Microsoft must do better on Windows 7 pricing despite 3 user pack!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 06 July 2009 07:40

Opinion and Analysis

Microsoft is free to offer as many versions of Windows at whatever prices it wants, but why doesn’t it want to give all of its customers the best experience, especially in an era where running a Mac or Linux PC can, for virtually all intents and purposes, completely replace a PC and anything Microsoft?

Instead of realistic and widely affordable pricing policies, Microsoft is instead going to pepper the market with “more offers to come” and will soon make its “3 user family license pack” official.

This immediately raises questions as to why Microsoft must always do things in half measures.

Although immensely welcome for anyone looking down the barrel of hundreds of even thousands of dollars to upgrade to Windows 7 in the home, a 3-user license pack is about 20 years too late, there’s no indication of a 5-user family pack (as per Apple), and we still don’t know just how much of a discount “families” can expect when they buy such a pack.

Will Microsoft also offer Windows 7 Ultimate at “family pack” pricing, as it did for a limited time when Windows Vista Ultimate launched?

Microsoft clearly needs to balance the amount of money it has made from Windows and Office with the amount of money it would make with cheaper prices for Windows and Office, while also reconciling what would happen when millions more people legally purchased copies of Windows and Office, instead of pirating them, or abandoning them for open source alternatives.

There’s also the question of what other surprises Microsoft has in store for the July 13 RTM or even the October 22 general availability date.

XP Mode was the surprise for Windows 7 release candidate, but surely that’s not the end of it. We still haven’t heard of any other “Ultimate Extras” for Windows 7 Ultimate, which doesn’t even have the much vaunted and over hyped Dreamscene.

There’s a few more days to go before Win 7 goes RTM and millions of TechNet and MSDN users start legally download it…

Alongside all the illegal downloaders who’ll be heading straight to their favourite torrent site to get some Windows 7 satisfaction, ready to slmgr /re-arm their way out of activation troubles until the first “official” Win 7 RTM crack emerges.

So… Microsoft had better be working on some amazing sales specials to keep the Windows 7 momentum going, because the big danger is when it comes to people actually pulling out their wallets to pay the upgrade (or full edition) prices.

Having a half price special where Windows 7 Home Premium can be purchased at US $49.99 is one thing… boldly going (on a permanent basis) where Microsoft pricing has never gone before is another!