MS Trying To Spur Vista Sales With Discounts

Ang writes "Is Microsoft having worries about selling Vista already? Ars reports that Microsoft has announced yet another 'discount program' for Vista, but these new discounts work out to only about 10% off list price — not much when you notice that retailers already sell Vista below list. To make matters worse, the discount program would still end up costing you $100 more than the older 'family' discount built around Vista Ultimate in some situations. Ars spends seven paragraphs explaining this convoluted offer. Is all of this complexity supposed to help sell Vista?" If you must buy Vista, it might be advisable to sit on your wallet for a while. The discounts are bound to get sweeter.

wtf kind of writeup is this?

[User 956]

Is Microsoft having worries about selling Vista already? ... To make matters worse, the discount program would still end up costing you $100 more than the older 'family' discount

Ok, then they're not worried about selling Vista, if the new discount program is worse than the old discount program. A rational person would draw the opposite conclusion: that they're confident in Vista sales numbers. At least, enough to reduce the incentive.

All's well in the world...

[FMota91]

Haiku: Move along...

Sony is failing,
Windows Vista is failing,
Nothing to see here.

Re:Keep on waiting...

[aussie_a]

If someone designed a computer/OS that allowed you to just throw a game CD/DVD in, no installing or drivers and just turn on the computer and play it, I would be all over that like a bad rash.

If only there was a computer like that, if only.....

Re:ATTN: COWARDS!

[OSU ChemE]

Where is the "-1 WTF?" option?

The only way to sell Vista

[BillGatesLoveChild]

How about "Buy Vista, and we'll throw in XP for free! XP! The operating system that works:

* High Productivity. None of those annoying UAC messages!
* Device Driver Compatibility. Hardware will work out of the box!
* Applications just work: Even Firefox! Even Visual Studio 2003!
* No DRM. Watch your movies and listen to your music when you want how you want.
* More efficient code, so works on today's hardware! Not only tomorrows!
* XP is cheaper and doesn't have a dozen different versions: 'Oh sir you'll need the Vista Sub Pro Business Home Basic Version!'
* Doesn't make you call Microsoft everytime you want permission to pee

Vista is to XP what New Coke(R) was to Classic Coke(R).

Windows Vista is the New Coke of Operating Systems

[Orion Blastar]

Coca Cola also couldn't sell New Coke and offered discounts and coupons to make New Coke cheaper in attempts to sell more of it.

Finally faced with reality, Coca Cola took New Coke off the market and replaced it with Coca Cola Classic or Classic Coke.

Once Microsoft figures out that Windows Vista is New Coke, maybe it will do the right thing and offer Windows Classic?

If I was Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates I'd offer the following:

Windows Classic 9X (Based on the Windows 95/98/ME code but with improvements and new drivers for Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA) aimed at the low end consumers market and for upgrades for low-tech and low end systems. Priced at $90USD and $45USD for an upgrade.

Windows Classic NT (Based on Windows 2000/XP code but with improvements and new drivers for Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA) The Home version for $129USD, the Business version for $179, and the Media Center version for $199

Windows Classic Server (Based on Windows 2000 Server/2003 Server code) with server applications, and starting at $300USD for a 10 client license, and offering varied prices based on the number of client licenses.

The Windows Classic 9X I would market towards the low end, people with older systems who cannot run modern operating systems. There are so many older 95, 98, ME systems out there that are not longer patched for security that it leaves them vulnerable to hackers and viruses. Having a new, low cost, version of Windows would stop the viruses and hacking, as well as fit their needs of a low cost operating system because they cannot afford to upgrade the hardware. Of course it won't run 2000/XP or Windows Classic NT software, but there is still plenty of Windows 9X type software out there.

The Windows Classic NT would be marketed towards modern hardware and people who want an OS with more features in it, who don't mind paying extra for it. The Home version is the very basics and the core of the Windows Classic NT OS. Business adds in more supports for networks, logging into a domain, running an ISS web server, etc. Media Center allows better control of media and creating media and sharing it with other devices as a server.

The Windows Classic Server is basically a File, Print, Web, Email, etc general server. I would keep a low cost of $300USD for 10 client licenses so that small businesses can afford it, and then charge more for more client licenses.

Now these Classic operating systems wouldn't have all the features of Vista, and Vista would be kept for those who want to run it. The Classic operating systems would allow security companies to write security software for them like antivirus, firewall, drive encryption, etc.

If Microsoft won't make Windows Classic 9X, just release all of the undocumented 9X API calls so some other company can write a 9X operating system from scratch to cater to those who want to run an older version of Windows.

OS X performance does increase with each iteration

[iendedi]

The main reason I'd avoid Vista is the price and the loss in performance, though no new OS generally increases performance on the same hardware

Apple's OS X operating system performs better with each iteration, on the same hardware. The rumor is that Apple achieves this remarkable result through a little known, and apparently forgotten, exercise called "optimization". Apparently, this activity is something that ancient computer-scientists used to do, according to some archeologists, but the ancient art of optimization was abandoned sometime during the Microsoft dark-ages.

Many people dismiss this topic of optimization as a conspiracy theory, but I must admit that I am starting to believe that such techniques exist.

Re:Keep on waiting...

[Lumpy]

Hey I always though that was the first level to the game... To see if your IQ was high enough, prove to us your mad skillz with emm386 and driver loading order.

Marketing Congruence

[monomania]

This new adjustment in their campaign is a refinement designed to bring the Vista Marketing program into greater conformance with the law that states a software product's marketing must substantially resemble the product itself. Compare for example the marketing of Apple (sleek, even snobbish, original, highly creative, and very effective) and Linux (homegrown, word-of-mouth, technically substantial and in-the-trenches results-based factology). Despite their best efforts, MS has yet to achieve in marketing the stunning combination of convolution, deception, irrelevance and ineptitude that their OS embodies. But they're working on it.

Re:Keep on waiting...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hard to get those big screen TVs and chairs down the basement stairs, eh?