Microsoft has confirmed that an upgrade license for Windows 7 from Windows XP will be available, but there is a catch: users will have to wipe their hard drive and perform a clean install – so technically, it’s not an upgrade. Still, the upgrade license will probably be cheaper than the full license, so it might just be worth it.
It’s something like: OK…. so not enough people have bought vista after all.
And in a different perspective…. given that Microsoft will have to stick itself to a tight 3-year release cycle (unless it wants to give the Apples and Linuxes of the world more room into the desktop space)…. how many people will choose to stick with a given Windows version just because? Will they (Microsoft) have to do this kind of thing over and over? Who’s willing to put 300 or 400 dollars for starters for the OS plus all the addons you have to throw in at windows in order to be as capable as an out-of-the-box linux desktop, for example, plus possible hardware updates, every 3 years? I don’t think 90% of people/enterprises will like to keep that kind of pace… sounds like a double-edged sword, doesn’t it?
Most people never really upgrade their windows, which is why Office is their cash cow. MS used to have a 3 year(ish) release cycle and the same was true then, if they go back to it I don’t see why things would be any different now.
“Who’s willing to put 300 or 400 dollars for starters for the OS plus all the addons you have to throw in at windows in order to be as capable as an out-of-the-box linux desktop, for example, plus possible hardware updates, every 3 years? I don’t think 90% of people/enterprises will like to keep that kind of pace… sounds like a double-edged sword, doesn’t it?”
Well, most businesses generally update hardware every 3 years anyway. Computer hardware as a rule depreciates to being worth $0 after 3 years by current bean counter rules. All the gamers and admins I know upgrade at that rate as well on personal systems.
I do agree about the cost as it becomes way too steep for software alone.
They have to upgrade the hardware because the new version of Windows and Windows software requires it. Actually, “old” hardware is very sufficient for most business tasks, but certainly not running Windows. Hardware gets better and better, faster and faster, but software also gets more and more resource intensive when it doesn’t have to, forcing continual hardware upgrades.
It’s kind of a vicious cycle unfotunately…we are becoming conditioned to upgrade our systems but we really don’t have to. The US government for example, could probably save billions if they switched away from Windows and started using Opensource. They would not need to replace hardware every 2 or 3 years. Of course then that cuts into Microsoft’s profits so we can’t have that now can we…
So Microsoft changed its habits. Instead of selling the new version to the same customers that bought XP and Vista before, Microsoft decided to offer a supposedly cheaper upgrade. How nice! Great news for the users, bad news for Microsoft. Less money coming Microsoft’s way. Why Microsoft is suddenly so nice? Is it because of Open Source? If yes then we, the users, we should thank Open Source for the low price. We should support Open Source more. We should use Open Source more and more.
Its because apple has been kicking ass recently. A lot of people put them at 20% of the desktop market, which is huge, but walking into a coffee shop in any major city it is not hard to believe.
According to a preliminary report released by Gartner Apple ranked fourth in U.S market share in Q4 2008 at 8.0% – up from 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2007, but down from 9.5% in the third quarter of 2008.
This is from
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=2792
There is a chart of change in share over the quarters. Don’t know who says 20%, never came across any serious source asserting that.
Why is it unbelievable? if you took the enterprise out of the mixture (most whose use of Windows is as so far as using it as a dumb terminal) – you’ll find that Apple has made HUGE inroads into the consumer market. It won’t be long till they as employee’s will start requesting Mac’s at work because they are more productive using them.
Those who say that Mac’s aren’t ready for the enterprise – what a load of bollocks – the organisation where I work is living proof that your claims don’t stack up to reality. The same sort of people who claim Mac’s aren’t ready for the enterprise are the same people who claim hat Linux isn’t ready for mission critical servers.
I highly doubt a plethora of overpriced macbook owners purchasing equally overpriced swill at the local starbucks represents Microsoft’s “fear of the almighty Apple”.
Edited 2009-02-08 05:48 UTC
The only thing kicking Microsoft’s arse, is Microsoft.
Well… that and people whining about Vista in completely false and outdated ways. Yes, in late betas Longhorn/Vista was awful; yes when it first came out driver support was patchy at best, but c’mon! We’re 2 years down the track and Vista is really a solid and good OS now.
That said, 7 looks like it will be better.