Windows 7 for $100 – still too much?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 08 June 2009 16:25

Opinion and Analysis

Apple could well be showcasing multi-touch in a few hours be showcasing alongside the many and varied improvements to both the Mac OS X 10.6 operating system, and iPhone OS 3.0 – if not some new iPhone models as well, if Apple hasn’t already by the time you’re reading this – and Apple doesn’t compete on price.

The latest Ubuntu Linux version 9.04 has only recently launched and is but one of many capable distros filled with useful software right from the word go.

Ubuntu 9.04 packs Skype, Open Office (MS Office compatible), Firefox, email software, disc burning software, the ability to download and run Google software like Picasa and Google Maps, plenty more software included and plenty more freely downloadable, while having more compatibility with just about everything USB or otherwise than ever before.

It presents a realistic Windows alternative that companies like Dell and HP offer in certain product categories but could easily grow to rank alongside Windows for every model offered at retail – or a system that easily dual boots and/or also offers the virtualised XP, Vista, 7 or Linux experience.

So, Windows 7 at $100, for even a full retail boxed copy, could still be too much for the market to bear – especially when it is replacing an OS that the market perceives as having been a failure, so much so that Windows XP is still the dominant version of Windows used in the market.

Microsoft could well be wanting to raise prices, rather than lower them, but can Microsoft afford to be seen as “outrageously” raising prices in a time of global financial hardship?

I’m not against Microsoft having the right to raise prices if it wants. But actually doing so would push more users to piracy, and push more users to a free Linux distro like Ubuntu 9.04 that will take a similar amount of time to get used to as it will Windows 7 from being an XP user.

It will also see more users to stick with existing XP or Vista systems, and if the price is higher, and you’re going to spend all that money, then why not just go for a Mac instead?

Higher prices would also reinforce the perception of Microsoft as a greedy, monopolistic DRM-loving company hell bent on making huge profits at the expense of its users, which it hasn’t even been able to properly protect against vast numbers of viruses and now malware and other online threats, something it has needed security companies to do, although “Morro” will finally change that – at an unknown quality of protection.

So… Microsoft will soon announce its pricing. The Best Buy leak show Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is $50 and Professional is $100, for a limited period.

Again, that implies true upgrade pricing will be higher, and “full install rights” retail copies more expensive still.

I don’t know what Microsoft will do, but I’d be really lowering pricing for Windows and Microsoft software to the masses, not raising it.

Microsoft will make its move soon, and its pricing decision will have an impact on the market whether higher or lower.

If it’s higher prices, does it really help Microsoft in the medium-to-long term against its competitors, such as Google, Apple, Linux distro makers and everyone else?

Medium and long term effects will take a while to pan out, but in the short term, whatever the price of Windows 7, the market is going through a shakeup with new alternatives as never before.

Despite free alternatives, Microsoft could be a price leader today, with genuinely lower prices and an amazed public and press. That bold move is available to them. Will they take it and boldly go where Bill Gates never went before?

Update: Apple just announced it has boldly gone first, with US $29 upgrades to OS X 10.6 from OS X 10.5 at WWDC alongside Zune HD killing new iPhones and cheaper MacBook Pros. Your move, Microsoft.