Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scorpion667 
I can see the need for MS to do this. Surface sales are disappointing, and WP8 is doing ok at best. A report released by NPD Group confirms that Windows 8 failed to increase its sales during the holiday season. They are not doing so well.
I won't even consider a trial version of Windows 8 until they fix the high DPC latency.
This isn't reactionary, this is MS sticking to their plans.
Microsoft announced even before Windows 8 launched that the price would only stay so low for so long, which is kind of why I'm wondering why its all over the news like nobody mentioned it before.
Also, people really do keep forgetting that Windows has almost always been over expensive, especially for the top editions, which is why you'll see a lot of people actually commenting on the fact that they've actually bought a copy of Windows. Since when do people
buy Windows, know what I mean?
In the 15-16 years I've been using computers, this is the first time I've felt the price justified buying an OS and I bought it for multiple systems at that.
Did myself and others like me not buying Windows for fifteen years even make a dent on Windows sales?
No.
Why?
Because its the OEMs that buy the largest amounts of OS licenses.
Microsoft were never looking to hit it big with the consumer sales, because that's not where the big orders come from.
Nor does direct sale to consumer increase the amount of pcs used/purchased vs people upgrading OS and hardware as a complete system.
Also, Mr Paul Thurott:
Quote:
Fact Check: Windows 8 Pricing Identical to That for Windows 7
There's been a lot of whining this week. It's all unnecessary
In the wake of this week’s announcement about pending changes to Windows 8 upgrade pricing, there’s been a lot of outrage about Microsoft “jacking up” the price of the new OS. But here’s a shocker: Windows 8 will soon cost exactly the same as Windows 7 did before it. So instead of looking at this as some kind of disaster, why not just appreciate the months of low-cost upgrades we’ve received?
If this event proves anything, it’s that people won’t be happy no matter Microsoft does. Well, that and that many seem to have selected memories.
Here’s what really happened.
Last year, in the months leading up to the release of Windows 8, Microsoft revealed two limited-time special offers aimed at upgraders. The first, called Windows Upgrade Offer, mirrored earlier offers aimed at those who purchased a PC with a previous Windows version. In this case, the version was Windows 7, and the purchase date has to be between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. You get can Windows 8 Pro Upgrade for just $14.99 (US), an incredible bargain.
The second was aimed at the normally tiny market of people who perform their own upgrades to the latest Windows version: Courtesy of a special promotion that Microsoft announced in July 2012, anyone with a qualifying PC—that is, virtually any PC on earth; it just has to have come with Windows XP, Vista, or 7—can electronically upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99. This offer expires, as promised, on January 31, 2013.
This week, of course, Microsoft affirmed that its previously-announced promotions would be ending and that normal pricing would return. That pricing works out as follows:
Windows 8 (Core) Upgrade: $119.99
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade: $199.99
Readers have reacted with a stunning display of anger at this pricing, as it were not previously expected or that the special promotions were anything but temporary. But it’s instructive to remember how Microsoft priced the identical Windows 7 product editions when that Windows version launched. That pricing works out like this:
Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade: $119.99
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade: $199.99
It’s identical.
Furthermore, while Microsoft did not offer special promotional pricing for Windows 7 Professional three years earlier, it did offer something called the Windows 7 Family Pack. This provided three copies of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $149.99, for a limited time, and was broadly praised for being a tremendous deal. (It was so popular Microsoft brought it back, again temporarily, during the holiday 2010 buying season.)
This past year’s special promo pricing for Windows 8 Pro was a better deal. A much better deal.
First of all, you don’t have to buy three licenses all at once. You can buy them one at a time, and can buy up to five of them.
Second, this past year’s promo was for Windows 8 Pro, a higher-end product edition, with more and better features, than the Windows 7 Home Premium version we got three years early. And yet it costs $10 less per copy purchased.
The reaction? Again: Outrage. How dare Microsoft make Windows 8 Pro available so cheaply for a pre-set period of time and then simply begin pricing it normally exactly when they previously announced they would do so. How dare they!
Folks, please.
Fact is, with the one exception of Windows 7, which artificially benefitted from a poor reception to its predecessor, virtually no one upgrades their own PCs from one version of Windows to the next. It’s fair to say that almost everyone who wanted to take advantage of the promo pricing on the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade already did so.
So what’s with the outrage?
There are other advantages to the changes we’ve seen with Windows 8 pricing, too. Microsoft did away with Full product editions because all existing PCs qualify for the upgrade. So you can save money there. And the OEM pricing for Windows 8? It’s cheaper than the Full pricing for Windows 7.
Geesh. If you want the Upgrade, just get it now. And instead of damning Microsoft for screwing you over, why not just thank them for what is quite clearly the best promotional pricing for any major Windows upgrade in history.
Edited by GrizzleBoy - 1/19/13 at 4:49pm
