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Microsoft to OEMs: cut off free Vista to Windows 7 upgrades at 25
Fast forward, and now we know that the rock-bottom price is for pre-orders only and retail copies will set you back $119.99 for Home Premium and $199.99 for Professional. That's only $10 less than Vista upgrades ran initially, and hardly what I'd call aggressive.
Further disappointing news is that Microsoft has now instructed OEMs to cap free upgrades on volume purchase at 25 units. While that's plenty of room for smaller businesses, it's a sharp two-finger salute to medium and large business.
Four small businesses can get 100 free upgrades, but your large enterprise has to pay for the extra 75?
Ouch.
That's not really the kind of announcement that will make IT administrators jump at the chance to get new metal running Windows 7.
[via Daily Tech]
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsrells009Jun 29th 2009 1:44PM
*sigh*
Way to kill the enthusiasm. Not that this affects me much but still.
ha haJun 29th 2009 1:45PM
Microsoft may have made a very nice operating system with Windows 7 but they have hacked the pricing up horribly. First why would anyone in their right mind pay the same price that Vista is for not a whole lot more (software wise). They tout this as being the "Should of been Vista" and then charge people the same price? Apple is only charging like $10.99 to upgrade to Snow Leopard, yes I know its just a service pack but still, if MS was/is trying to stick it to Linux and Apple they're not doing a very good job. Even if 7 was just $50 cheaper (for the actual software, not just a upgrade that we all know runs no where near as fast as a clean install) I would be happy, I guess I'll just stick to 7 RC & Vista. This doesn't seem like a very good plan to get people away from XP.
shaunisadirtyJun 29th 2009 3:11PM
Nice Try
Apple is charging 10.99 if you buy a Mac now before Snow Kitty is released, $29 if you own leopard before now and upgrade, and the full 129 if you have tiger or before. Seeing as no worthwhile business runs on macs, they don't need to enforce a limit. Other than that, pricing is comparable between the two companies.
ToddJun 29th 2009 1:48PM
My prediction of massive product failure for Windows 7 coming true - hooray!
All IT Enterprise folks go here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Lee MathewsJun 29th 2009 1:49PM
I'm with you on this one, Todd. This could be a PR disaster for Microsoft, especially when you couple it with the Outlook 2010 mess.
How are you supposed to win back enterprise IT after Vista with news like this?
ToddJun 29th 2009 2:10PM
"...How are you supposed to win back enterprise IT after Vista with news like this?"
They won't. I'll revise my prediction to be:
Microsoft will change its name to xbox and just sell game consoles, abandoning all other products and markets by 2011.
:)
ImpulsivityJun 29th 2009 2:11PM
What do businesses really get out of Windows 7 anyway (vs either XP or Vista)? Does the dock really make much of a difference? I seriously doubt any business software will require 7 over XP anytime soon (quite the opposite in fact).
When businesses are cutting corners and firing thousands of employees why would they spend 200 dollars a pop (since they'd need professional) to upgrade their computers? I mean even for a decently sized company with 1,000 computers thats a quarter of a million with tax before you even go to the IT costs of all the installs and support. When Apple is charging 29 bucks for an upgrade how is 200 justifiable?
I hope business keeps it up with the defacto boycott of newer more overpriced versions of windows until Microsoft changes its strategy to lower prices and better quality. 200 bucks for Vista SP2 is just ridiculous. I know the chances of shelling out thousands for an upgrade at the small business I work at is slim to none, gonna just stick with XP on the PCs.
sidJun 29th 2009 2:45PM
its funny how people fail to realize one simple, small fact:
apple makes their money on the HARDWARE.
$30 for snow leopard is the only thing people are talking about, what about the extra $500 premium people pay for the shiny apple on their gadget?
master811Jun 29th 2009 5:19PM
You forgot to mention the fact they used to charge an extra $200 just to have the old Mac Books in BLACK.
... cos I never knew black paint cost so much....
CraigJJun 29th 2009 7:11PM
except that it's not $500. It's more like $100 to $150.
Build a machine on Dell or Lenovo with the exact same spec. generally the Mac has a couple of things they don't have, such as the multi touch track pad, and firewire 800, but it lacks a card reader and eSata port, and has fewer USP ports, but get as close as you can. Don't forget to upgrade to Vista Ultimate and make sure you pick the right class of processor - the MBPs use the lower power version.
And those machines aren't cased in machines aluminum.
The question isn't really whether the Mac is a lot more for what you get, the question is do you need those components in your laptop?
RocketboyJun 29th 2009 2:57PM
MS is under no responsibility to give ANYONE ANYTHING for free.
So why the outrage?
DavidJun 29th 2009 3:15PM
This isn't surprising. Microsoft doesn't want to risk cannibalizing it's Enterprise Agreement and Software Assurance revenue - both programs that lock in large corporate customers to contracts guaranteeing MS continued revenue in exchange for free upgrades (or downgrades) and significant per-system discounts. This is Microsoft's way of discouraging corporate customers from letting their contracts expire and buying Vista boxes with free upgrades for the next 4 months instead.
TurboFoolJun 30th 2009 3:45PM
Large businesses don't buy individual licenses. They have Open IDs with VLKs. They pay a large chunk of change annually to have unlimited access to MS's offerings. Every time a new product comes out they receive a new key and disc. So this doesn't affect business of that size, anyway.