Windows 7 prices have just been released. Most of us anticipated a cheaper pricing scale than Vista, but we’ve been disappointed with a measly $10 deduction off of Home Premium. Putting the consumer aside, was this a monetarily intelligent move for MS to make?
I can’t say that I think so. Most people who aren’t tech savvy haven’t even tried Windows 7 yet, but almost everyone has heard of Vista’s reputation. Common sense tells me that most people won’t want to dish out $80 when they’re still worried about a lack of proper drivers and the like.
So what’s going to happen with Windows 7 once it hits shelves on October 22nd? I for one believe that many of those brightly colored boxes are going to stay where they are until a price deduction. With most people who know of Win7′s huge improvements over Vista using torrented beta leaks (some of which won’t expire for over a year), there a strong likelihood that many of them will pirate the RTM rather than dropping $80-$160. Does Microsoft really believe that most torrent users are going to pay full or upgrade price for Windows 7? It seems to me that MS is becoming a bit naive in its new age.
However, there is another, albeit much less analytical possibility for Microsoft’s decision to keep prices near identical to those of Vista. The possibility is that they don’t want people thinking of it as Vista 2.0, but rather as a full operating system instead of just an upgrade, because even if people do hear that Vista’s major issues were fixed in Windows 7, most consumers won’t have even test-driven the OS to see the major differences. They would think of its as a better Vista, and nothing more.
In conclusion, no matter what the reason is for Microsoft’s pricing, I don’t think this’ll be helping the company one bit. While their popularity is growing across the depths of the internet, the average consumer hasn’t even heard of Windows 7, and I just don’t think they’re ready for it so soon after the Vista disappointment.
