ARS Technica: Windows Vista to Support Upgrades on the Fly

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060301-6295.html' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060301-6295.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Why might Joe be interested in changing up? Here's a subtle part of Microsoft's ploy: as the company focuses on the digital entertainment sphere over the next several years, it is going to be unveiling products and services that interact with the features of some of these OS versions but not others. Let's take an example from a shipping product. Windows Vista Home Premium will allow you to stream movies and videos to the Xbox 360. Maybe you don't have an Xbox 360, so you choose Home Basic for now. What Microsoft has put into place is an easy for you to move to the Premium or Ultimate version of the OS for any reason, whether it's to get Media Center's spotlight, new Xbox interactivity features, or some other as-of-yet unannounced product or service. You may not have an Xbox 360 right now. You may not have any desire for Media Center functionality. It's no matter. If and when you do, the OS can be upgraded on the fly."</i><br /><br />Now that Microsoft has announced there will be four different versions of Vista for home users, the question becomes how easy is it for the user to upgrade to a different version if they want more features than what's offered in their current version? Windows Anytime Upgrade is the answer. I think this could work out really nicely for consumers, assuming that that the price to upgrade isn't more than what that difference would be at retail.

[Kevin Jackson]

I think this is a great marketing decision on Microsoft's part. Now users don't have to agonize over the decision of which version of Windows they buy to start with, knowing that it's easy and (as Jason said) hopefully no more expensive than buying one of the more advanced versions to start with.

One way that MS could really leverage this is by offering upgrade discounts when buying certain hardware. I am thinking, specifically, of the Xbox 360. Say I have Vista Home Basic and I buy a 360. When I register the 360 online, MS offers me a discount on an upgrade to Media Center or Premium or whichever version they recommend. This is a win-win. Microsoft gets two things; 1) my information from the registration of the 360 and 2) my money for the upgrade to Vista. I get a discount on an upgrade and the new features in MCE or Premium.

Like I said, this is a great decision; as long as they manage it properly.

[Jason Dunn]

Say I have Vista Home Basic and I buy a 360. When I register the 360 online, MS offers me a discount on an upgrade to Media Center or Premium or whichever version they recommend. This is a win-win. Microsoft gets two things; 1) my information from the registration of the 360 and 2) my money for the upgrade to Vista. I get a discount on an upgrade and the new features in MCE or Premium.

That's a great idea, and hopefully one that Microsoft is thinking about doing. I also think they need to get more creative with their pricing for home environments - the idea of "Oh, you want Vista? You have three computers in your home? Go buy three retail copies then sucker!" just doesn't fly. Apple has it figured out with their family packs.

[Kevin Jackson]

I was thinking something along the same lines. Here we have what amounts to a single install disk for all these different versions of Windows Vista, but no real flexibility in using it on different machines. Let users by a "Home User Pack" of 2, 3, 4 or 5 licenses and install it on any machines they want -- kind of like Enterprise licensing for homes.

So many home users have multiple computers now that it just makes sense.

[Jason Dunn]

Let users by a "Home User Pack" of 2, 3, 4 or 5 licenses and install it on any machines they want -- kind of like Enterprise licensing for homes.

Apple has this one figured out:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/70503/wo/kw5TVHb0yeqx2n6GfALAX2AmEwA/0.SLID?mco=405B1455&amp;nplm=MA190Z%2FA

A single copy of OS X is $129.99. A family pack with FIVE licenses? Only $199. This is exactly what Microsoft has to do. I've brought it up before, but I have yet to find anyone at Microsoft that realizes what a serious problem this is going to be.

[bwaibel]

but I have yet to find anyone at Microsoft that realizes what a serious problem this is going to be.

I'm sure there are plenty of people at Microsoft who understand the value in this type of model, but a solution exactly like Apple's solution would cost them billions in revenue. Every single IT shop in the world would start throwing away their licensing agreements and buying these five packs at a gigantic discount. Whereas in the consumer space, I think they'd be breaking down what is currently a large barrier entry for multi-pc homes and upgrades, which would actually cause MS revenue and the pc ecosystem as a whole to improve.

Anyway, I just think it's tougher than you think for Microsoft to solve this problem in a fair way that protects everyone's interests. I'm certainly hoping they figure it out anyway though, I think it's worth their effort.

[Kevin Jackson]

Every single IT shop in the world would start throwing away their licensing agreements and buying these five packs at a gigantic discount.

Part of the solution would be to make it clear that the five packs are for consumer use only. Obviously there are unethical shops who would still take advantage of the situation, but you have to wonder how much they take advantage of the current system, too.

Another possibility would be to confine the new license pack to Home versions only. How many home users are going to need/use Enterprise edition and how many Enterprise/Business users are going to want the Home editions.

If MS really wanted to make this happen, I'm sure that they could. Let's hope they do.

[Jason Dunn]

I see you're from Seattle. Hmm. I wonder where you work. ;-) Well, regardless, welcome. :-)

Every single IT shop in the world would start throwing away their licensing agreements and buying these five packs at a gigantic discount.

Understood, but there would have to be a way for them to prevent that though. They did it with MCE 2005 right? It's cheaper than XP Pro, and they made it different by changing the way it joins a domain (I believe).

I believe very strongly that the adoption of Vista will be seriously hampered unless Microsoft makes it affordable for entire households of PCs to be upgraded. XP is a pretty good OS, and it will be a hard sell to convince consumers that they need to upgrade. This isn't Joe Consumer going from Windows 95 to Windows XP, where the advantages are blindingly obvious (not that everyone agrees mind you, there are still many 9x users out there), this is more more subtle. I know Microsoft is going to spend millions of dollars in advertising to tout the features in Vista, but the adoption rate will be VERY slow if people end up buying entirely new computers just to get it.