Microsoft discontinues Windows 7 Family Pack in US

[Zidane24]

It would just be nice to see MS charge a more reasonable amount like $49.99 for the OS. Look at the people who ordered it for the $30 student special. And the people who preordered it for $50. And the people willing to get Technet to get multiple copies cheap. It just seems to me that they might actually make more with increased sales and decreased piracy. But MS is smart and they must study this stuff...so it's likely priced at the best price point to maximize their profits.

I would be intrigued to see some graphs comparing sells of the student offer and preorders at the discount price vs retail prcies

I predict that the combined sales of the frist two won't be greater than retail sales but it will be mesuarably close. The big reason that the combined sales doesn't exceed retail sales is the fact that it is for limited groups and one of the offers is of course expired

Conclusion: If not for the limited availbility of said offers, I believe that Microsoft's offering of Windows 7 at a discounted price had to of been a positive business venture but who knows that their sales/marketing department is thinking

Maybe we don't see the whole picture?

 

[Barman58]

The question here is "where do Microsoft's Operating system profits come from?". the answer is basically from business licensing and the major OEMs.

The Upgrade market Is and will always be, I think, a minor, specialist one, the special offers were targeted well and served their purpose of "getting the message across". The vast majority of private windows 7 licences will ship with new machines.

The student offer was especially well thought out, get the younger members of families "hooked", and they will help drive the other machines in a family. Other members of the family see the WOW factor and are more likely to look for a new system with win7.

There is also a definite drive for business to update from users who are using a new operating system at home. The situation is a lot more complex than a what a user wants, of course, but it is a factor.

The family pack was a good idea as this will showcase Win7 exclusive technologies such as Homegroups and "play to",

 

[toughbook]

LOL, Panasonic does not load any bloatware what's so ever on there Toughbooks. The programs that I was referring to are like the Battery Calibration, Touchpad, Concealed Mode. These are just a few to say the least. MS does not provide drivers or anything for these programs.

 

[Barman58]

LOL, Panasonic does not load any bloatware what's so ever on there Toughbooks. The programs that I was referring to are like the Battery Calibration, Touchpad, Concealed Mode. These are just a few to say the least. MS does not provide drivers or anything for these programs.

Microsoft does not provide drivers of any type - they include basic drivers in the OS distribution, that are written by the Hardware vendors .

These type of "added value" items should normally be available for download at the manufacturer's website, although they are sometimes difficult to find

 

[Aperture]

How many installs are allowed with the regular Win7 Home Premium?

 

[Barman58]

Although the actual disk may be used to install many times you are only allowed to have one install active per licence

 

[darkassain]

LOL, Panasonic does not load any bloatware what's so ever on there Toughbooks.

toughbooks attract a different audience (usually people that know what they are doing or businesses that have IT) and there is a reason why are more expensive (apart from design)...

 

[KazeNoKoe23]

That was quick. :shock:

I thought the Family Pack was a great idea as well.

 

[win7clutz]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

 

[Qdos]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

Nope. If you can't afford it you shouldn't expect to use it. I'm sick of people who think everyone else has to pay for them, or who come here and ask for help on counterfeit, or patched, software - if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

 

[darkassain]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

you do know there are alternatives such as OpenSolaris, the many flavors of linux and BSD right?
and if your are into the cloud thing you can try chromium OS...
this reasoning only works when that product is the only product in the market....
other than that its unjustifiable...

 

[win7clutz]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

Nope. If you can't afford it you shouldn't expect to use it. I'm sick of people who think everyone else has to pay for them, or who come here and ask for help on counterfeit, or patched, software - if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

Wow, I wasn't supporting or justifying piracy, I was just making a point 'bout why some of it happens... With that said, had I responded to one of your post in such a manner the mods would be all over me.

Back on point, a guy that has a laptop, desktop, and maybe a box for his kids should hardly be expected to drop a grand to update his machines. That's not reasonable, if you or I can afford it fine, most can't; so enjoy your circumstances but maybe look at it from the perspective of the less fortunate.

Paying for new technology is fair and just, raping people is not!

 

[win7clutz]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

you do know there are alternatives such as OpenSolaris, the many flavors of linux and BSD right?
and if your are into the cloud thing you can try chromium OS...
this reasoning only works when that product is the only product in the market....
other than that its unjustifiable...

Wow again... It was just an opinion/observation not a justification. Didn't mean to stir a boiling pot.

For anyone that's offended I apologize and will in the future keep opinions to myself...

 

[geeve420]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

you do know there are alternatives such as OpenSolaris, the many flavors of linux and BSD right?
and if your are into the cloud thing you can try chromium OS...
this reasoning only works when that product is the only product in the market....
other than that its unjustifiable...

Good point, the only flaw here is that Linux regardless of distro does have hardware issues and for a newbie to linux set up is a task. It has come a long way and is close to plug and play, but there are still numerous sound and video cards that don't work.

I personaly run Fedora and dual boot with XP. I have a studio quality sound card for recording and it is not running under any Linux distro. So as the previous poster was pointing out, I could spend $360 for upgrades to W7 Home, or pick a Linux distro then go through the hoops of configuring it which is easily a couple of hours and you can't guarentee it'll all work, or then there is piracy. He was just making a point. I know at this point I will not be upgrading to W7 because I don't have that kind of money, as don't lots of people. If it were $50 per PC to upgrade then all 3 of my computers would be done.

 

[Zidane24]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

Nope. If you can't afford it you shouldn't expect to use it. I'm sick of people who think everyone else has to pay for them, or who come here and ask for help on counterfeit, or patched, software - if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

Wow, I wasn't supporting or justifying piracy, I was just making a point 'bout why some of it happens... With that said, had I responded to one of your post in such a manner the mods would be all over me.

Back on point, a guy that has a laptop, desktop, and maybe a box for his kids should hardly be expected to drop a grand to update his machines. That's not reasonable, if you or I can afford it fine, most can't; so enjoy your circumstances but maybe look at it from the perspective of the less fortunate.

Paying for new technology is fair and just, raping people is not!

First off Windows 7 Home Premium as an upgrade is just $109.99 so three would run you at around $340...that is hardly near the grand you mention. While the family pack was great, it was a limited time offer above all else. Also remember that there is one thing about piracy that is true: whether it is a $5.00 piece of software or anything that is over $1200...it will be pirated. Most pirates are not pirating because they can't afford it, they pirate because they don't want to pay for it or feel that they want it for free

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

you do know there are alternatives such as OpenSolaris, the many flavors of linux and BSD right?
and if your are into the cloud thing you can try chromium OS...
this reasoning only works when that product is the only product in the market....
other than that its unjustifiable...

Wow again... It was just an opinion/observation not a justification. Didn't mean to stir a boiling pot.

For anyone that's offended I apologize and will in the future keep opinions to myself...

Please don't keep your opinnions to yourself...we welcome an open community

 

[darkassain]

This is exactly why piracy exist and will continue... Most will pay a fair price, they just don't get it.

you do know there are alternatives such as OpenSolaris, the many flavors of linux and BSD right?
and if your are into the cloud thing you can try chromium OS...
this reasoning only works when that product is the only product in the market....
other than that its unjustifiable...

Wow again... It was just an opinion/observation not a justification. Didn't mean to stir a boiling pot.

For anyone that's offended I apologize and will in the future keep opinions to myself...

im pretty sure no one has been offended (at least not me), what im doing is stating my views as you are...
as long as your post does not violate the forum rules (and as long as it doesn't turn into a war) of any kind it should more than fine to share your view...
just know that there might be people that share opposing views...

and if i offended you then i apologize..

 

[severedsolo]

if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

really? do you REALLY believe that? a pirated copy is not 9/10 times a lost sale... the person wouldnt pay for it anyway i wont say any more on this because i think thats why the last post was closed....

Most pirates are not pirating because they can't afford it, they pirate because they don't want to pay for it or feel that they want it for free

Interesting, whats your proof for this? i was under the impression that most piraters were teenagers and such who couldnt afford the software but wanted to keep up with the latest advances....

just to be clear, PIRACY IS WRONG but so is alot of the "information" that official channels release about it

 

[darkassain]

if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

really? do you REALLY believe that? a pirated copy is not 9/10 times a lost sale... the person wouldnt pay for it anyway i wont say any more on this because i think thats why the last post was closed....

yes i believe that given the option this is cannot be called a lost sale which is how the BSA is thinking...
Which of course is faulty thinking...

Most pirates are not pirating because they can't afford it, they pirate because they don't want to pay for it or feel that they want it for free

Interesting, whats your proof for this? i was under the impression that most piraters were teenagers and such who couldnt afford the software but wanted to keep up with the latest advances....

just to be clear, PIRACY IS WRONG but so is alot of the "information" that official channels release about it

it depends where you live
there was a member that fit that some time ago where one of the members agreed to give him a license for windows 7 if he were to delete all pirated software (and from i knew he was not a teen) there was another that lived in the western europe where he explained why pirated (also not a teen from what i read)...

 

[Zidane24]

if it weren't for them you do realise the cost of every piece of software you care to name would be less...

really? do you REALLY believe that? a pirated copy is not 9/10 times a lost sale... the person wouldnt pay for it anyway i wont say any more on this because i think thats why the last post was closed....

Most pirates are not pirating because they can't afford it, they pirate because they don't want to pay for it or feel that they want it for free

Interesting, whats your proof for this? i was under the impression that most piraters were teenagers and such who couldnt afford the software but wanted to keep up with the latest advances....

just to be clear, PIRACY IS WRONG but so is alot of the "information" that official channels release about it

First off that first quote wasn't done by me (for contextual purposes)

Second go read aa board at TPB or somewhere else and ask an honest question "Why do you pirate?" Most of them will tell you the truth: they can pay for it but they don't want to buy it and others will say that all software should be GNU GPL and refuse to pay for it. In contrast, a lesser percentage of people actually pirate because they can't afford it: I know first hand since I used to be a very big downloader who fell into the category of cannot afford it. I now can and I leave that life back whole heartedly

 

[severedsolo]

ooh sorry zidane, guess i got my quotes a little mixed up there, i did a massive quote and just deleted the bits i didnt want, i meant to delete all names, guess i missed yours,

i just assumed most people were like me.... i also pirated because i couldnt afford it when i was younger, but now i can i pay for my software i do, or if i dont think its worth it i use an open source alternative on ubuntu