likely end up on most new PC's shipped worldwide, I see absolutely no reason other than greed for them to be charging such ridiculous and exorbitant amounts of money.

And they wonder why piracy is a problem...
scruffy1
Jun 29, 2009 9:20 PM
given it looks pretty much identical, m$ must be hoping people are too lethargic to check out the linux flavours

and as for lasting 4 years - i would suggest my xp installs can last *another* 4 years if that's the attitude to take
TheSecret
Jun 29, 2009 9:21 PM
Who the hell pays for a retail copy of Windows? Seriously? You can always get it cheaper through OEM, UNi, Work...something. There is very little reason to every actually pay for a full retail version.
hazarama
Jun 30, 2009 1:13 AM
Engadget's reporting that pre-orders for Win7 in Japan have sold out already! So I can't imagine it's coming our way if it hasn't already >:|

I really think MS is making a big strategic mistake by not providing Win7 at a much cheaper price. I'm sure the reasoning at Redmond is that offering Win7 at a cheaper price won't increase the coverage of the Windows platform and but will reduce their short-term revenue. However, the higher fragmentation of the plaform across multiple versions will cost them much more than the lost revenue of offering Win7 dirt cheap.
DiStOrTeD
Jun 30, 2009 4:38 PM
How can a pre order sell out? 0_0
The way I see it...
I pay $100 for an xbox360 game which will give me around 9 hours of gameplay time. Why wouldn't I pay $200 for a complete OS which is compatible with 90% of the worlds hardware etc. Why pay $5000 for a graphics program. Hell for the ammount of work that goes in to compiling a working OS and releasing many updates in the Years it will last I think $200 is a bloody bargain.
Paranoid_Android
Jun 30, 2009 9:41 PM
you may think that, but considering most of the press seem to consider the OS 'Vista done right' why should we want to pay again for something which should really be an update to the $200 OS that most people were forced to buy anyway in the last year or two.

Sorry MS, despite the fact that i like Win7 quite a lot, i bought Vista a year ago, and cant justify forking out $200 for yet another licence.
So i for one will be pirating a copy when it becomes available. (note: when, not if)

(I'll probably regret saying that)
fliptopia
Jun 30, 2009 10:30 PM
Multiuser licesing would be great. Everything else is multi user license these days.
Negotiator
Jul 1, 2009 12:52 PM
I'm currently working out parts for a new system so i haven't even bothered with vista, so when it comes time for a OS i will meh the cost for W7. Price seems fine to me.

Cheers
sirtrancealot
Jul 1, 2009 3:49 PM
just another reason why MS operating systems are one of the most pirated apps in the world...

and 50% off wayy more than im willing to pay.. is still alot more than im willing to pay.. hahahah
Paranoid_Android
Jul 1, 2009 11:02 PM
i wish I could meh 200 big ones... lol
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