Windows 8 To Go Up...A Lot

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Mman79, Jan 19, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Bodhitree

    Bodhitree Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2012
    Posts:
    567
    Prices are going up because 8 is a failure, and has failed to secure any reasonable marketshare since launch. So they are raising it in hopes of making some profit on it. Which I doubt will happen.

    Funny thing is.. Desktop8 and Start8 are Stardocks best selling products right now, and both are designed to reduce the impact of Metro on the user.. Hilarious really, MS is actually driving sales through the roof because their OS is pretty lousy. In fact, MS is the driving force in third party sales because what it i comes with is so rubbish, virtually nothing usable, and the nature of the insecure OS means more sales for security products. All a scam.
     
  2. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Posts:
    8,625
    Location:
    USA
    It was announced that prices were going to go up in early 2013 from the day of its release. This is not a reaction to anything, it was the publicly announced plan all along.
     
  3. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    Admittedly it is being shunned, but just when I thought MS had gone collectively insane they announce a price rise in Win 8. o_O

    Please tell me that this is all part of some very clever marketing strategy that I don't know about.

    My guess is that it is not as rational as that.

    Just when I thought I had seen it all with MS. :eek:
     
  4. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    I think that they did originally announce price increases after a preliminary period. But I agree with you about Win 8. It is not the success MS wanted. Quite the reverse in fact.
     
  5. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
    You 're right. Probably they were hoping to take advantage of the Cyber Monday/Xmas buyers, luring them with the discounted price. Didn't work well.

    In deed, the biggest enthusiasts of Metro must work for Stardock. What an unexpected gift MS gave them! :D If you see in Facebook a "Metro for Windows 9" movement, you know who they are! :D

    Again, MS knows that dominates desktops. The main aim of Win8 is to transform desktop users into potential Win8 tablet users. So they will accept their losses, hoping to get the profit back from the mobile market. Every other Windows release has always been a flop, so MS isn't overly concerned with not selling like crazy for the desktop.
     
  6. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Posts:
    8,625
    Location:
    USA
    LOL. Say what you will, but the only major difference between 7 and 8 is that the start menu is replaced with a full screen menu. And if that is a major problem for a user then Start8 is just $5 away. At that point, you get an OS that is functionally the same, faster, more secure and has apps (some of which are quite nice, Netflix for example). Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 was a much bigger change, and people complained then too. I'm sure the world will somehow find a way to get by. There are no valid complaints for Windows 8 vs 7. None.
     
  7. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
    Let me explain you why 8 isn't selling. Because, it's Win7 with Metro, minus some Win7 features.

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2168063&postcount=28

    The "faster" is something debatable, if anything, they 've toned down the visual effects, as to make it seem faster. If you tweak Win7 visual effects, you can get a feeling of more speed than 8. But then XP wins all.

    So, with Win7 you have this:

    http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156585-features-and-options-removed-in-windows-8/

    You don't have to pay anything in order to make disappear the starting UI and best of all, you don't have to go through again compatibility problems of applications that run buggy under the "new" OS. :D

    Win8 has Netflix? Wow. Is it free? Win7 has built-in DVD playback ability and widgets. :D I have Netflix here:

    https://signup.netflix.com/global

    Win7 with Sanboxie free, is more secure than Win8 will ever be (MS security features never stopped a malware from executing, because malware writers take them into account before coding the malware).

    Oh, why doesn't 8 sell well, why, why... Even Windows Me at least was saying "We 've system restore and new Windows Media Player!" Which is more than Win8 can say. In fact the big "accomplishment" of Win8 is the one that people try to get rid of: Metro.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2013
  8. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
  9. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    Yes, the fact that the price goes up at the end of January is no surprise at all, in fact, it's what I expected. It may be a little foolish in light of poor initial sales even at the low price, but I don't think they care. They are probably already moving on to the next OS thing...

    I remember I bought 7 it's first day out in stores, and I paid $199 for the full version of Home Premium. I didn't want the upgrade. With 8, I won't even pay $39 for it. I think most other users won't either.

    I honestly don't know who's making the decisions at MS, but what they're doing and planning on doing is going to really hurt them in the long run, if not already. It's almost as if they've lost all common sense. But then again, since there is virtually no competition, what's to stop them from doing just about any fool things they please? Not much... :)

    Anyway, the price increase is no big deal. As mentioned already, most sales are on new PCs and devices.
     
  10. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    Yeah, there's not much "new" about it... One might speculate that MS is actually trying to kill the desktop and laptop non-touch market (sales) with 8. It wouldn't surprise me.... :)
     
  11. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
    I don't have to pay anything (i have 1x32 and 1x64 Windows8 keys from MSDNAA) and i still don't want to use it! :D I just keep the keys in case Win9 is even worse and for some unforseen reason i can't stay with 7.
     
  12. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Posts:
    6,102
    Location:
    on my zx10-r
    imo they are nuts plain and simple at this pricing. ill be cashing in my few upgrade codes left to max out my lic count just to have on hand. i have more than 25 lic's and i dont even use it as my main system yet lol... have tried many times. i do run it on a few systems but not my every day machines. if they would have continued a lower price model with less expensive upgrades i feel they could have then went to a model where you pay say 19.95-29.95 every maybe 1-2 years and they could have release quicker os upgrades. at this price they would have continued to gain users for win8 and whatever is to come down the line. the ONLY reason they have as many users as they do using win 8 currently is because of the 19$ and 40$ upgrade deals they ran. if they did not run these deals there is no way they would be where they are and prob less than even with vista when it was new imo. because vista was so much different than xp a lot of users moved to it simply for that fact, aside from metro and the start menu win 8 is not that much different user wise from win7.

    so i think they are insane. they would have gained a LOT more users much more quickly at lower prices then they could have made some of that up with a more regular upgrade schedule at a lower price. even if once a year at 20$ -30$ i would have paid that. no way in hell i would pay 200$ + for one copy of win 8 it would never happen i just would not have used it on my personal machines.
     
  13. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    Haha.. Yeah, same here. I don't hold much hope for any future versions either. MS just seems to be heading down this new road permanently as far as I can tell. Of course, I have no idea what their plans are, but... doesn't look good. They are really exhibiting quite an unprecedented amount of arrogance with all this...
     
  14. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Posts:
    8,625
    Location:
    USA
    Because people that have not tried it believe what they read on forums...

    I'm fine with that, it is debatable, therefore I will not debate it, there are too many factors.

    You don't have to pay anything under Windows 8 either, there are free alternatives such as Classic Shell, in case one cannot afford $5, IF they feel the need at all, I am fine with the new start screen. Applications can be buggy under any new OS, this has been going on from the beginning of computing. You will always have to get new version of AV, Disk backup, etc.

    The app is free, you still have to pay membership fees. It was just an example of a decent app that provides a better experience than you get on previous version of Windows.

    Win7 is currently more expensive than Windows 8, and Sandboxie is no more expensive on Windows 8 than it is on 7. Windows 8 is certainly no worse than 7 where malware is concerned.

    I thought it had sold 60 million copies, so far. You don't have to buy one. I just don't understand why you are trying so hard to stop everyone else. :doubt:
     
  15. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2010
    Posts:
    3,931
    Location:
    Québec
    i don't really understand this backlash.

    if someone doesn't like Win 8 use something else and move on.

    personally, at 40$ i thought Win 8 was a good deal.

    yes, i thought Metro was a pain at the beginning but most if it was just a question of a few days to get comfortable with it.
    if you don't like the bloody thing there are options to get rid of it.
     
  16. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
    Are you sure about it? With all the marketing push MS made for it, one could easily download and try it... After all today most people have fast enough internet. In XP times, things were worse. My explanation is that, people don't read about the "wow feature" that will appeal to them...

    It's good to agree.


    The problem is the inverse. People don't feel the need to either pay 5$ or get classic shell (assuming they are knowledge enough to search for these programs), in order to make it look like 7. A dumb question hits immediately Joe: "Why bother?". Yes, applications on new OS get buggy, but why would go through this pain again, in order to take an OS, that wants to look like 7, when you can have the real 7 without the pain... What 8 is missing is the "killer application" that will make Joe think "I WANT this, i have to get this feature".


    The app is free, you still have to pay membership fees. It was just an example of a decent app that provides a better experience than you get on previous version of Windows.

    Yes, Win7 is more expensive and will own Win8 despite than in market share in the coming years despite that. I mentioned Sandboxie as part of security. Windows "built-in" security is always a non-issue for malware writers. If one can get classic shell for free, one can also get Sandboxie for free.

    Absolute numbers say nothing. It's been behind Vista, despite the excellent launch time (period where buyers buy tech products and Xmas) and at 50% discount. Not too rosy of a picture.

    Sorry, stating in a forum my opinion is trying hard to stop everyone from buying? :eek: By this logic, what are you trying to do? Trying hard to make people buy or should i ask whether you work for MS or an OEM company or have MS stock?

    I must say, if i have so much power in influencing people on what to buy, maybe MS should hire me and put their money to good use! :D

    If one can go in a forum and say how much Win8 is great and faster and lighter, why can't one say his thought too?

    P.S.: It's a forum, don't take it so seriously, if someone wants to buy Win8, there are plenty of praising articles out there and he is a click away from downloading the 3GB installation file and give it a spin.
     
  17. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Posts:
    7,076
    Out of interest, where are you getting these "Windows 8 isn't selling" statistics? Last I checked they sold more than 60 million upgrades in 2 months.

    Steam, the no. 1 PC gaming platform, has over 7% of it's users running Windows 8 after 2 months. It took several months to have that many users on Windows 7 back in 2009, and there was significantly less Steam users back then too.

    http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

    edit: If you actually meant Windows 8 hardware isn't selling I agree, mainly because there's a lot of non-touch hardware trying to be sold with Windows 8, which is silly in my opinion. It will take a while for the market to be replaced with touch-enabled devices. Also, Intel will be forcing a requirement of a touchscreen for its next gen ultrabooks.
     
  18. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    Yes, this (Win Eight) is the first MS OS I am genuinely concerned about. I have no need or intention of upgrading any existing computer I run. Later this year I was thinking of investing in a new laptop. I really don't know if I will stick with Windows & may look at alternatives.
     
  19. Fuzzfas

    Fuzzfas Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2007
    Posts:
    2,753
    To close this, my problem with MS is this. A new OS, gives the opportunity to give something really useful to the user, even if you can't think of changes in the UI that will make big difference.

    Examples:

    - Win7 could play DVD. Why not add Blue-Ray support in Win8 or at least, extend the supported formats out of the box? Instead, they remove DVD support. Beats me...

    - System Restore is a feature introduced in Windows Me. At this point, it could use an overhaul to make it more useful, since it's incomplete let's say and many users end up disabling it.

    - Desktops is written from Russinovitch, who works for MS for God's sake!

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx

    Linux has implemented multiple desktops YEARS ago! Who wouldn't want to have out-of-the box multiple desktopso_O? How hard can it be to integrate it?

    - Instead of eliminating the gadgets of Win7, why not adding more out of the box, for the users that want to use desktop enviroment? Personally i love the weather gadget in Win7.

    - Why not pimping the backup feature? At least, improve compression level, if you don't want to add incremental/differential. The compression of Win backup sucks compared to competition.

    - Add blue ray burning ability? Or at least, support more formats for DVD burning?

    - Add Windows Media Player 13, with, for example, the option to resume playback from the last point you had interrupted or a better UI?


    The whole "Win8 is new OS" campaign, seems to me almost offending. It's a marketing ploy to use desktop users turn their back to Apple and they try to present it as the "new awesomeness". While it's more a "customized version of Win7, with Metro thrown in and turned down graphics and services, so that it will appear to run faster". The only positive sides of a small improvement seem to be file copy and video encoding.

    But it's like comparing an "out of the box Windows XP", with a Windows XP that was "retouched" with NLite, in a sense. Because if you mess with visual effects in 7 and start making "disappearing" features, you will get a 7 that will "feel" faster than 8, while not being faster in reality.

    This is one of the biggest marketing bubbles, i 've ever seen in OS history.
     
  20. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2011
    Posts:
    9,146
    Simply not true.

    The techniques Windows has implemented has lead to exploit authors targeting third party software far more than Windows software. It's because they use these that there hasn't been an in the wild RCE for a Windows service since 2009.
     
  21. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    I don't think this is ever going to happen in the desktop/laptop market. And I can't see serious business desktop user going for touch either. So, unless you're saying that the desktop and laptop market is on it's way out permanently (which is very debatable IMO), then I don't think it's going to happen.
     
  22. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    Well, if I had to buy a new laptop, I don't think there are any decent alternatives, IMO anyway. So I'd take what I was given on a new one, even though it wouldn't be my choice...
     
  23. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    Yes, this is definitely true.

    There are still a lot of desktop users, especially in education, healthcare and business. I think that this decision by MS is, at best, not particularly prescient.
     
  24. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    I was thinking Macbook. ;)
     
  25. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    Almost all of business is desktop and laptop. Sure, there are some tablet users now, but most of it is desktop/laptop. That isn't going away for a LONG time. And with 8, MS basically ignores this.... It's unbelievably stupid on their part...
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.