Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 08 June 2009 16:25
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
If OEM pricing of Windows 7 is dramatically below that of the retail price, and if most people buy Windows 7 that way, with a new PC – why force the retail price to be so high? It just seems ridiculous.
Sure, Microsoft would make a lot of money per individual sale, but why not make a lot more sales to more actual paying customers, but with the software at a lower price at retail. How about OEM pricing?!
It’s all about perception, and reality. If your product is so affordable anyone can go into the store to buy it at retail, even if they’ll probably buy it with a new computer, no-one will baulk at buying and enjoy the mostly hassle-free benefits of being a legitimate customer, ex-WGA and now WAT (Windows Activation Technology) future stuff-ups notwithstanding.
The same should go for Office pricing – Apple’s iWork is $99. A version of Office 2010 with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Onenote, Outlook, Publisher and a simple, yet powerful new database (maybe something like Bento) should be $99, too.
That $99 price should automatically include unlimited free access to Office Web versions as well, the ones which give users the ability to use Word, Excel etc in a browser, anywhere they are – just log in with your username and password.
Office Web should be free, too – but if you want desktop versions of the software, i.e. Office 2010 $99 Edition, then just pay the $99 and download immediately.
Despite free alternatives in Linux, Open Office, Google Docs and others, actually affordable pricing – along with generous multi-user discounts (like a 5-user license family pack for Office as per OS X’s family pack) – would work wonders for Microsoft in dramatically increasing legitimate sales to end users, and move them onto its own Office Web versions and not Google Docs or something else.
If Microsoft is going to surprise with cheaper pricing, it’s doing it in a funny way. Dell has said Microsoft will charge it higher prices for Win 7 OEM editions, rather than lower them.
With such capable and competitive Linux distros for everyday consumer use and enterprise desktops available today, the ever present, ever evolving but often expensive Apple alternative appealing to ever more people, and the drain the global recession is having on global spending, raising prices right now would seem to be exactly the wrong thing to do.
This gives Apple and especially Linux distro makers around 5 months to showcase their very capable alternatives and gain as many new users as they possibly can before the true retail onslaught of Windows 7 systems, which will also include multi-touch laptops, desktops and screens, some by Christmas 2009 and more expected next year, especially as multi-touch screen prices get cheaper.
Apple and Linux distros are totally viable alternatives to Microsoft today, giving anyone the ability to live in a Microsoft-free world if they want… surely making even $100 too much for Windows 7?
Please read on to page 3!
