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Thread ID: 134709	2013-07-31 08:43:00	Why is Windows 7 so expensive?	Nerdtastic (16693)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1350308	2013-07-31 23:38:00	I agree windows is expensive, I think the full retail version should cost about $100 myself and the OEM less than that. As a bonus the cheaper it is the less likely piracy becomes. Consider this; A blank CD/ DVD costs the manufacturers a few cents A software/ OS release takes a team of professional programmers maybe several years of work to produce. For the "cheap Version MS wants $150 + A Music CD takes a Band and a team of sound engineers from a few months to a year or more to complete An Album costs $10-$40 A Movie takes a crew of hundreds, costs millions to make and takes up to several years to complete A DVD costs $20-$60 (although to be fair that's ignoring the theatre revenue) All 3 products have similar cost to manufacture and distribute once the product is created. We live in a world where products are not sold for what they cost plus a reasonable profit margin, instead market researchers decide what people will be willing to pay and set a price for maximum profit levels. In annoys me quite a lot.	dugimodo (138)
1350309	2013-08-01 00:38:00	All 3 products have similar cost to manufacture and distribute once the product is created. We live in a world where products are not sold for what they cost plus a reasonable profit margin, instead market researchers decide what people will be willing to pay and set a price for maximum profit levels. In annoys me quite a lot. No complaints when something is very cheap, nobody says " hey , I should pay 10x this price so those Asian Workers can earn as much as me, earn a reasonably wage & put their kids back in school instead of the factories. What about your shoes, your iphone, your car, your clothes, these were all made using the cheapest possible labour . So are you part of the problem buy buying these cheap goods. A bit of hypocrisy ? What a load of hippy BS. You are saying that MS shouldnt sell THEIR PRODUCT for however much they decide ?? What say we come along & decide how much you should get paid in wages, we'll compare it to the Worldwide average wage & base it on that, how is that different ? Do you not try & maximise your wages: ie your personal 'profit' But yes, I'd GUESS that they sell it for as much as they think they can get away with. Thats how the world (ie people) works If it wasnt profitable there would be no Win7 or Win8. Think its too expensive, then dont buy it , use Linux instead . Comparing to the cost to that of a CD .... totally irrelevant, may as well compare it to the cost of a humburger . What it costs to stamp onto a disk & distribute is irrelevant No one here knows what it truley cost MS to develop MS Windows, therefore no one here can say what it should sell for or what is reasonable.	1101 (13337)
1350310	2013-08-01 01:24:00	Think its too expensive, then dont buy it , use Linux instead . There might be reasons behind getting windows :)	Nerdtastic (16693)
1350311	2013-08-01 01:27:00	Might as well get Win8 32/64 bit from Pbtech. Its $148.35 I can't seem to find it. Only OEM. Are you talking about Retail?	Nerdtastic (16693)
1350312	2013-08-01 02:29:00	This (www.pbtech.co.nz). Even tho it says upgrade you can do a clean install with it Well, I did, it didnt ask for a previous version of anything. That's what I'm using now. Well it says the same thing (3UR-00006) on the card the key is on	Speedy Gonzales (78)
1350313	2013-08-01 02:30:00	So are you part of the problem buy buying these cheap goods. A bit of hypocrisy ? What a load of hippy BS. You are saying that MS shouldnt sell THEIR PRODUCT for however much they decide ?? Geez, chill out. Personal attacks for a difference of opinion are unnecessary. Yes I am saying MS shouldn't do that, costs + a fair profit margin is what I advocate. Same goes for the cheap products, no hypocrisy here at all - they should also sell their products the same way, and I agree they should pay their staff more which yes would mean I'd pay more for the products I end up buying. I'm fine with that. I want prices to be fair, and I don't consider whatever price the market will stand as fair. Yes a lot of things would cost more, and a great deal would also cost less. No I don't know exactly what windows costs to produce , but I know they could afford to sell it for a lot less than they do and I think the comparison to music & movies is reasonable - all take a large investment of time and money by a large team to produce and are distributed on similar media at similar costs. I'd say people like yourself supporting rampant profiteering by large corporations are part of the problem also. Once MS have made back the cost of their investment and a product is then costing them a few dollars at most to produce do they start selling it cheap? hell no they continue milking it at full price for as long as they possibly can, then release a new version so they can continue the cycle. Smart business people but is it ethical ? Does office cost many times more than windows to produce ? I seriously doubt it but MS charge that much for the full corporate version - why because companies can afford to pay it. It's no secret the profits from Windows and Office are the largest part of MS's business. Our IT department is very tight on handing out Visio for our staff for example - because there is close to a $1K per PC license fee. Is that fair - I don't think so. Who decides what makes an OEM version worth half the price as a retail version? Same product, same plastic disk, same experience once loaded, does the MS support on the retail version really justify the price difference? do they not make a profit on the cheaper version? Do they actually sell many copies at full retail? (not to me they don't). This has nothing to do with anyone's wages - I'm not suggesting anything to do with personal wages. I'm purely talking about fair retail pricing. Most of the time competition sorts it out, if someone is selling something at a ridiculous margin another supplier will undercut them and so on until the price settles at a point closer to what's reasonable. Some products however that doesn't happen - nobody else can sell windows and other OS's are only a partial alternative depending on what you do. MS enjoys a captive market and they take full advantage of it. If you like that then good for you, I don't really.	dugimodo (138)
1350314	2013-08-01 02:34:00	Sounds like a post that was on the Neowin site the other day / last week. They were saying oz were paying 66% more for MS products than anywhere else. Obviously they've never heard of or been here	Speedy Gonzales (78)
1350315	2013-08-01 03:56:00	Thats about the ONLY thing thats cheap with Apple :p :lol: lol that's so true	Ninjabear (2948)
1350316	2013-08-01 04:23:00	Sounds like a post that was on the Neowin site the other day / last week. They were saying oz were paying 66% more for MS products than anywhere else. Obviously they've never heard of or been here I also heard this. The Aussie gov has gathered the big players (Apple, MS, Adobe, etc) for a talking to concerning prices. m.theaustralian.com.au I think I have an OEM copy of XP lying around. Would it be cheaper to get the upgrade version?	Nerdtastic (16693)
1350317	2013-08-01 04:40:00	That was the upgrade version I posted. Like I said, even tho its an upgrade I did a clean install. And it installed fine. I didnt have to install a previous version of Windows to install it. And if you do install XP (since it's 32 bit), and you want to install 64 bit I think you have to do a clean install anyway. Since, I dont think you can upgrade from 32 to 64 bit. Due to the differences between 32 and 64 bit. And if thats what you're going to have (under coming soon in your sig), you wont be able to use 8 GB with 32 bit windows. You'll have to buy 64 bit (which comes in the link I posted). it includes the 32 and 64 bit DVD	Speedy Gonzales (78)
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