Why Isn't Microsoft Offering Free Vista Upgrades To Christmas PC Shoppers?
from the why-not? dept
While it seemed hard to believe that anyone was surprised by Microsoft's latest delay in shipping their next generation operating system, Vista, it appears that it took at least a few investors by surprise -- as Microsoft's stock was driven down by the news. This seems a bit pointless, of course, as Microsoft will likely make up the difference when Vista does launch. The more troubled parties are Microsoft's PC partners, who were expecting to sell many new Vista-powered PCs to consumers in the holiday season, and now worry that people may hold off buying. Of course, it seems there's a pretty simple solution to all of this. Why not just offer free upgrades to anyone who buys a new Windows-based PC starting in November? That takes out most of the problem for buyers (though, the hassle of actually upgrading may make a few still decide to wait), while easing many of the concerns for Microsoft and the PC makers. Some PC makers have done exactly that in the past with Windows upgrades -- so it's not like the idea is unprecedented. In fact, reading over it, the idea seems so obvious, it's almost amazing Microsoft didn't announce the delay with just such a program in place to take some of the bite out of inevitable over-reaction from investors and the press.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Scrooge
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Re:
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Always the double standard
Guess what. Apple released Tiger, and anyone buying a Maca weeks before, during, and even a month after the Tiger release had to pay extra to get a Tiger upgrade. I mean, even after Tiger was released, Apple still happily sold people Mac's with an older version of OSX on it, and then expected people to pay at least $20 for an upgrade.
Thats not to mention that its never a good time to buy a Mac, considering that 6 months later Apple always releases something better, faster, and cheaper that makes your purchase obsolete.
Why are these practices tolerated by companies like Apple, but not Microsoft?
Sick of the double standards, MS isn't doing any other company hasn't done, just that people jump down their throats more for no good reason.
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Re: Always the double standard
That's the kind of bad reputation other tech companies would kill to get.
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Re: Always the double standard
from what I understand, M$ wants to release like 6 versions of vista anyway, so whats the #6 top of the line "ultimate" or whatever they call it gonna cost? 500? 800? a thousand $?
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Re: Always the double standard
It should be pointed out that Apple has never been late in releasing new versions of OS X. In fact, they've (on at least one occasion) been early. On the other hand, M$ keeps delaying the release, and removing the only interesting components of Vista. It's all vaporware, and its what you should expect from a company whose wealth is built on lies and theft.
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Re: Always the double standard
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Re: Always the double standard
The $20 you speak of was a disk exchange for the CD version of Tiger, if you didnt have a DVD drive. That covered shipping and handling.
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Re: Always the double standard
Also Mircosoft sucks.......
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Re: Re: Always the double standard
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Frankly, I hope the delay is indefinite
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Re: Frankly, I hope the delay is indefinite
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Keeping what the above poster said in mind, there is another way of analyzing the question that provides a pretty good reason why MS will not offer free upgrades - people will pay for them anyways. Further, they will buy a new PC anyways. When people need a new PC it is generally for a reason, not on a whim, and that reason demands answering NOW, and not later.
Further to this, do the editors of TechDirt really beleive that the average consumer will be aware of the impending realease of Vista? Will they even know what Vista means? I think not, sir.
Stupid question, easy answer.
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Re:
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Oh come on now....
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I am very interested in the new Operating System being released by Google however. That should make things more interesting.
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Re:Vista, Microsoft & Dell Support
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Re: Re:Vista, Microsoft & Dell Support
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Re:Not a Monopoly
I would guess that 90% of consumers do not install Windows OS, they get it whenever they get a new computer.
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Re: Re:Not a Monopoly
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Re: Re:
Give me a break! If you are a gamer, then you may want to have the latest graphics card, but most of the recent cards are compatible with new releases of Linux. If you are a gamer, then you probably want Windows XP anyway. I haven't had to compile a kernel for YEARS and I keep pretty nice graphics cards in my systems.
I find that the installations of most software on Linux is easier than it is on Windows. I don't know what version of Linux you are using (probably the MarquisDeSadix), but you must not be using the same one that I am. People only think that Windows is easier because they learnt it good, and have no tolerance for anything that is different. I'm not saying it is perfect, and there are some things that are easier and better on Windows, but I am able to do everything that I need and want to do on Linux, and it is much more stable, and uses fewer resources than Windows. My laptop hardly ever turns on the fan with Linux, but it is going more than 50% of the time that when I have to boot to Windows. I have an Turion 64 and 1GB of memory, so it isn't just the swapping, though it does occasionally run out of memory on Windows with fewer applications running than on Linux.
In summary.... Windows and Linux both have their places, and both have pluses and minuses. But, I'll take the pluses of Linux over the minuses of Windows any day. Your mileage may vary.
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Re:
Let me correct that for you ... You will continue to buy MACHINES with the choices of installing other OSs like Linux or BSD yourself. For average users, what you said may be true to some extend but that's still not a very good arguement if you know how easily Linux distros can be installed these days.
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Not announcing it isn't the same as not doing it
Business 101 stuff,...
The headline could have been anything in the absence of an announcement.
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Why didn't MS prepare a safe pin?
One possible scenario might be this:
Simply because that makes the press and netizens speak, talk, discuss louder and more frequently about Vista, which amounts in fact to invaluable advertizing on Vista.
That is, MS might have thought the enthusiasm on Vista till now had not been satisfactory. (Personal experience: till now, most of my acquaintances simply do not know about Vista, simply because they have never heard of it)
I've already seen numerous news on the delay of Vista including this article (without my "intention" - since they were displayed on my start page) and this seems to me a supporting evidence of this scenario; my friends should come across the OS name, seeing the surge of the amount of news about it.
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knows how to play the cards; monopoly
microsoft knows how to play the game, you should give them credit for that!
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Re: knows how to play the cards; monopoly
So did Hitler and Mussolini, and for a while they were winning the game, but eventually, because their system was flawed, they failed. I'm just waiting for the masses to drag Bill Gate's body through the streets of Redmond, and for Steve Balmer's body to be found in a bunker. :) One can only hope. :D
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Re: Re: knows how to play the cards; monopoly
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Two basic points
Secondly, as with most every new/upgraded piece of software that I've seen since Windows 2000 (when I started testing for MS), there have always been delays as we demand that the final product go out the door as fully cooked as possible. If anything, they are trying even harder with Vista, which is why they went to a faster cycle on test releases (CTP's). We'll see if it pays off for the user.
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Vista
I received the machines a WEEK before the XP launch, and they had XP installed.
Our CAD/CAM package (Esprit), our 3D-modelling system (SolidWorks) and our business system client (SAP) all refused to work on XP.
Esprit and SolidWorks are right aroung $25K total, so this was no small problem.
Three months of phone calls to the "tech" support department proved only that Mujibar and Rajish can not fix problems, and would not give me W2K, and I finally went to the local retailer and bought 3 seats of 2000.
After fdisk and install, the new machines performed perfectly.
My point is this:
Who cares if Vista ships early or not?
People who want it just to claim bragging rights will be the ones who are forced to do all of the troubleshooting (and they are typically the loudest complainers, too!), People who require it to run their new software don't exist yet, and the people who just need a stable OS to keep the company computers functioning (such as myself) will sit back and wait at least six months before considering it.
Interesting side note: Win XP activation is bypassed if the OS sees a Dell BIOS, so none of the installations are ever actually registered.
I have since used the three XP disks to install on one of my home machines, and to update a couple of older DELL machines. Never had a problem with activation or upgrades!
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Free Vista Upgrades on New PCs
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Re: Free Vista Upgrades on New PCs
I would, if it meant that I could still run another OS on the machine, if Microsoft's Secure Computing is in place on the machine with Vista. They will tie a computer to running only Windows. That's one way to ensure your monopoly. Just say no to Microsoft.
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Free PS3s from Sony?
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Re: Free PS3s from Sony?
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Free PS3's
The PC industry has a past of doing the upgrades, such as when win98 came out, if the PC you were buying had 95 on it preinstalled, they would give you a free win98 upgrade.
You're also talking the difference of a 6 or 700 dollar piece of hardware, vs. a 200 dollar piece of software.
retard
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Re: vista beta 2
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Winners & Losers
Winner : Microsoft. Vista has been on continual delay and it just doesn't matter to most users.
Losers : Dell/HP. I don't care if free vista upgrades will be available to purchasers. If you wait the 2 months plus, you'll buy more machine for the same money. Time to use those gift cards.
Losers : Software companies (pick one). No catalyst for new products.
Winner : Consumer. Hopefully a better OS and 99.9% of users really don't need an update to their OS. Especially when most of the best features have already been removed.
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Oh... and I highly doubt that MS needs any advice regarding their marketing style. Likewise, you can't dominate the market if you are based on lies and theft.
Cheers,
sleeps
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Oh... and I highly doubt that MS needs any advice regarding their marketing style. Likewise, you can't dominate the market if you are based on lies and theft.
Cheers,
sleeps
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Can't dominate market based on lies
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Can't dominate market based on lies
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Um....why not wait and find out?
And as people pointed out, Apple never has free upgrades. They'll give you a discount if you've bought a system within two weeks of the new OS coming out, but otherwise you have to pay the full price.
So for every one bitching and moaning about this, why don't you switch to Linux. Ubuntu is a really nice distro, easy install and a great support community-- but you'll have to wait for the new version to be released, it's been delayed until June. ;)
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Vista Upgrades
Microsoft isn't always as stupid as people think.
That said, you guys crack my ass up. Waaaaa ... why don't we get upgrades because we bought a computer right before a new version was supposed to come out ... waaaaaa!
That's the way tech works. Educated consumers wait. Uneducated consumers will never know the difference (or care) anyway. What a huge non-story.
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Because they don't have to
That's what being a monopoly is all about. They don't HAVE to offer lower prices or free upgrades, because YOU have no choice.
"Oh, but we don't have to buy upgrades"
Right. Until that next virus comes out and Microsoft says "Oh, we can't patch that, it's too old".
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are you dumb?
It would be the PC OEM that would give you the upgrade not MS, how is that point not entirely obvious!
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Re: Entertaining
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Its all about revenues.
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The real issue is the pervasive DRM in Vista
The level of DRM in Vista may just be enough to compel users to put up with the pain in the rear to manage LINUX.
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Good Point
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Is anyone really surprised???
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XP is better
Therefore it would seem better to stick to XP rather then to upgrade to Vista, which although has more features is actually slower on current hardware.
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Free upgrades? Microsoft?
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I switched to Ubuntu
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send me free update of vista
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They are!!!
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updates
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updates
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free upgrades to Vista users who have had thousands of patches and needed downloads to make it work.
Why decide that cutoff date for December?
Because you bought in September of 2008 not knowing when 7 would be released...as has been the history delay new releases..in Microsoft releases....and then thousands of updates to correct Vista.... and its short comings and lack of security, etc...
OVER 158 UPDATES SINCE THE START OF 2009
Ever try to copy the history of updates...or print screen to paint.... If you have let me know how you did it.
7 should be an update for Vista...purchased in the last 12 months.....and at a low cost... and free if purchased since July of 2009. We should thank Microsoft and Bill Gates for what has been done. they should reward those of us who made it possible to become the richest man in the world.
And now our money is going to foundations....and that is good...however there should be a foundation for users of all MS releases... and for the most recent Vista...which was not complete when he purchased it. We were bug reporters..for the software....and that pointed to that which the developer did not know about....to try to fix...and to this day is still completing and fixing Vista.
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