5 ms·

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

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?
      - tajen 10y ago
        It's a company with millions of dollars on marketing. You can bet they've studied their price point and it is exactly at the right ratio between sale quantity and sale amount. If Linux became unsafe/untrusted (e.g. unapproved by S&P500 audit companies for example, or if black hats activities were discovered at the kernel level of Linux), however, they would become a monopoly on PCs, and they indeed could triple the price.
        Grishnakh 10y ago
        I'm sorry, I have to disagree with this. I don't see how the perception of Linux's security would have anything to do with Microsoft's pricing for Windows. As much as I wish the case were different, Linux is simply almost never considered as a viable alternative to Windows (on the desktop), except in a few rare cases which are so rare, they become big news items (e.g. city of Munich government). Both companies and individuals are too invested in Windows and its software ecosystem to even contemplate a change, except maybe to Macs. I do see more people switching to those, both individuals and companies actually (I almost interviewed at a small company that was all-Mac). So if MS quintupled their prices for Windows Home/Pro, I could definitely see that spurring a defection to Macs, though I still doubt it'd be that big because of the installed base of Windows software that doesn't have a Mac version. Also, Macs just don't seem to be set up for enterprise use the way Windows is, and while Linux can be, it takes more IT competence than I've ever seen at a large company (which these days seem to be outsourcing to external vendors anyway).

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?
    - tajen 10y ago
      It's a company with millions of dollars on marketing. You can bet they've studied their price point and it is exactly at the right ratio between sale quantity and sale amount. If Linux became unsafe/untrusted (e.g. unapproved by S&P500 audit companies for example, or if black hats activities were discovered at the kernel level of Linux), however, they would become a monopoly on PCs, and they indeed could triple the price.
      - Grishnakh 10y ago
        I'm sorry, I have to disagree with this. I don't see how the perception of Linux's security would have anything to do with Microsoft's pricing for Windows. As much as I wish the case were different, Linux is simply almost never considered as a viable alternative to Windows (on the desktop), except in a few rare cases which are so rare, they become big news items (e.g. city of Munich government). Both companies and individuals are too invested in Windows and its software ecosystem to even contemplate a change, except maybe to Macs. I do see more people switching to those, both individuals and companies actually (I almost interviewed at a small company that was all-Mac). So if MS quintupled their prices for Windows Home/Pro, I could definitely see that spurring a defection to Macs, though I still doubt it'd be that big because of the installed base of Windows software that doesn't have a Mac version. Also, Macs just don't seem to be set up for enterprise use the way Windows is, and while Linux can be, it takes more IT competence than I've ever seen at a large company (which these days seem to be outsourcing to external vendors anyway).