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For all the praise we've heaped on Windows 7, it appears there's been a catch all along: price.
According to Dell's Darrel Ward, director of product management for the corporation's business client product group, the cost of the new operating system will exceed Vista (and in turn, XP):
"If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP," he said, referring to the various upcoming versions of 7.
The source of this issue, it appears, is licensing, perhaps specifically a decrease in growth in its revenues:
"In tough economic times," says Ward, "I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a stronger swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista."
To give you a more specific idea of what to expect, he states Windows 7 Professional should be more expensive than Windows Vista Business was.
Network World's Mitchell Ashley has a big problem with this, saying Microsoft would be making a grave mistake to make the entry point for 7 even higher than the standard $200-300. Here are his reasons:
1) Vista upgraders and purchasers would like the product they already paid for
2) This won't help seduce XP users
3) Not going to help the battle against Linux. (i.e. Free OS or $400 OS? Suddenly Linux is a serious consideration for some.)
4) Remember the bad economy?
5) Why should we pay (reward) Microsoft to fix your own problems. (i.e. Decreased license revenues? Not our issue.)
So, will Windows 7's high pricing hold you off from upgrading?
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