Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
In the same article from The Standard, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini is quoted saying: “That upgrade’s going to be tough” in reference to the fact an expensive new or upgrade version of Windows 7 is going to be a tough sell to cash strapped consumers.
With Windows being one of the most pirated pieces of software in the world, Microsoft’s problem isn’t popularity, or even “getting the average selling price up”. No, Mr Liddell, your challenge is simple: getting more people to voluntarily hand over their hard earned cash to legally buy your software.
More money from fewer people can equal less money from more people. Why not encourage more users to go legit with a more affordable version of Windows 7?
It seems like economics 101 – let’s hope Microsoft doesn’t drop the ball here with high Windows 7 pricing, something that will make ever more capable and $0-friendly versions of different Linux distros ever more attractive.
Also, the idea of a “starter version” of Windows 7 that only runs three concurrent programs seems like the dumbest idea ever.
Microsoft, can you please can this version entirely? No-one buys a computer to be limited in such a manner (well, perhaps unless they’re buying an iPhone where you can only run one program at a time, unless you happen to be listening to music at the same time).
Yes, your plan is to get users to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, but it reeks of being a cunning plan that only Baldric would ever be proud of.
Remember, Microsoft, your competition is free. Free as in zero dollars, free as in libre and free as in whatever other definition Linux users have for the word. Linux – and free pirate copies of Windows 7, which hackers will always crack no matter what Microsoft does, are free!
Why push people towards Linux? Sure, that’ll make the Linux fanatics happy, but since when was Microsoft in business to keep Linux people happy? Ok, so I guess deals with Novell and Red Hat are designed to keep Linux people happy... but I'm talking about consumers, Microsoft.
Mums and Dads at home, small business people, those with older computers that would do well with a Windows 7 upgrade, those on a budget with netbooks that could stay with XP, upgrade to free Linux, or pay a small amount for Windows 7.
Surely Microsoft would prefer a smaller amount of money from tens and even hundreds of millions of people over a large amount of money from just millions of cashed-up users?
Make Windows 7 the most affordable version of Windows ever, and Microsoft has one great line in the sand against Linux, Mac OS and online apps.
If Microsoft can’t figure out that a cheap version of Windows 7 is the answer, then the predicted Windows 7 heaven could turn into Microsoft’s Windows 7 hell.
For more details on the 32-bit version of Windows 7 and where illegally-minded types can have a squiz, check out this link.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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