Windows 8 To Go Up...A Lot

So much for moving to a different price model..and this is probably going to mean "Blue" was either never happening or is quite a ways off.

http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/...e/2013/01/18/update-on-windows-8-pricing.aspx


"Windows 8 upgrade editions will be priced as follows starting in February:

The Windows 8 Pro upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $199.99 MSRP (U.S.).
The Windows 8 upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $119.99 MSRP (U.S.).
The Windows 8 Pro Pack will cost $99.99 MSRP (U.S.).
The Windows 8 Media Center Pack will cost $9.99 MSRP (U.S.)."

If it's barely being noticed at 40 bucks, what's going to happen when it hits 120 dollars for the "lesser" version and 2..freakin hundred for "Pro" in less than a month? I hope they give other corporations the same deal they gave the Defense Dept.

 

Nonsense, it will sell a lot better! After all, to quote from the blog the first prominent point mentioned:

What more do you want?

And that while it was released with Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Xmas sales ahead of it. Poor Vista didn't have the same luck when it was released (it was released in late January). At 200$... When is the next big buying spree scheduled in USA? Maybe they ll sell again something.

I think it is quite apparent, that "something" has made them change plans. You don't change radically your pricing at just 3 months from launch of your new OS, unless there is change of strategy.

Could be that they thought to delay "Blue", in order to make it "Win 8 done right".

 

Oh m gee! A new Start screen and pretty tiles...and they're LIVE?! And only 200 dollars! Must get! Lol, seriously, I know there's some nice security features and all, but this in no way should be happening. Windows 8 is being shunned by the public, corporations are notorious about skipping versions or upgrading to the last release years later when a new release is already out. And MS goes from 40 bucks to 120-200 in the 4 months it's been available? Again I have to ask, if few bit at 40, who will be biting the line at those prices? Sure, you have the new computer buyers you have every year, but I don't think that really helped much, and the holidays are over, meaning those that planned on buying new systems likely already have.

What are they doing at headquarters, flipping a coin for every decision they make? I'm sure the "You're a hater" comments are incoming, and the fans are loading their flamethrowers, but you just can't explain such a dumbass move to me no matter how much you try. I'm not buying it, both in that I'm not paying 200 bucks for Windows again yet and I'm not seeing any sense in this move.

 

Even with these new prices, Windows 8 will continue to replace previous Windows versions just like 7 was doing, and at the same pace (actually, it is already doing it at a slightly higher pace than 7 was doing just before the release of 8 )¹

1) Statistically, "few" buy separate licenses of Windows - the new prices are almost irrelevant. The hands-down majority of licenses of Windows sold are those that come with a new machine. For a number of reasons, most OEMs continue to pick Windows and make the overwhelming majority of their latest models around Windows. The OEMs market latest Windows and their machines together. Their machines are made and marketed with a simple goal in mind: to enable the best use of latest Windows and its ecosystem.

2) It really doesn't matter what you think about Modern UI when hundreds and hundreds of highly complex usability tests with regular users and millions of hands-on experiences with devices made with Windows 8 in mind are showing massive customer approval. The major evidence is that OEMs are struggling to serve the amount of Windows 8 devices that people want to buy (even in their current relatively high prices).

¹Check this comment. You don't need to believe on its words, go verify the data/stats on the cited independent source -statcounter- and you'll see what's happening.

 

Who said a word about Metro UI? And you better come up with way better stats than that to show your "massive customer approval". You and I went on this merry-go-round once before. New machines have mostly already been bought, so that leaves the "few" buying shrink-wrapped boxes..so tell me, beyond phones and tablets, which more than a few are sticking to Android/Apple, where does that leave Windows 8?

Here, you don't have to believe it on its words, but a link:

http://www.technobloom.com/microsofts-windows-8-is-struggling-as-oems-drop-support/2222169/

Furthermore, MS may have a hell of a time competing price-wise on Surface Pro. So if everyone is rocking cheaper Android gear and Apple folks continue to be Apple folks, where again is this leaving Windows 8? You know we won't agree, and the bickering from my side at least is light-hearted..but I don't see your argument ringing true here yet

 

The customer approval is so massive, that i 've lost count of how many payware (added to freewares like classic shell) programs have grown like mushrooms and sell like crazy, so that even the power users that post in various fora, can minimize their contact with Metro. In just a few months from release. Unprecedented. When even power users in high percentage can't stand the start screen, imagine how the "average Joe" feels.

The saving grace of Microsoft are the OEMs who shove it down the throat. You go around fora and even Win8 fanboys, usually say "i am now used to it". "Used to it", like in "i live in mosquito infested area, but now i am used to it". Where's the "I love metro?" , "best UI ever Windows had?" That's a tiny percentage and says it all.

Windows 8: Stardock's best luck ever!

 

The previous posts?

Better stats? Why? They are "pearls to pigs" and will certainly be called biased or imaginary by haters. No point in doing that.

A mix of gossip and speculation at its finest. And Windows 8 encompasses far more than Windows RT, so the points are all moot for the matter here.

It is leaving it where previous Windows were, as you can comprehend by following the stats of StatCounter. Nothing new here.

 

And the DoD, though I'm not counting them for this argument. It's a totally different situation compared to licenses for the public/normal corporations. It's probably an Enterprise agreement, which would mean that they have access to the licenses, not that they'll use them all. But hey, stats are stats, right?

 

I saw several comments from "power users" approving or adapting to Modern UI as well. I don't know about researches which are compliant of scientific method comparing their number to the group of dissatisfied power users, do you?

Plus, the goal of Modern UI is to simplify the usage of multiple input methods, especially touch-screens, by average Joes. It's only natural that this group adapts even better.

 

@WildHunter: My "pretty tiles" joke was just that, a joke. Metro however is an area that at least was disliked. As I said regarding the article, you don't have to take the words seriously, but it's a legit argument.

P.s, here's a good reason to not always trust stats:

http://betanews.com/2013/01/02/stupid-bloggers-misstate-windows-8-market-share/

 

I'm not trusting all stats in a broad sense. I'm trusting in what I posted about because it simply makes the most sense and comes from a very independent source (one which MS criticized in recent past) out of all the confusing mix of marketing from promoters and misinformation from haters.

 

Of course it's meant to simplify things, and it does..on mobile devices. But the desktop/mobile Metro thing has been argued before. It's 5am, I want to stick to one argument

 

We apparently read different fora and have a different understanding of the difference between "living with it" and "praising it". Because in the fora i read, most Win8 adopters, say "i m used to it", "got Start8 don't see it anymore", while a small minority says "love the Metro, it's the best UI Windows could have, great upgrade".

The purpose of Metro, is Microsoft's desperate attempt to penetrate the mobile market, where Apple has MS to the corner and so MS thought that if Joe had a tablet interface in his desktop PC, when he will go to buy a mobile device, he may be lured to think "uhmmm, maybe i should give a thought to the device with the OS i know from home, instead of going with eyes closed to Apple".

That's all.

 

That's just a biased oversimplification of the economic goal which has many more factors on it. The fact that pretty much all OEM partners badly wanted something like Modern UI since years ago to boost their declining sales might tell you something too.

Anyways, I was referring to Modern UI from the tech perspective, from a similar perspective of what Sinofksy wrote almost a book about in that Building Windows 8 blog.

 

The real purpose of MS behind Metro (attack Apple on mobile), is easily perceived by this:

- Win8 comes with basically 2 interfaces (what OS does that?) at the same time. (a)
- You can't disable 1 of the 2. (b)

Because:

- MS wants you at ALL costs to SEE and USE Metro, so that you may later go and buy a tablet with it.
- MS knew that it wouldn't work as well in this way for desktop users, so they had to include the traditional desktop too.

If Metro was so well designed and implemented, MS would have eliminated the desktop and left 1 interface.

A friend of mine has a Hewlett Packard PC with touch screen. Guess what, he NEVER touches the screen. If you have the monitor on a desk and you have to do stuff often, very quickly, you lose the "joy" of touching the screen and instead you get tired of having your hands extended, hanging in the air...

And MS knew that... And knew Metro wasn't good enough to substitute desktop. But she HAD to find a way to make you use Metro, so that she could stand a change that you would go and buy a Win8 tablet, instead of the "usual Apple"...

 

Sorry Fuzzfas, pure tablets without keyboards are already old-fashioned devices. The most wanted/best selling Windows 8 devices are the so called "convertibles", a new class of devices that emerged in late 2012 I'm not even sure you are aware of.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 for instance is a good example. Go research about it and its critical acclamation.

 

And you think that Metro is going to boost their PC sales? Or that OEMs are happy with this? Where do you read this stuff?

Give an OS with features people want. To name a few:

- Multiple desktops ability.
- Backup with high compression, incremental and differential.
- Better Media Player.
- Better Defragger.
- Better firewall.
- User friendly error reporting (something that the user can actually understand why his machine crashed).
- Improved System Restore (make it complete snapshot recovery or give the users ability to keep the snapshots he wants).
- Better burning ability.


I mean, SOMETHING! In old days it was called "Killer application". THAT would make people upgrade! Not Metro, that makes them scratch their head and installing 3rd party programs to make it disappear, as if it was an unwanted guest in their PC...

 

I guess i was talking about desktop PCs? But of course, it's natural to miss that, since, yes, Win8 wasn't made for PCs.

 

Yeah, you are outdated. IMO the market is changing and your will to research what's hot at the moment is very weak right now. You don't like the new directions.

 

Maybe i am outdated, but you are simply try to shift focus away from the desktop PC. Understandably, since Win8, as your own posts implicitly admit, wasn't for PCs. Which is also what i was saying too. Win8 was made for MS to penetrate mobile market.

Glad we agree, even if you won't admit it (openly).

 

Who loves those giant towers that can't be easily transported? Besides those who love things of past? What's the name to call them... nostalgics...

The only positive side is that powerful hardware for that form factor is cheaper (as well as related costs) and cooling works better. But these advantages will slowly disappear, as tech advances.

I'm not talking about separate mice, separate keyboard, separate bigger screen, all separate accessories, etc. Those will always exist and can work with "convertibles" and notebooks too.

 

Where do you live? In Redmond, in some MS future-lab where desktops have disappeared? Where i live, there are giant towers everywhere! This isn't about whether one loves desktops. It's about REALITY. In my world, desktop PCs EXIST, and people work, play, do photoshop, video encoding on them, DAILY. A most unfortunate world.

The also positive thing, is that when this happens, Win8 will be also history and hopefully a more "natural feeling" interface will be invented to go with the new technology.

 

I know. I was asking who "loved" them. Not who "needed" them. A difference that was meant to be evident after I talked about their positive side.

But think about this: people actually like the form factor of notebooks and convertibles (and even the less useful netbooks and pure tablets, lol).

Those big towers, however, are widely hated for the space they occupy, the lack of mobility, etc. Those who use them, need them because of the positive side I mentioned, or simply can't afford more expensive options. And there is the always very small group of nostalgics.

Of course. I don't think advancements in tech will stop anytime soon, including interface tech advancements.

 

I guess now's the time to buy extra keys, certainly won't be afterwards. Also, Windows Next better be free. I assume this is why rumours say Windows Next will require Windows 8, because it will become the "base" Windows, hence the price.

 

Wild Hunter, i think that almost every person on this planet, would be glad to make disappear his 7 kgr tower and the bush of cables coming with it and i will be astonished, if technology doesn't advance to a point that this will become possible, without losing anything in computing power.

The problem is, that MS is currently selling an OS for people who DO have this 7 kgr tower, for whatever reason you want (you mentioned some).

To put it in another way.

- Some day, automobiles may be flying vehicles. However, if you attach today wings to them, chances are you won't sell many cars or some people will modify them to remove them. This doesn't mean, that selling now a car with wings is a "success", only because in the future all vehicles will fly.

- Some day, all applications may come out heavily multithreaded. AMD will then cheer and say "see? That's why we were putting out more cores for years, instead of following Intel's path!".



Unfortunately, this won't change, that Intel for years, have sold CPUs that beat AMD, because they were addressing CURRENT reality. By the time AMD's dream come true, her current CPUs will be obsolete and AMD may have even failed, because Intel ships CPU that fill the requirements of the present market, not of the future, taking all the money of the market to her coffers. And i am AMD user btw.

- Some day, speech recognition may become so easy to implement, with no "trainning" required and no errors, that will become the mainstream "interface". This doesn't mean that the speech recognition in Vista and 7 was "success". If it was, people would be now speaking to their PC all the time.

- Some day, kids may be so computer-educated, that Linux will seem a joke to handle and you will have an uber-geek society where even old men will be techies. This doesn't mean, that TODAY, Linux approach to the CURRENT users, is "successful". Maybe one day, every Joe will know "sudo", but today's Joe will think it's japanese food.

- Some day, holographs may be the norm. Does that mean that this was a success?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkoJ7LCq7dk

No... As a matter of fact, when i was a kid i had played such a "holographic" coin-op, where you could interact with the characters with touching it. Evidently, since most people today have Playstations and x-boxes with no such games, it wasn't a success. Once they get it right, it will be.


- Some day, everything may be touch screen. Will this mean Win8 is a success today? No.

As John Maynard Keynes said, "In the long run, we will all be dead". I want an OS for my 7 kgr PC that i have today.