If MS releases Vista for free... you can bet that-No one will pirate the software, and will register it with microsoft-MS can charge for support (they do now, but would get calls even from people who may have pirated it before)-Much larger adoption of the new software because of its free pricing-Accurate indication of how many installs are out there with free registration of the product-Can push their own products on their own platform such as Office and Visual Studio-Will give people one less reason to use Linux (free)And in fact, it will get people talking and give MS a huge launch into marketshare once again. What they could be making money on with OS sales, is support packages. Purchasing MS support for 1-2 years etc rather than the free lisence.Worth a thought, MS.
"Free and open-source are two completely different things. The latter definitely would NOT happen. It would be a security nightmare for them for one."It might be a security nightmare for them at first, but a lot of people use Windows. I think there would be a lot of programmers out there who would gladly send them bug fixes. It would have the potential to become the best Windows ever made.Of course the spaghetti code might scare most of them off....
I agree with your argument, but you're not pushing a point far enough.There is NO competition between Microsoft and Macintosh/Linux. Desktop market share is something absurd, like 93%. The biggest purchasers of Windows are corporations and universities. They are already willing to purchase site licenses (and were willing to do so when WinXP came out.) So what perecentage of this market is in danger of converting away from Windows? My Mom? Gah, this warped view of reality on Digg is getting irritating.
@happbandoI agree with you but it is possible because of:Reason #10:Microsoft realsing it's product for free would make it hard for other OS's companies(such as apple) to compete with Microsoft so Microsoft becomes an absoulte monopoloy and would make bill gates richer and there being no other choice to pay $200 to upgrade vista so you can have the secuirty neccery to advoid the mysterious compter virus that no one could of written unless you helped write the code for windows vista.
Where I work we pay over a million bucks a year just for enterprise desktop XP licensing. This doesn't include Office, servers, Exchange CALs - just the bare XP Pro. On scale of organizations we're pretty small. As you say, 90% market share would be insane to toss away. Realistically, Microsoft could charge double what they are and most of their current corporate customers would continue to pay it.They're a company with a huge number of stock holders. $0 vs. billions of $ . Which would you pick?
They ARE giving it away. It is in beta.Apple is giving away Tiger (OS X 10.4) with each and every Macintosh people buy, even the really low cost ones. For people who have old Macs that are over a year old, Apple is selling them an upgrade for $129 (SRP) or $199 for a 5-computer Family (non-business only) pack.Red Hat is giving away Fedora 5 and charging for the Enterprise edition of Red Hat Linux.Actually, yeah, Vista is being given away, like Fedora and lots of other Linux distros. Except the Linux distros and Mac OS X are not in beta test.Question as to whether Microsoft should give away Vista is kind of a moot point at present. The blueprint of what features will be in Vista has not completely crystalized yet. The latest target ship date is almost a year away too.Having watched their financials for more than a few years, they seem to get a nice "bump" after issuing a new OS.Here are some previous quotes about free software and hobbyists from someone at Microsoft.<a class="user" href="http://www.digibarn.com/collections/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html">http://www.digibarn.com/collections/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html</a><a class="user" href="http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000532.html">http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000532.html</a>They are giving away _some_ low end versions of their development tools. In order for their programming tools and thus their OS to get used by students and low margin outfits, they cannot compete in that marketplace if they are charging $5,000 for what others give away for free.The OS market is bigger, though. There is more money at stake in the OS market. And, the fact they _are_ giving away some of their development tools shows how much they want to ensure that high 3rd party app costs do not price their systems out of the market in the future.The only thing is, the other vendors are giving away their *high end* development tools for free.
justice7Apr 21, 2006
If MS releases Vista for free... you can bet that-No one will pirate the software, and will register it with microsoft-MS can charge for support (they do now, but would get calls even from people who may have pirated it before)-Much larger adoption of the new software because of its free pricing-Accurate indication of how many installs are out there with free registration of the product-Can push their own products on their own platform such as Office and Visual Studio-Will give people one less reason to use Linux (free)And in fact, it will get people talking and give MS a huge launch into marketshare once again. What they could be making money on with OS sales, is support packages. Purchasing MS support for 1-2 years etc rather than the free lisence.Worth a thought, MS.
cazbarApr 21, 2006
"Free and open-source are two completely different things. The latter definitely would NOT happen. It would be a security nightmare for them for one."It might be a security nightmare for them at first, but a lot of people use Windows. I think there would be a lot of programmers out there who would gladly send them bug fixes. It would have the potential to become the best Windows ever made.Of course the spaghetti code might scare most of them off....
sc0ticusApr 21, 2006
I agree with your argument, but you're not pushing a point far enough.There is NO competition between Microsoft and Macintosh/Linux. Desktop market share is something absurd, like 93%. The biggest purchasers of Windows are corporations and universities. They are already willing to purchase site licenses (and were willing to do so when WinXP came out.) So what perecentage of this market is in danger of converting away from Windows? My Mom? Gah, this warped view of reality on Digg is getting irritating.
scott1Apr 21, 2006
@happbandoI agree with you but it is possible because of:Reason #10:Microsoft realsing it's product for free would make it hard for other OS's companies(such as apple) to compete with Microsoft so Microsoft becomes an absoulte monopoloy and would make bill gates richer and there being no other choice to pay $200 to upgrade vista so you can have the secuirty neccery to advoid the mysterious compter virus that no one could of written unless you helped write the code for windows vista.
pyrixApr 21, 2006
Where I work we pay over a million bucks a year just for enterprise desktop XP licensing. This doesn't include Office, servers, Exchange CALs - just the bare XP Pro. On scale of organizations we're pretty small. As you say, 90% market share would be insane to toss away. Realistically, Microsoft could charge double what they are and most of their current corporate customers would continue to pay it.They're a company with a huge number of stock holders. $0 vs. billions of $ . Which would you pick?
nofxjunkeeApr 21, 2006
Justathought: Does anybody want a peanut?(let the neg-diggs begin)
johnnysoftwareApr 21, 2006
They ARE giving it away. It is in beta.Apple is giving away Tiger (OS X 10.4) with each and every Macintosh people buy, even the really low cost ones. For people who have old Macs that are over a year old, Apple is selling them an upgrade for $129 (SRP) or $199 for a 5-computer Family (non-business only) pack.Red Hat is giving away Fedora 5 and charging for the Enterprise edition of Red Hat Linux.Actually, yeah, Vista is being given away, like Fedora and lots of other Linux distros. Except the Linux distros and Mac OS X are not in beta test.Question as to whether Microsoft should give away Vista is kind of a moot point at present. The blueprint of what features will be in Vista has not completely crystalized yet. The latest target ship date is almost a year away too.Having watched their financials for more than a few years, they seem to get a nice "bump" after issuing a new OS.Here are some previous quotes about free software and hobbyists from someone at Microsoft.<a class="user" href="http://www.digibarn.com/collections/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html">http://www.digibarn.com/collections/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html</a><a class="user" href="http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000532.html">http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000532.html</a>They are giving away _some_ low end versions of their development tools. In order for their programming tools and thus their OS to get used by students and low margin outfits, they cannot compete in that marketplace if they are charging $5,000 for what others give away for free.The OS market is bigger, though. There is more money at stake in the OS market. And, the fact they _are_ giving away some of their development tools shows how much they want to ensure that high 3rd party app costs do not price their systems out of the market in the future.The only thing is, the other vendors are giving away their *high end* development tools for free.
youareretardedApr 22, 2006
I've asked for that many times!
scotty79May 17, 2006
... then Vista is a method for MS to earn last bucks before the end. You right, they shouldn't be passing on this.