QOTD: Do You Think Windows 7 Prices Are Fair?

[Guest]

Pricing is was out of hand, that's why I run a cracked copy of 64bit vista ultimate now... you give me this O.S. for 75 or 100 dollars I will buy it, 300$ no way, I will go Linux first or wait for a crack. Anyone ever think about the richest man in the world??? and a hole bunch of other very wealthy people that live here in the northwest employed by the big M... yes it is overpriced... Riches men in the world according to Forbes Magazine Bill gates is #1. Steve Ballmer is #29 Paul Allen in #32.... Kinda Curious isn't it. Can you say RAPE!

 

[ward360]

And no I don't feel bad steeling from 2 men that are worth over 50 billion dollars combined (that has been made in my lifetime). yes they are very good businessmen, but their comes a time when you should have morals in business, Why do you think the Bill and Melinda gates foundation is here, To make up for the guilt of all the raping he has done.

 

[bin1127]

They couldn't have made it any more obvious that Ultimate is no different from professional. You pay $20 more for bragging rights and showcasing the case.

Does the upgrade work only with Vista? I can imagine a clean install being the best, and upgrade from vista with still minimal problems. But upgrade from XP is a pretty far fetch to work smoothly.

 

[haze4peace]

...YARRR!

 

[mike3119]

Several months ago MS said the Win7 pricing for people who purchased Vista would be either no charge or a nominal charge (don't have the exact wording). From what I see now that seems to have been forgotten - no surprises. I don't buy a PC for its operating, I rather buy the PC for the applications. I am going to stick with XP until it is no longer supported.

 

[Tedders]

Yikes. It was to be expected, but when you look at the prices for OSX Snow Leopard ($129 for full, $29 for upgrade from Leopard) it kind of makes your heart skip a beat.

 

[FHDelux]

I bought Vista Ultimate, paid extra for all the extra vaporware addons they promised. Now, instead of giving people with a valid Vista Ultimate license, a cheaper upgrade path, we have to pay the full price. So IMO, no the pricing is not fair.

Ever since Windows XP, that company is getting more and more disorganized and greedy.

 

[chripuck]

[citation][nom]redgarl[/nom]Do you actually try to tell me Vista was a good thing because peoples worked hard on it?Actually Vista was worst than Windows Millenium... I don't want to pay for trash like this.[/citation]
Wow, are you even old enough to remember the Windows ME mess? Vista was but a babe compared to the monster that ME was. Vista was annoying with UAC and it's file transfers were slow... what else is wrong with it?

 

[chripuck]

[citation][nom]Nintendork[/nom]Getting a pirated one if not stick with my XP (pirated).You pay for windows, you are part of the monopoly. Come on, better prices and more people will buy your OS Microsoft. ¿Is it that hard to understand?Here in latinamerica the % of pirated Win is like 95%. Example:W7 HP --> $19W7 Pro --> $39W7 Ultimate $69= Money printing machine. And when you see their fiscal years they have a hell of revenue ripping you users off. Way more than they will use in "R&D", don't forget that W7 is a patched Vista, is not like the second coming of Jesus or like working in Win 3.1 (93) and the next year (94) getting W7 + DX11 + HD5870X2 + Crisys 3 + 1080p in the era of Sega Rally.[/citation]
A. I have stock in Microsoft so I'm happy they're "ripping" us off.
B. Who else is going to develop a GOOD OS for free? I've tried multiple Linux distros from Ubuntu to RedHat and while they're certainly good, they lack the broad hardware compatability that Windows has.
C. Shouldn't Crysis 2 come out before Crysis 3? Warhead was nothing more than a stand alone expansion pack...

 

[Guest]

No. Without a doubt: NO! The pricing scheme should demonstrate a sincere apology on behalf of the company for forcing Vista on the public. I agree with other posters that the upgrades should be priced from $10 to $50 for Vista Users. I also believe that $50 to $100 for the full retail versions is respectable. I sincerely wished Microsoft would wake up and release only three versions of Windows: Windows 7 NetBook Edition, Windows 7 and the Server Variant. This inability to relate to the consumer has been growing increasingly apparent as the years go by. The Mojave Experiment was an absolute insult. Renaming netbooks "low cost small notebook PCs" is another example of how disjointed their company is. Wake up Microsoft!

 

[joeshardware]

It may be "worth it" for the features, but it's way more than I'd be willing to pay for an OS. I'll stick with my RC until it expires. If the price doesn't drop by then I'll just go back to XP.

 

[balister]

Ummm...does anyone remember the prices for Vista when it came out? If you do like I do, you'd realize that MS is charge less for Windows 7 than Vista when Vista launched. Vista Ultimate was $400, yet Windows 7 Ultimate is being launched at $320.

Those that are saying they bought Vista for less than the above prices have purchased Vista in the last year or so when MS dropped the price or got a deal through some outlet/bought an OEM version.

Overall, full version to full version, Windows 7 is priced less than Vista when Vista was launched.

 

[eyemaster]

Looks fair, but only if those are Canadian prices! I bet it's going to be 50% more than that for us Canadians. Then it's in the realm of being too expensive.

 

[dffeitlstp]

Vista users should get a free upgrade to Win7 to their current install. XP users waited for a real upgrade, so they can pay the freight on this one.
I have already started converting my backoffice to Ubuntu. Having to pay for another MS upgrade will help me make the decision to make a clean sweep. Initially my wife and kids will grimace, but after the initial shock they will conclude that the OS does everything they want to do, and WILL get over it.
I will keep one XP and one Vista machine around for games and legecy apps.

 

[deathblooms2k1]

I have a feeling that regardless of price the majority of you who claim you will "pirate" the OS would pirate it anyways regardless of how cheap it was.

It bothers me that some of you think pirating makes you some sort of elitist or something. Or that it makes you "cool" because you know how to do it. To me downloading a copy of windows does not make you a pirate. Someone who pirates software is someone who actually does have a higher level of knowledge who cracks it/ alters it in such a way so that it can be easily distributed. To me the pirate is the original distributor, everyone else (as appropriately termed through torrents) is just a leecher.

Similarly in the gaming world there are many people who are ever so boastful about their "hacks". I would say 99% of the time the person using the hack is not a hacker, just someone who downloaded someone elses hack to cheat. So in effect once again the hacker is the creator/distributor and the people using it are simply cheaters NOT hackers.

And feel free to call me a hypocrite since I've certainly stolen OS's before. I understand people who can't afford it, Microsoft certainly does have a monopoly and their prices could be made more reasonable. But that doesn't make anyone "Joe Cool" for "sticking it to the man" and pirating the software.

To me if you really want to make a statement, download a competitors OS legally. I'm sure microsoft is more concerned about losing $ to competition than they are to losing $ from themselves.

 

[theholylancer]

you can't compare ms to apple, since apple's hardware isn't that cheap.

that said, when the alternate to win 7 is TPB...............................

the price has to come down for retailers to more or less mass OEM level or else TPB will just be a good alternative to people whom build their own computers (a lot less of the market tbh but still a significant portion)

 

[bydesign]

Think the prices are fine. Don't upgrade if you don't want it. The only exception I have is for Vista Ultimate user, they should get a free upgrade as M$ never delivered on the ultimate extras.
OSX should be free it's hacked linux and they charge for service packs... Then they nickle a dime every iTard out there.

 

[GenKhan2]

I would price them as follows:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $9.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $19.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $29.99

Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $49.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $59.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $69.99

 

[ahnilated]

I think this is a total joke. Windows 7 is Vista SE. They are fixing the crap in Vista that doesn't work right and rebranding it and selling it as a new OS. They should be forced to give this away for free to all those people that spent money on Vista.

 

[xeensd]

[citation][nom]dezonio2[/nom]srsly who in their right mind visits this forum and pays full retail price for MS OS? who in this forum does not build their own PC?[/citation]

I disagree, if the OS was priced at $99, I think people would be much more likely to purchase it... would that offset the difference of price not sure... Sure there are people who pirate period... then there are people who have 5, 10, 15 comps and just don't have 200+ a pop to upgrade OS's (sometimes on PC's not even worth as much as the os! - case in point p4 3.6 +2gb ram (barely worth $160)). I guess i am speaking more for the "1st world countries".

 

[bildo123]

[citation][nom]dumberthandumb[/nom]The half price deal sounds good. Upgrade is all you need, it does clean installs, why buy full??[/citation]

Don't you need to have some recent version of Windows installed though for the upgrade to work?

About the price, I find it amusing how the OS costs half as much (at retail) as the PC itself, if not more. Then again this isn't Joe's bargain antivirus.

 

[Guest]

I understand the effort that goes into an operating system, but there's no way I'll ever agree to pay more than $100 for an operating system. The sheer # of sales of Windows is massive -- $100 a pop is completely do-able for them. Even that's pushing it when you can pick up a netbook for $300. Ultimate costs more than a computer does! I have been and will continue to voice my opinion through my wallet.

 

[jeverson]

MS is ridiculous! I do realize how much goes into an OS. I also realize that MS has yet to get it right before a SP2 comes out. Again, there are too many SKUs. There only needs to be 2 (Home, Pro). 3 at the most (Home, Pro, Budget). I think the most any OS should be is $100 ($99.99 for you marketing people). Especially when you will have to be constantly updating and maintaining it. And let's not forget all the extras you will have to buy to go with it like Anti-virus, Anti-malware, Network security sweet, etc...

Ok... conspiracy theory time... I believe MS is like medical insurance... if you buy it without a PC from one of their partners then you have to pay big bucks... but of course their partners only have to pay $0.10 on the dollar or so... MS still makes decent margins on those OEM sales too... that is where most of their money comes from so to justify charging individuals 10x more just because they don't want a whole new PC is just ridiculous..!

end rant... 😉

 

[jsc]

Gosh, listen to all the noobs whine. I define "noob" as someone who's first computer was an IBM PC-AT (6 MHz. 80286) or later.

In 1978, a copy of CP/M-80 was $150. In 1979, a copy of TRS-DOS 2.3 (don't even ask about versions 1.0 to 2.2) was $30. Third party replacement DOS's were $150 - $200 in 1980 dollars.

So I do not regard current prices as excessive. (Like everyone here though, I wouldn't mind paying less.) On the other hand, the MS activation system was also supposed to result in lower software prices because of decreased losses to piracy.

And I also would like to see some sort of multiple license package.

 

[tinmann]

MS is behind the scenes kneading their greedy hands chanting "Mo Money, Mo Money , Mo Money". Why does an upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit have to cost you more than $99.00? Why so many OS's in the first place? XP basic, home, pro, media center. Then there is Vista basic, home premeium, ultimate, business, Red. Now here we go again with Windows 7. It's all about the Benjamins.