Weather | TV Guide | Horoscopes | Competitions

Hotmail
Messenger
Mobile

Windows 7 to be “more expensive” than Vista, XP

Send to a friend

Help more people find out about this story
Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

David Flynn19 May 2009, 12:31 AM

Dell has seen Microsoft’s price list for Windows 7 and the PC manufacturer isn’t happy, warning that over-pricing will cruel consumer demand for OS upgrades and new PCs.

While Microsoft hasn’t yet revealed any pricing for Windows 7 it seems to have shared the details with its OEM partners – and one of the biggest doesn’t like what it sees.

A senior marketing executive from Dell has spoken out against the pricing plans for the forthcoming OS, saying that Windows 7 will be more expensive than Vista.

“The licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista” says Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell's business client product group in an interview with CNET. “Generally the ASPs (average selling price) of (Windows 7) are higher than they were for Vista and XP”

Ward’s concern is that an over-priced OS “may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause... In tough economic times, I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a strong swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them.”

Windows Vista drew criticism for its own lofty pricing when it launched in January 2007, with RRPs stretching from $385 for Vista Home Basic and $445 for Home Premium through to $750 for Vista Ultimate edition.

Ward’s comments are likely to be a strategic ploy to drive down the licensing cost to OEMs, or at least to Dell. The cost of lower-end versions of Windows 7 which are intended for budget-priced systems is of particular concern because the OS licence could represent a relatively high percentage of the overall system price.

Comments

RSS feed

Email alert

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Dell has seen Microsoft’s price list for Windows 7 and the PC manufacturer isn’t happy, warning that over-pricing will cruel consumer demand for OS upgrades and new PCs.

Dell is right!!!

19 May 2009, 9:11 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (Senior Forumologist):

When will MS work out that lowering the price will increase sales, potentially netting them substantially more money?
Although I guess if they sell it for a million dollars per license, they only have to sell 2 copies and they've done OK.

19 May 2009, 10:11 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Tin:
When will MS work out that lowering the price will increase sales, potentially netting them substantially more money?

Probably not until the reality if lukewarm sales of another flagship sinks in.

Quoting Tin:
Although I guess if they sell it for a million dollars per license, they only have to sell 2 copies and they've done OK.

One million sales at $100 is very much preferable to two sales at $1,000,000 even with the extra media costs. Its some math so simple even Balmer should be able to eventually grasp it.

You do have to wonder through whether this round of pricing is Microsoft having a big gogue at their loyal band of early adopter fan boys who seem quite prepared to pay anything to be the first. Microsoft will likely revise prices down to something marginally less obscene once the initial feeding frenzy wanes.

19 May 2009, 10:26 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

McBanjo (User):

You're missing something VERY important (so important that it needs caps on the 'very'). It's called the 'Product Life Cycle'. Microsoft is not interested in netting substantially more money, they are interested and only interest in netting 'maximum' profit. That means getting as close as possible to charging every single customer at the highest price they are willing to pay. Over time, the price will drop of course. The speed at which this happens will determine how serious Microsoft is to adoption of their new OS and how much market power they think they have over their competitors. I'm thinking a high price is very justified given that the reviews for 7 are bound to be gleaming for all those half-interested early adopters.

19 May 2009, 10:51 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

petert (Advanced member):

Vista was a dog (in terms of sales) and most people and businesses will go from XP to W7. That means that MS will price W7 to recoup development costs for both Vista and W7 through sales of W7. So, when you buy W7, you'll also be paying for the Vista licence that you never bought!

19 May 2009, 10:39 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting petert:
So, when you buy W7, you'll also be paying for the Vista licence that you never bought!

Nice in theory, but that boardroom ideal wont necessarily realise. How many B-series Falcons would have been sold if Ford had tried to factor in lost sales revenue due to the market dislike for the previous model's looks?

Microsoft don't hold quite the monopoly they think they do. The higher they make their prices the more they remove the prohibition of migration costs. Ultimately vendors don't set prices, markets do!

19 May 2009, 11:38 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Senior member):

Methinks MS will definitely be losing me shortly ( boo hoo sob sob ) as I've started looking seriously at Linux :)What do you fine people think ?

19 May 2009, 12:35 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Advanced Forumologist):

Speaking for the PC Gamers out there (as our 90% of our customers are gamers) We can safely say 'NO' to Linux !

19 May 2009, 12:59 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (Senior Forumologist):

WINE is putting a fix to that. More and more games are working in WINE. DirectX 9 mostly works. DirectX 10 is being looked at... Though in reality it's not really that big of a deal.

Edit: I am a PC gamer, BTW...

22 May 2009, 1:47 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Aubrey (Advanced member):

Depends what you need the box for - anything but high-end proprietary gaming or financial reporting on a particular piece of proprietary software will be possible, and quite possibly better on a good Linux install.

Look at your list of "must have" software and see what Linux offers as alternatives or work-arounds (Wine or VMs or dual booting with XP).

To be honest, I think professional level sound and graphics with Linux still has a way to go - but seems to be catching up pretty fast. SOHO stuff is entirely adequate. That said, I know of a graphic shop and a sound studio that have moved to Linux (but they do have geeks in-house - yuk).

I'm building a media centre PC at the moment and, frankly, I'm glad to have purpose built Linux distros to work with rather than Windows.

My pick of distros for people moving directly from Windows to Linux would be Ubuntu 9.04 right now. It is genuinely great "out-of-the-box" (and better than its two predecessor releases) and it makes everything very easy. It also has great hardware detection and support and the online support and documentation is way ahead of anything else (including Windows). Mandriva would be close second on the usability front.

19 May 2009, 11:11 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Senior member):

Quoting Aubrey:
My pick of distros for people moving directly from Windows to Linux would be Ubuntu 9.04 right now.

Yea "Aubrey" :) I've been looking at either Ubuntu9.04 or Mepis6 both of which seem kinda neat to me. I'll let you know how I get on :)

22 May 2009, 4:58 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

" ..Microsoft hasn’t yet revealed any pricing for Windows 7.." - APC

Seems all the posters on this thread seem to have skipped over this part and are condemning MS already !

Of course Dell are whinging. They want a good deal for Dell, not the consumer.

19 May 2009, 12:45 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Microsoft hasn’t yet revealed any pricing for Windows 7

Did you perhaps not read the sentence em>"Dell has seen Microsoft’s price list for Windows 7 and the PC manufacturer isn’t happy"? Sure looks like some pricing being released to me.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Seems all the posters on this thread seem to have skipped over this part

seems like your the one that has skipped over part of the article, either that or ignored it completely.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
and are condemning MS already

Condemning a pricing regime which Dell has already stated is higher than predecessors. If Dell's buy price of OEM licenses is higher where do you think retail price will head?

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Of course Dell are whinging.

Yes they have just encountered a higher cost which will likely affect their potential sales. What were they supposed to do cheer and commend the situation?

Quoting CBR1100XX:
They want a good deal for Dell, not the consumer.

And if Dell get a worse deal where do you think that will leave the consumer? Think it through!

19 May 2009, 12:59 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

Quoting Raindog:
>"Dell has seen Microsoft’s price list for Windows 7 and the PC manufacturer isn’t happy"? Sure looks like some pricing being released to me.

Then please let us in on the figures !
Until Dell or yourself publishes some figures, I'll take everything you or Dell say with a grain of salt thanks !

Quoting Raindog:
Think it through!

To amuse you, I have just thought it through again and my original point is still valid.

19 May 2009, 1:15 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Then please let us in on the figures !

How do you propose I would let you in on Dell CIC pricing even if I had access to them?

Quoting CBR1100XX:
I'll take everything you or Dell say with a grain of salt thanks !

You can believe what ever you choose, it's your choice after all. But to ignore a report from a reliable author posting public comment from arguably Microsoft's largest customer, is to ignore the bleeding obvious.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
I have just thought it through again and my original point is still valid.

Was that the point that suggested all poster that did not agree with you were whingers? Or the point that you were refusing to accept information from a reliable source?

19 May 2009, 1:29 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

Quoting Raindog:
But to ignore a report from a reliable author posting public comment from arguably Microsoft's largest customer

Quite out of character for you to selectively choose to blindly believe any claim from a giant corporation ....................... Isn't it?

Quoting Raindog:
Was that the point that suggested all poster that did not agree with you were whingers?

Taking things way too personally again !
You should stop identifying yourself with people's comments no matter how accurate it may seem.

Quoting Raindog:
Or the point that you were refusing to accept information from a reliable source?

According to who? ......... You ! LOL !

19 May 2009, 2:04 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Quite out of character for you to selectively choose to blindly believe any claim from a giant corporation

Not at all I choose what I believe entirely on merit rather than blindly accepting everything they present. You'll see my record of comment on Dell includes both bouquets and brickbats as appropriate.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Taking things way too personally again !

Not at all, I'm just refuting your inaccurate generalisation.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
You should stop

It's not for you to suggest what I should or should not do? You are assuming you have control on things far outside your scope of influence.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
According to who? ......... You !

Does my name appear at the top of the article? Is my organisation mentioned? Comprehension isn't your thing is it. Are you questioning the reliability of this posts author? Or are you questioning Dell's quoted comment? What basis do you have to suggest Dell is releasing deliberate misinformation? I suggest you have no basis for this at all!

19 May 2009, 2:20 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

Quoting Raindog:
What basis do you have to suggest Dell is releasing deliberate misinformation?

And what basis do you have to suggest it is accurate?
I still don't see hard prices from from Dell or you or APC!

PS.
And for the record Raindog, I have not hit 'report abuse' on any of your posts

19 May 2009, 2:35 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
And what basis do you have to suggest it is accurate?

Reliable journalist!
Reputable publication!
Comment from major and well respected industry player!

There is some more than reasonable basis. But if you want to side with the flat earthers and refute the obvious then that is your prerogative.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
I still don't see hard prices from from Dell or you or APC!

I've never measured the distance to the moon but I have no reason to question reason calculation of that either.

You don't see prices, Dell does! Dell has stated that prices have risen substantially! All fact! You don't need too many numbers to put two and two together.

19 May 2009, 2:47 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

Quoting Raindog:
Reliable journalist!
Reputable publication!
Comment from major and well respected industry player!

All personal opinion !

Quoting Raindog:
and refute the obvious

The only thing obvious is that it is all conjecture until MS releases the pricing schedule ..... Not Dell nor You nor anyone else can second guess it!

Quoting Raindog:
You don't need too many numbers to put two and two together.

True ! But to some on this forum the answer of '4' coming from MS would still draw criticism and mistrust by those nay-sayers!

19 May 2009, 3:07 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
All personal opinion !

So which do you refute? Mr Flynn? Dell? The industry? All of the above?

Quoting CBR1100XX:
The only thing obvious is that it is all conjecture until MS releases the pricing schedule

But the pricing has been released, Dell has their prices (and they aren't happy). I'll repeat one more time because you are having trouble grasping it. "Dell has received their Windows 7 pricing from Microsoft!" Did you get it yet? Dell has their Windows 7 prices so there is no second guessing about it.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
True !

I wouldn't have said it, if it was not true.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
But to some on this forum the answer of '4' coming from MS would still draw criticism and mistrust

Usually because a 4 in Microsoft pricing terms would be more realistic as a 1,2 or 3.

Quoting CBR1100XX:
by those nay-sayers!

Most would rather be a nay-sayer than a fool with his money. All that Vista spending proved to be a good long term investment? Work it out as dollars per month and get back to me. :>

19 May 2009, 3:43 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
PS.
And for the record Raindog, I have not hit 'report abuse' on any of your posts

Never thought it for a moment CB, that would have been done by some silly monkey.
I don't agree with your position on this issue but I do think you are presenting your arguments in an entirely reasonable and rational manner. Cheers. :>

19 May 2009, 10:39 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Potoroo (User):

Quoting Raindog:
from arguably Microsoft's largest customer

Second largest. HP sells more PCs than Dell.

19 May 2009, 3:53 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Potoroo:
Second largest. HP sells more PCs than Dell.

I did say arguably! Regardless Both Dell and HP are are major parts of Microsoft's potential sales. As leaders in a price sensitive market they would have a very good feel of where pricing should sit.

19 May 2009, 4:22 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Advanced Forumologist):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Seems all the posters on this thread seem to have skipped over this part and are condemning MS already !

I have been on holidays for awhile but it seems nothing has changed much ;-)

There are whispers in the industry that the upgrade path from Vista will be quite reasonable.

You're right about Dell though. Anyone thinking Dell will pass on any good pricing from MS will be sadly disappointed.

19 May 2009, 1:08 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

petert (Advanced member):

Quoting Me In Oz:
Seems all the posters on this thread seem to have skipped over this part and are condemning MS already !

Perhaps this is borne of past experiences with MS and their pricing!

19 May 2009, 1:15 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me In Oz (Advanced Forumologist):

Quoting petert:
Perhaps this is borne of past experiences with MS and their pricing!

....... Or it could be a case of "You can't teach an old poster new tricks" ;-)

19 May 2009, 1:21 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

petert (Advanced member):

Quoting Me In Oz:
Or it could be a case of "You can't teach an old poster new tricks" ;-)

Cheeky! :-)

19 May 2009, 2:34 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Me In Oz:
Anyone thinking Dell will pass on any good pricing from MS will be sadly disappointed.

Funny you say that, given that what Dell will charge me for a bundled operating system will be consistently less than any OEM box pricing to be had.

19 May 2009, 1:22 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

rjsquires (User):

If Micro$oft are going to apply ther "tax" to Windows 7, then i'll stick with Vista. (It works fine thankyou very much - and simply doesn't deserve all the bad publicity; It's all in a name, Windows Mojave showed us that!!!)

19 May 2009, 5:19 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

petert (Advanced member):

Quoting rjsquires:
then i'll stick with Vista. (It works fine thankyou very much - and simply doesn't deserve all the bad publicity;

I generally tend to agree. I have a desktop running VU and a laptop running VHP. They both run quite well and I prefer Vista to XP. Nonetheless, it was a struggle to get Vista installed and running on my laptop . . . even after waiting 18 months to make sure all the drivers and application updates were available.

20 May 2009, 8:01 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Halcon (Advanced member):

DELL or any other computer manufacturer will not like to absorb an exorbitant amount of money to pay for the privilege to sell Windows 7.
Sure, the computer is assembled and ready to be packed in the box but the crucial part is the Operating System, and this is where the final price is calculated.
This move by Microsoft is even worse than the Vista fiasco, this will undermine the ability of the computer manufacturers to sell its product lines, because once again the greedy Microsoft Corporation wants a bigger cut of the cake.
Not only will harm sales of Personal Computers, it will drive down the sales of the new Operating System as well.
This popular saying confirm it: " a forewarned war, does not kill people".
I will see the new offering from Red Hat Fedora Project Version 11 "Leonidas", it cost nothing to use Linux, yet is a very heroic effort by these people to to give a new hope that one day the monopoly of the bigger corporation will no longer anymore hold the world at ransom.

19 May 2009, 7:42 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Luminal (New user):

After buying Vista then beating a hasty retreat back XP I figure Microsoft already owes me 400 clams for an OS that has sat on my shelf ever since. If the Win7 pricing is going to be anything other than a bargain, XP will be the last Microsoft OS I'll be using. I have very little Linux knowledge but I need to get out of the extortion racket MS is running.

19 May 2009, 11:16 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Aubrey (Advanced member):

I suspect we will see a lot of "market-specific" pricing for MS products and Australia will cop the high end of the curve. We seem to be one of the few markets left that just accepts what MS says. Europe generally, and some major players in the US corporate and government sectors, are slowly calling their bluff and responding with either their dollars (via genuinely "open", full cost of ownership tenders) or lawyers. I wish our governments weren't so beholden to MS.

But the funny thing is that it is Dell doing the complaining about pricing - they are as predatory as MS any day.

But it is great to see more small and online retailers in Australia offering machines with either Linux preinstalled or no OS at all. When some big ones start doing that, we will see a change in MS pricing.

19 May 2009, 11:21 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Aubrey:
I suspect we will see a lot of "market-specific" pricing for MS products and Australia will cop the high end of the curve.

A dose of the Rudd economy may have purchasers a little mire budget minded. Au cont cop the excess for too much longer.

Quoting Aubrey:
We seem to be one of the few markets left that just accepts what MS says.

No that is just a massive over-estimation of the gamer market.

Quoting Aubrey:
they are as predatory as MS any day

No I disagree, I'd agree Dell is as ready to sell over the odds as MS ever was, the difference is Dell is responsive to the legions saying "we won't be fooled again".

Quoting Aubrey:
But it is great to see more small and online retailers in Australia offering machines with either Linux preinstalled or no OS at all.

Where? Clone boxes can be had sans OS, but most of them work on volume lowest common denominator XP-home (pirate versions optional). It is still hard to source pre-loaded Nix boxes in Australia. Hopefully the little Dell will be a a sign that at last a few of the name brands are listening.

Quoting Aubrey:
When some big ones start doing that, we will see a change in MS pricing.

Del has made some move towards support for Open OS when they do I applaud. Even get out the credit card.

20 May 2009, 12:09 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Nifty Nev (New user):

I beleive that Microsoft have lost the plot, A lot of people are traped in to the Microsoft loop, a lot of people have been sing Microsoft for a long time and that is all they know so changing to somethins such as Linix is out of the question because they don't know how so they are stuck with Microsoft even thoe Linix is free. So our good friends as Microsoft are taking advantage of that.
So I think it is about time we all stick together and set up a network of friends to help people make the switch from Microsoft to something els.

Microsoft It's about time you started looking at the future of Microsoft and not your pockets now, if you do the right thing now it will make you a lot richer an dyou will have a lot more follers.

Think about it

Nifty Nev

02 June 2009, 6:19 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend