13 ms·

Or perhaps the opposite; sell only the Enterprise edition in France, with its ability to disable telemetry... at a price.

throwaway7767 10y ago
It's not possible to disable telemetry completely, even on enterprise. You can select between "Extended", "Normal" and "Basic" (I think those were the names anyway).
- ryuuchin 10y ago
  Enterprise users get a 4th option called "security" for telemetry I think (which in gpedit is option 0 I believe). I think it sends even less than basic and as the name implies it only sends security relevant telemetry (Defender, MRT, etc).
tajen 10y ago
...and lose market share. Microsoft really needs to keep its product proeminent, especially today, especially in home products. So the EU commission actually has leverage to forbid certain behaviours. Microsoft, then Android, please ;)
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  Oh please, what are people going to do, switch to Macs? Or Linux? People have shown over and over that they're willing to accept any treatment Microsoft sees fit to give them, and that they will not abandon the Windows platform no matter what. MS can do whatever they want and customers will just take it.
  - tajen 10y ago
    The upper comment says "What happens if Microsoft only sells the Enterprise edition in Europe?", it will increase the price. In the absurd event when Microsoft doesn't sell the OEM anymore, people would have to pay $250 for a Windows license, which will make a lot of people switch. Yes, to Linux for the best, and to Mac for the new buyers.
    - Grishnakh 10y ago
      Paying $250 for a Windows license is still less money than they're going to pay for a new Mac. Macs are very expensive. And even so, lots of people have software that isn't compatible with Macs (or Linux for that matter). I'm honestly curious what would happen if MS decided one day to jack up their Windows license costs to, say, $1000 per copy. Or what about $500? Would their revenue go up or down? Obviously, some people would switch to something else, a bunch more would just stick with what they have, but people do buy new computers now and then, and businesses are always refreshing. Combine this with "updates" to existing Windows versions to make them slower and slower and slower (like iOS does) to force people to get new versions of Windows, and it seems to me MS would probably make a lot more money by gouging customers as much as they can.
      - dogma1138 10y ago
        If MSFT charges 1000$ for Windows it wouldn't matter much (other than negative press) most windows licenses are sold through the non-retail programs such as: Enterprise/Volume Licensing, SMB Licenses, Educational Licences (Students and Teachers), Developer Licensing (MSDN), Microsoft @ Home (buying considerably discounted licenses through your employers) and OEM licenses for retailers and system builders... Since Windows 7 the vast majority of the windows licenses that are not VL are cooked into the machine (stored in the BIOS) and are effectively non-transferable (OEM lic's were never transferable, but now there is no sticker with a key anymore). If microsoft decided to charge 1000% for the retail the majority of the licensing programs would be immune, OEM's/System Builders would love it (can rack up the prices since Windows is so expensive now), and pretty much none of the normal users would care/be affected by it directly.
        Grishnakh 10y ago
        Ok, maybe I'm not being clear, I'm not talking about MS just raising prices on certain licenses, but really across the board. What if they also jacked up their license costs for the ones "cooked into the machine", and also their Enterprise/Volume licensing? Heck, I think they have even more room to screw their customers with the Enterprise licensing, not only for Windows but all their other enterprise products too. What are big businesses going to do, suddenly switch to Apple? Obviously, they couldn't do this overnight, but they could certainly jack up their enterprise license costs to 5x when they come up for renewal. They'd probably want to avoid doing this too much for some things where there's actually competition (like with SQL Server: businesses might switch to Oracle), but with Windows, MSDN, etc., they could. Where are customers going to go?

throwaway7767 10y ago

It's not possible to disable telemetry completely, even on enterprise. You can select between "Extended", "Normal" and "Basic" (I think those were the names anyway).

ryuuchin 10y ago
Enterprise users get a 4th option called "security" for telemetry I think (which in gpedit is option 0 I believe). I think it sends even less than basic and as the name implies it only sends security relevant telemetry (Defender, MRT, etc).

tajen 10y ago

...and lose market share. Microsoft really needs to keep its product proeminent, especially today, especially in home products. So the EU commission actually has leverage to forbid certain behaviours. Microsoft, then Android, please ;)

Grishnakh 10y ago
Oh please, what are people going to do, switch to Macs? Or Linux? People have shown over and over that they're willing to accept any treatment Microsoft sees fit to give them, and that they will not abandon the Windows platform no matter what. MS can do whatever they want and customers will just take it.
- tajen 10y ago
  The upper comment says "What happens if Microsoft only sells the Enterprise edition in Europe?", it will increase the price. In the absurd event when Microsoft doesn't sell the OEM anymore, people would have to pay $250 for a Windows license, which will make a lot of people switch. Yes, to Linux for the best, and to Mac for the new buyers.
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    Paying $250 for a Windows license is still less money than they're going to pay for a new Mac. Macs are very expensive. And even so, lots of people have software that isn't compatible with Macs (or Linux for that matter). I'm honestly curious what would happen if MS decided one day to jack up their Windows license costs to, say, $1000 per copy. Or what about $500? Would their revenue go up or down? Obviously, some people would switch to something else, a bunch more would just stick with what they have, but people do buy new computers now and then, and businesses are always refreshing. Combine this with "updates" to existing Windows versions to make them slower and slower and slower (like iOS does) to force people to get new versions of Windows, and it seems to me MS would probably make a lot more money by gouging customers as much as they can.
    - dogma1138 10y ago
      If MSFT charges 1000$ for Windows it wouldn't matter much (other than negative press) most windows licenses are sold through the non-retail programs such as: Enterprise/Volume Licensing, SMB Licenses, Educational Licences (Students and Teachers), Developer Licensing (MSDN), Microsoft @ Home (buying considerably discounted licenses through your employers) and OEM licenses for retailers and system builders... Since Windows 7 the vast majority of the windows licenses that are not VL are cooked into the machine (stored in the BIOS) and are effectively non-transferable (OEM lic's were never transferable, but now there is no sticker with a key anymore). If microsoft decided to charge 1000% for the retail the majority of the licensing programs would be immune, OEM's/System Builders would love it (can rack up the prices since Windows is so expensive now), and pretty much none of the normal users would care/be affected by it directly.
      - Grishnakh 10y ago
        Ok, maybe I'm not being clear, I'm not talking about MS just raising prices on certain licenses, but really across the board. What if they also jacked up their license costs for the ones "cooked into the machine", and also their Enterprise/Volume licensing? Heck, I think they have even more room to screw their customers with the Enterprise licensing, not only for Windows but all their other enterprise products too. What are big businesses going to do, suddenly switch to Apple? Obviously, they couldn't do this overnight, but they could certainly jack up their enterprise license costs to 5x when they come up for renewal. They'd probably want to avoid doing this too much for some things where there's actually competition (like with SQL Server: businesses might switch to Oracle), but with Windows, MSDN, etc., they could. Where are customers going to go?