Windows Vista retail doomed unless Microsoft cuts prices?

The maddening press release

Microsoft Unveils New Ways for Consumers to Get Windows Vista

Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows Vista Family Discount and Windows Marketplace offer customers more flexibility and choice in purchasing Windows Vista.

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 17, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today detailed three new methods for customers looking to buy, upgrade or license multiple copies of Windows Vista™, the new operating system that will be available worldwide on Jan. 30. Windows ® Anytime Upgrade, Windows Vista Family Discount and Windows Marketplace will provide customers with greater flexibility in obtaining the new operating system and will ensure they have the edition of Windows Vista that matches their needs.

“With the consumer launch of Windows Vista so close, we’re excited to announce three new ways to make the purchase and upgrade experience easier than ever,” said Brad Brooks, general manager of Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. “These new programs give our customers more flexibility and choice to ensure they get the edition that’s right for them.”

Windows Anytime Upgrade Lets Customers Upgrade Anytime, Anywhere
Windows Anytime Upgrade is a new option that allows customers to conveniently upgrade their existing edition of Windows Vista to a higher-grade edition by way of an online transaction. For example, if a Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Business user decides he or she wants more capability — perhaps to join his home PCs to secure domains at the office, or to experience the multimedia capabilities of Windows Vista on his work laptop — Windows Anytime Upgrade makes the process of moving to Windows Vista Ultimate expedient and affordable. To use Windows Anytime Upgrade, a customer simply clicks on the Windows Anytime Upgrade option in the Start menu, selects the desired upgrade edition, purchases it online to secure a new digital key, and then follows the on-screen instructions to complete the upgrade.

Within Windows Anytime Upgrade, customers will be able to obtain detailed feature-by-feature information on the different Windows Vista editions, so that they can make an informed decision on whether an upgrade is right for them. The integrated desktop and e-commerce experience allows customers, with one click, to go from the Windows desktop to an e-commerce shopping cart containing the upgrade path they have selected.

The business model for Windows Anytime Upgrade is unique in the industry in that selected original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retail partners will be able to offer Windows Anytime Upgrade as online merchants, via a new e-commerce infrastructure developed by Microsoft. For the first time, both retailers and OEMs can ensure that their customers have the option to directly upgrade the version of Windows on their PC even after their initial purchase.

The manufacturer’s suggested retail prices to upgrade to more premium editions of Windows Vista are as follows:

Home Basic to Home Premium $79
Home Basic to Ultimate $199
Home Premium to Ultimate $159
Business to Ultimate $139

Windows Anytime Upgrade will coincide with the general availability of Windows Vista in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan on Jan. 30, and after launch customers can find additional information at http://www.windowsanytimeupgrade.com.

Windows Marketplace Adds Windows Vista to Its Virtual Shelves
In another first, Microsoft will make Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft ® Office release available for direct download via Windows Marketplace, the largest online destination for buying software that runs on Windows. Starting Jan. 30 and working with retail partners, Windows Marketplace will offer the following upgrade editions of Windows Vista and full versions of the 2007 Microsoft Office release at suggested retail prices:

• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Standard 2007

Windows Vista editions offered through Windows Marketplace are available in English only, in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. Windows Marketplace visitors also can find a wide variety of Windows-compatible hardware and software, including products carrying the Certified for Windows Vista logo, which are tested to ensure superior reliability and quality when running on Windows Vista.

Windows Marketplace makes it fast and easy to download large programs such as Windows Vista through its digital locker technology. Digital locker combines the immediacy of downloaded software with the security features of owning physical media like a DVD — it uses innovative security technology to store purchased software and license keys, efficiently resumes downloads if they are interrupted, and manages the overall installation process. More information can be found on Jan. 30 at http://www.windowsmarketplace.com.

Family Discount Rewards Multiple-PC Households
To make it easier for households with multiple PCs to make the move to Windows Vista, Microsoft is launching a limited-time offer for customers who buy retail copies of Windows Vista Ultimate. From Jan. 30 through June 30, the Windows Vista Family Discount will allow North American customers to license two additional copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for use on other PCs in the home at the reduced price of $49.99 each.

Before completing the order online, customers will need to enter one valid full or upgrade Windows Vista Ultimate key from their retail boxed product. After eligibility is verified online, the customer can purchase licenses to install Windows Vista Home Premium on one or two additional Windows-based computers. The Windows Vista Family Discount is available only in the U.S. and Canada. More information is available at http://www.windowsvista.com/FamilyOffer.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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Retailers are just adding salt to injury to rack up price even more.

The retailers will be even happier if M$ do indeed reduce the price as market wish, because there will be at least some person who pre-ordered not knowing the price drop and pay at the previous (double inflated) price.

I think microsoft is trying to do the same thing as hardware manufacturers. i.e. Massively inflated Core2Duo, 8800GTS/GTX launch price.

Price will come down once everyone in the higher end of the spectrum bought their “premium” copy at “premium” price.

I have personally purchased the OEM Ultimate from overclockers.co.uk. In the end it cost me £141 with overnight shipping (i got an email tonight saying its been shipped it should arrive by monday at latest). Now to think that NA is getting the RETAIL copy for £100 less is bit wrong. To be honest i dont care about the fancy packaging but i do care about the licence. Due to me having to upgrade my PC for the DX10 era i am going to have purchase a new copy at the end of this year as i will have to get AM2+ based motherboard. Now the way i saw it at first was i am getting OEM which is less then half price of RETAIL currently. At the end of the year the price of OEM should have gone down even further and i could purchase another copy and still not pay as much as i would pay for a RETAIL today.

The prices of this OS are higher in EU but i have to admit that i think the EU it self is to blame. EU last year has done nothing but made MS give them millions of pounds in fines so that they would make a version of XP that none ever bought. I say this is MS telling us that they didnt like that very much and now WE the consumers are going to have to pay back all those millions MS had to pay to EU.

Also i looked at the prices for the OSX Tiger and they are cheaper. But if you compare Tiger without any extras added on which makes Tiger not matching to the Ultimate but to more Home Premium and the prices are pretty much even.

(Tiger UK £139.00 , Tiger US $199.00 , Converted Price US>UK amounts to £100.93)

The price variation between two continents is pretty big, but i bet you that MS can justify it, which is probably the reason for such prices.

Plus i dont believe that Mac Platform can justify its self to Windows Platform at the moment, sure the OSX it self might be better but the platform as a whole is 2nd best.

arthurleung
Retailers are just adding salt to injury to rack up price even more.

The retailers will be even happier if M$ do indeed reduce the price as market wish, because there will be at least some person who pre-ordered not knowing the price drop and pay at the previous (double inflated) price.

I think microsoft is trying to do the same thing as hardware manufacturers. i.e. Massively inflated Core2Duo, 8800GTS/GTX launch price.

Price will come down once everyone in the higher end of the spectrum bought their “premium” copy at “premium” price.

Really, honestly, I think these premium buyers are not going to buy - but we'll know soon enough whether I'm right.

Syn
EU last year has done nothing but made MS give them millions of pounds in fines so that they would make a version of XP that none ever bought. I say this is MS telling us that they didnt like that very much and now WE the consumers are going to have to pay back all those millions MS had to pay to EU.

I think Australian pricing for Vista is even worse.

Syn
I have personally purchased the OEM Ultimate from overclockers.co.uk. In the end it cost me £141 with overnight shipping (i got an email tonight saying its been shipped it should arrive by monday at latest). Now to think that NA is getting the RETAIL copy for £100 less is bit wrong.

To be honest i dont care about the fancy packaging but i do care about the licence. Due to me having to upgrade my PC for the DX10 era i am going to have purchase a new copy at the end of this year as i will have to get AM2+ based motherboard.

Now the way i saw it at first was i am getting OEM which is less then half price of RETAIL currently. At the end of the year the price of OEM should have gone down even further and i could purchase another copy and still not pay as much as i would pay for a RETAIL today.

The problem with buy an OEM version of Vista - as I understand it (and this is why I made no mention of OEM prices in the piece) - is that unlike the retail version, you will not be able to migrate the OS from one PC to another; it will be locked to one PC, or so the story goes.

And that is a serious restriction for a good number of the people who might want to buy Vista retail - the more so if, as you say, you are still paying £141 for the pleasure.

Syn
The prices of this OS are higher in EU but i have to admit that i think the EU it self is to blame. EU last year has done nothing but made MS give them millions of pounds in fines so that they would make a version of XP that none ever bought. I say this is MS telling us that they didnt like that very much and now WE the consumers are going to have to pay back all those millions MS had to pay to EU.

Ah, right, so MS falls foul of the law and so dumps on us.

Three rousing cheers for Microsoft, then?

No, I don't think so.

I'm not saying that what the EU did made a great deal of sense to me but I think that Microsoft's own behaviour did bring upon the company the massive fines and other sanctions that were applied.

Syn
Also i looked at the prices for the OSX Tiger and they are cheaper. But if you compare Tiger without any extras added on which makes Tiger not matching to the Ultimate but to more Home Premium and the prices are pretty much even.

(Tiger UK £139.00 , Tiger US $199.00 , Converted Price US>UK amounts to £100.93)

Er, I'm trying to think what's missing from Tiger that is found in Ultimate and not found in XP MCE and I'm coming up short.

I'm not saying you're wrong just that I don't know, specifically, what you think is missing.

As for the pricing - and remember what set me off on one today was the get-two-more-for-$50-each deal offered only to US & Canadian buyers - did you realise that UK price you quote for OS X (£139) is for the Family Pack, which lets you install the OS on up to FIVE Macs!

By my reckoning, that's £27.80 a copy - and the £139 price from the Apple Store does include free delivery!

If you just bought the one-Mac license, the cost is £89 but if you later decided that you wanted, say, to use that OS on two further Macs, you could still buy the Family Pack any time for £139 and you'd still be paying only £69.95 per upgraded Mac.

Syn
The price variation between two continents is pretty big, but i bet you that MS can justify it, which is probably the reason for such prices.

You tell me, if you can, what the difference is between the version you'd buy in the UK and version you'd buy in the USA.

If it's like XP - and I'm sure it will be - there will be no difference.

So what are we paying for?

The higher cost of distributing around the UK, rather than the USA?

The higher cost of the Indian-continent call centres that Microsoft UK uses relative to the Indian-continent call centres that Microsoft USA uses?

Really, I don't see that Microsoft could justify the price differentials even if it tried very hard - and it's never done that in my experience.

Syn
Plus i dont believe that Mac Platform can justify its self to Windows Platform at the moment, sure the OSX it self might be better but the platform as a whole is 2nd best.

Sorry but I simply don't agree.

Some members of the Mac hardware family are more expensive to buy into than Windows equivalents but the hardware platform itself absolutely is not second-best, quite the opposite.

Every single new Mac computer you can buy is based on a new-generation Intel CPU and every one of them can run OS X and Windows XP natively (from different partitions).

That's a really, seriously tempting proposition.

And, you just need to look inside and around a top-end Mac desktop machine to realise that it's a whole lot nicer and better than any Windows desktop PC you can buy.

Okay, there are some Windows machine that will be using CPUs not available yet on Macs but if money were no object I'd go for the Mac every time - though reckon I'd use XP on it for the majority of the time

Now start to look down the Mac range.

There's the iMac family of one-piece machines which are better than any comparable Windows PC (not that there is anything that's really comparable) and, remember, each of them can run Windows XP if you want it to.

Then there's the mini - cute as a barrelful of kittens but smaller (and able to run XP better than the barrel can).

Of course, it could be argued that the reason why Apple can sell Mac OS X far more cheaply than Microsoft plans to sell Vista is because Apple makes all that lovely lolly from overpriced Mac hardware.

But that doesn't stack up all the way across the line.

Take Apple's range of laptops.

This, as I recall, includes a number of models that offer equivalent feature-sets to Dell models costing considerably more.

Believe me, I'm not a Mac apologist - Apple's felt the hard side of my word-processor more times than I like to recall - but the pricing of OS X was a relevant factor for me to throw into the argument about Vista's inflated pricing.

Windows Vista retail doomed unless Microsoft cuts prices?

The maddening press release

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