| Windows 7 pricing unveiled at last, still too expensive? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 26 June 2009 | |
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Page 2 of 2 So… Microsoft’s pricing for Windows 7.Featured Whitepaper
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He continues: “In the U.S., this means a customer buying Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade will pay only $119.99 instead of the $129.99 being charged today for its predecessor.” At this point, LeBlanc lists a series of Windows 7 features, and precedes it by claiming that: “ Overall, customers will be paying less and getting more with Windows 7.” Of course, there’s no mention of customers paying nothing for Ubuntu Linux 9.04 and getting more than with Ubuntu 8.10 or 8.04, but then that’s hardly a surprise. The features Microsoft promotes are all very familiar by now, including: “HomeGroup, Device Stage, Aero Shake, Snap, Peek, Jump Lists and our completely redesigned Windows Taskbar”, with LeBlanc saying: “these new features make your PC simpler and much easier to use.” Mac users would likely chime in saying that the best way to get your Intel PC to run more smoothly, be easier to use and have it be simpler would be best off upgrading to an Intel PC with an Apple logo on the back, as using Mac OS X instead, but then that wouldn’t be a surprise, either. What is a surprise is that Microsoft hasn’t been more aggressive with Windows 7 pricing, there’s no permanent challenge to the Mac OS X 10.6 “US $29” upgrade price, and no apparent word on “family pack pricing” which is also available to Mac OS X users. LeBlanc then offers us the “estimated retail prices for upgrade packaged retail product of Windows 7”, noting that the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium is US $119.99, the Professional upgrade is US $199.99 and the Ultimate upgrade is US $219.99. Full packaged retail copies are more expensive, as expected, with Windows 7 Home Premium selling for US $199, Professional for US $299.99 and Ultimate for only a few dollars more at US $319.99, with LeBlanc noting that the new price for the full copy of Win 7 Home Retail is US $40 cheaper than its Vista equivalent today. There’s no official Australian pricing as yet but as it’s highly likely that the software will cost a lot more when priced in Australian dollars, it’s a shame Microsoft didn’t go for much more aggressive pricing. Well, there is some aggressive pricing available after all, but so far it is only being offered in “select markets”, which at the moment only appear to include the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, France and Germany. In the US, Microsoft will sell what is presumably the upgrade version (as there’s no specific mention it is the full retail copy) of Windows 7 Home Premium at “a more than 50% discount” for US $49.99, while Professional will go for US $99.99.” These are the prices Microsoft should be charging, at most, for Windows, but they’re only available until July 5 in Japan, July 11 in the US and Canada, with those countries having pre-order availability today, while the French, Germans and UK citizens will have to wait until July 15 and will then run until August 14. Microsoft makes the funny suggestion that supplies could run out pre-August 14 (so hurry and order now!), at which time the promotion would end early, but given that Windows 7 comes in a cheap to create plastic box and an inexpensive DVD, you could be forgiven for thinking that running out of copies of Windows 7 would be impossible for Micosoft. Microsoft also notes that: “The special low pre-order price will vary per country”, so there’s hope that Australians and other parts of the world will get the offer of a cheaper copy of Windows 7, and not just the select few nations listed in LeBlanc’s blog post. I still think Microsoft would sell many millions more copies of Windows 7 if the price reflected the reality of a world stuck in a “global financial crisis”, but at least they have lowered retail prices, and not raised them. It’s a tougher sell than ever up against the likes of free Ubuntu 9.04 or a brand new (but not cheap) Mac, but even so, millions will soon be using Windows 7, so at least it’s Vista done right with a stack of new features and performance enhancements, and not Vista done wrong. Yes, at last, but even bolder pricing moves would have been better! |
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