7 ms·

A boot to the face of Microsoft.

by panacea 13y ago

Pxtl 13y ago
Yup. They had trouble getting people to buy Windows 8 when it was $40.
- CrazedGeek 13y ago
  Do you have a citation for that? I can't seem to find any sales information on the $40 promo.
  - eli 13y ago
    http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-takes-no-prisoners-with-39-upgrade-price-7000000173/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-takes-no-prisoners-with-39-up... The promotion has long since ended.
    - CrazedGeek 13y ago
      I knew it existed, but the claim was that Windows 8 sold poorly with the $40 promo, which I couldn't find any backing for. The only reference I could find for Win8 sales around that time said that "Upgrade sales [are] outpacing those of Windows 7 at the same point in its lifecycle": http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/windows-8-sales-are-good-if-not-great-at-40-million-copies-in-the-first-month/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/window...
MrZongle2 13y ago
No kidding. Not only will Apple get some good press for this (barring any major technical snafu) but they'll glean some additional community goodwill and drastically reduce the number of legacy OS X versions in the wild.
camus2 13y ago
OsX is not free, you still need to buy a Mac. As for MSFT , they are a software company,not sure what they can do about Windows price ,which will never be free. Want free stuff? use Linux.
- guywithabike 13y ago
  Linux is not free, you still need to buy a computer.
  - Macha 13y ago
    Any computer. Including the one you already own, and none of which are produced by the Linux Foundation. I will give that driver support for wifi cards may make some computers more awkward than others. It's very rare these days that any common device other than a wifi card or a just this week released graphics card causes problems any more. (As an aside, how do you escape asterisks here?)
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - anaccountonhn 13y ago
      Let me google that for you, I'll be back with the answer in just a minute.
  - xentronium 13y ago
    Linus is not forcing you to buy specific hardware to get linux installed. You can't install os x without apple-produced hardware.
- dham 13y ago
  Since when have you had to have a Mac to run OSX?
  - lukifer 13y ago
    Lion officially supported 2 VM instances in the license (not sure about Mountain Lion). I'm curious if VM installs of Mavericks will also be free.
joekrill 13y ago
Windows 8.1 upgrade is free. How is this any different?
- byuu 13y ago
  Well, a much smaller percentage of Windows users are on 8.0 than OS X users are on Snow Leopard or later. If Blue allowed upgrades from Windows 7 for free, that'd be a more equal comparison.
  - sahaskatta 13y ago
    That would be incorrect. There are more Windows 8 users than ever version of OS X combined. Sources: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/02/windows-8-jumps-past-os-x-for-74-market-share http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/02/windows-8-jumps-pa... http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share....
    - city41 13y ago
      That's not what he said. He was speaking in percentages relative to each install base.
- masklinn 13y ago
  Mavericks is free from Snow Leopard onwards (because Leopard didn't have the appstore). In terms of period that's equivalent to giving 8.1 free to all W7 users (both SL and W7 were released mid-2009)
josteink 13y ago
Microsoft's business model is selling a licensed OS, something which honestly is getting harder every passing day. Apple's business model is selling compelling hardware at a premium price with their own software preloaded. Apple could (and now indeed does) give away their software for free and still make a decent living. Their software wont run on any hardware they haven't already made a profit on, so there's no significant "piracy" risk either way. That said, Windows 8.1 was a free upgrade for everyone already on the Windows 8 bandwagon (and thus in need for some overhauls).
- ericd 13y ago
  Haven't the service packs always been free? I don't remember paying for any, at least...
revelation 13y ago
Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. But make no mistake, they are a hardware company - OSX won't even run without a chip confirming its an authentic Mac. The idea that they would charge for these smaller OSX updates is bizarre, and the price point has been in the "we need this for accounting" range in the past.
- foogered 13y ago
  I feel the need to point out that you can run Mac OS X on pretty much any recent Intel processor and a wide range of motherboards. It is not locked to Apple hardware.
  - revelation 13y ago
    Theres a reason they call them Hackintosh. It's not because that is an officially supported configuration.
    - minikites 13y ago
      There's a giant difference between "not officially supported" and "a cryptography chip locks you out".
      - revelation 13y ago
        I guess you should take a look at what installing a hackintosh system entails. It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards.
        Karunamon 13y ago
        You're either running a massively unsupported configuration (even for hackintosh standards) or just plain trolling. I'm posting this from a hackintosh I triboot with Windows and Debian. The difficulty involved reading a HCL when I built the system 3 years ago. The installation involved burning a disc and booting from it.
chollida1 13y ago
I'm not sure I understand this. Windows 8.1 is about as equivalent to OS X 10.9 as you can get and it was also free. What exactly is the "boot to the face" here?
- NoPiece 13y ago
  Except Mavericks is free for everyone (who can run it). I have Windows 7 and MS is not offering 8 or 8.1 to me for free.
  - heartbreak 13y ago
    No kidding. You didn't buy your laptop/desktop from Microsoft, did you? Maybe you should take up your claim for free Windows 8 with Lenovo/Dell/HP/Toshiba.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
- lukifer 13y ago
  Apple's attempting to set a new expectation with consumers: OS updates should be free. Users are already accustomed to it on their phones, now they'll start to expect it of their computers. I'm willing to wager that Apple never charges for an OS update again. I'm surprised they've taken this long to make the leap. (Of course, Microsoft makes more from OEM licensing than upgrades, but it's still a blow to their value in the consumer headspace.)
- jfb 13y ago
  Apple and Microsoft are in almost entirely disjoint businesses, anyway. I doubt that there's much useful analogizing to be done about their current respective situations. FULL DISCLOSURE: Apple employee.

A boot to the face of Microsoft.

by panacea 13y ago

A boot to the face of Microsoft.

Pxtl 13y ago

Yup. They had trouble getting people to buy Windows 8 when it was $40.

CrazedGeek 13y ago
Do you have a citation for that? I can't seem to find any sales information on the $40 promo.
- eli 13y ago
  http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-takes-no-prisoners-with-39-upgrade-price-7000000173/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-takes-no-prisoners-with-39-up... The promotion has long since ended.
  - CrazedGeek 13y ago
    I knew it existed, but the claim was that Windows 8 sold poorly with the $40 promo, which I couldn't find any backing for. The only reference I could find for Win8 sales around that time said that "Upgrade sales [are] outpacing those of Windows 7 at the same point in its lifecycle": http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/windows-8-sales-are-good-if-not-great-at-40-million-copies-in-the-first-month/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/window...

MrZongle2 13y ago

No kidding. Not only will Apple get some good press for this (barring any major technical snafu) but they'll glean some additional community goodwill and drastically reduce the number of legacy OS X versions in the wild.

camus2 13y ago

OsX is not free, you still need to buy a Mac. As for MSFT , they are a software company,not sure what they can do about Windows price ,which will never be free. Want free stuff? use Linux.

guywithabike 13y ago
Linux is not free, you still need to buy a computer.
- Macha 13y ago
  Any computer. Including the one you already own, and none of which are produced by the Linux Foundation. I will give that driver support for wifi cards may make some computers more awkward than others. It's very rare these days that any common device other than a wifi card or a just this week released graphics card causes problems any more. (As an aside, how do you escape asterisks here?)
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - anaccountonhn 13y ago
    Let me google that for you, I'll be back with the answer in just a minute.
- xentronium 13y ago
  Linus is not forcing you to buy specific hardware to get linux installed. You can't install os x without apple-produced hardware.
dham 13y ago
Since when have you had to have a Mac to run OSX?
- lukifer 13y ago
  Lion officially supported 2 VM instances in the license (not sure about Mountain Lion). I'm curious if VM installs of Mavericks will also be free.

joekrill 13y ago

Windows 8.1 upgrade is free. How is this any different?

byuu 13y ago
Well, a much smaller percentage of Windows users are on 8.0 than OS X users are on Snow Leopard or later. If Blue allowed upgrades from Windows 7 for free, that'd be a more equal comparison.
- sahaskatta 13y ago
  That would be incorrect. There are more Windows 8 users than ever version of OS X combined. Sources: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/02/windows-8-jumps-past-os-x-for-74-market-share http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/02/windows-8-jumps-pa... http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share....
  - city41 13y ago
    That's not what he said. He was speaking in percentages relative to each install base.
masklinn 13y ago
Mavericks is free from Snow Leopard onwards (because Leopard didn't have the appstore). In terms of period that's equivalent to giving 8.1 free to all W7 users (both SL and W7 were released mid-2009)

josteink 13y ago

Microsoft's business model is selling a licensed OS, something which honestly is getting harder every passing day. Apple's business model is selling compelling hardware at a premium price with their own software preloaded. Apple could (and now indeed does) give away their software for free and still make a decent living. Their software wont run on any hardware they haven't already made a profit on, so there's no significant "piracy" risk either way. That said, Windows 8.1 was a free upgrade for everyone already on the Windows 8 bandwagon (and thus in need for some overhauls).

ericd 13y ago
Haven't the service packs always been free? I don't remember paying for any, at least...

revelation 13y ago

Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. But make no mistake, they are a hardware company - OSX won't even run without a chip confirming its an authentic Mac. The idea that they would charge for these smaller OSX updates is bizarre, and the price point has been in the "we need this for accounting" range in the past.

foogered 13y ago
I feel the need to point out that you can run Mac OS X on pretty much any recent Intel processor and a wide range of motherboards. It is not locked to Apple hardware.
- revelation 13y ago
  Theres a reason they call them Hackintosh. It's not because that is an officially supported configuration.
  - minikites 13y ago
    There's a giant difference between "not officially supported" and "a cryptography chip locks you out".
    - revelation 13y ago
      I guess you should take a look at what installing a hackintosh system entails. It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards.
      - Karunamon 13y ago
        You're either running a massively unsupported configuration (even for hackintosh standards) or just plain trolling. I'm posting this from a hackintosh I triboot with Windows and Debian. The difficulty involved reading a HCL when I built the system 3 years ago. The installation involved burning a disc and booting from it.

chollida1 13y ago

I'm not sure I understand this. Windows 8.1 is about as equivalent to OS X 10.9 as you can get and it was also free. What exactly is the "boot to the face" here?

NoPiece 13y ago
Except Mavericks is free for everyone (who can run it). I have Windows 7 and MS is not offering 8 or 8.1 to me for free.
- heartbreak 13y ago
  No kidding. You didn't buy your laptop/desktop from Microsoft, did you? Maybe you should take up your claim for free Windows 8 with Lenovo/Dell/HP/Toshiba.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
lukifer 13y ago
Apple's attempting to set a new expectation with consumers: OS updates should be free. Users are already accustomed to it on their phones, now they'll start to expect it of their computers. I'm willing to wager that Apple never charges for an OS update again. I'm surprised they've taken this long to make the leap. (Of course, Microsoft makes more from OEM licensing than upgrades, but it's still a blow to their value in the consumer headspace.)
jfb 13y ago
Apple and Microsoft are in almost entirely disjoint businesses, anyway. I doubt that there's much useful analogizing to be done about their current respective situations. FULL DISCLOSURE: Apple employee.