Microsoft Vista coupons - whats in it for MS ?

I'm reading that microsucks may offer coupons for vista upgrade to pc shoppers.

Whats in it for microsoft ? It will help computer sellers, what what does microsoft get ?

 

Less people using pirated versions?

 

I would say advertising, if they don't give it away for free/ preload it then people will be VERY slow to adopt the new Vista OS. This way people will have it and others will see how good it really is and consider upgrading. Either that or it will crash a lot of computers and break hardware, either way though it's comming like a downhill train- ready or not.

Plus I would be really angry being as I just bought a $2,000.00 notebook. If I didn't get a free upgrade to Vista I would probably tweak. So it is probably also keeping people like myself happy

 

from what ive read vista isnt going to be released till 2007, and the biggest spending spree on new pcs is usually xmas. so it probably to make sure people dont hold off buying new pc s at xmas or to make sure the ones that do get vista for free.
also apple seem to be gaining market share so its probably another way to encourage people to buy microsoft over apple

 

Aaaaah I'm retarded
I did not make the connection that us buying PCs => money in microsuck's pockets due to preloaded microsof OS

 

As a general point, the more people that MS can say are adopting Vista, the better. There have been a lot of questions about this upgrade (how many people will be compelled to upgrade to Vista, etc.), so MS is going to want to encourage the move to Vista as much as it can.

But yeah, as others here have said, MS would lose much more money if a bunch of people decided to not buy PC's during the holiday season because they wanted to hold off til Vista was preinstalled.

 

Does anyone have more information on this? I'd like to know more about how it works, eligibility, etc.

 

i dont think its fully finalised but from what id read in a few comp mags.
was any new build pc bought from around october time would get issued with a few vista upgrade vochuer. not sure how you use the voch if its web based or you have to send it off somewhere and you get a disk in return.

 

One of the other things I think I heard was that the value of the voucher would depend on what OS you get. I.e. I think XP Pro and possibly Media Center Edition would get Vista Premium vouchers, while XP Home would get a normal Vista voucher (or something like 50% off of Vista Premium).

I imagine the details of this will have to start coming out pretty soon though.

 

They do it to please the manufacturers. If people know Vista is coming soon, sales will slump. Manufacturers do not want sales to slump at Christmas while people wait for Vista. This way they can buy now and get Vista later.

As for how it works, I am 99% sure it is a free version of Home Premium for those that get an XP MCE only. No one else gets the upgrade coupon. I could be wrong.

 

They please the manufacturers by helping to boost their sales. This also gives MS (but specifically its new Vista OS) more exposure, especially with the "free Vista" marketing manuever. It will also help to kickstart the Vista revolution since they don't make money on OS's that consumers already own and use (XP, Win2000, Win98). Then they can start churning out all their "new software" platforms (i.e. Vista-based and/or 64-bit applications) to make more money.

And it doesn't cost them much to give away free software--burning CDs to distribute is fairly cheap considering the attention they'll get in return. An excellent loss-leader in my opinion.

 

Yeah, I don't remember where I read it, but I was pretty sure that even people who bought a PC with just XP Home would get at least a 50% off coupon. I have to think that XP Pro buyers would get some sort of coupon too. It would get really iffy I think if MS only offered a voucher for people who buy MCE but not XP Home or XP Pro.

Also, is Home Premium the same as Premium? I have to wonder how much consumer confusion and tech support confusion might be caused by the different versions of Vista?

-Zadillo

 

The other advantage to this is the ability to push back the Vista release date without negatively impacting holiday sales revenue. Personally, from running Vista Ultimate Edition Beta 2 (5384) to RC1 (5600), there is still many bugs to be worked out (insofar as program/driver compatibility). Microsoft knows this, and does not want to release an OS that the general public will tear them apart over. It could end up tarnishing future revenue projections as well, and keep consumers on XP (which is not what MS wants). IMO

 

yall dont have to worry about anything, the microsucks hackers club will release "free" versions of windows vista, its only a matter of time

 

A) I'm almost positive you're violating the rules of these forums.

B) If you haven't read the news, MS is really cracking down on the issue of Windows piracy, and they are taking things in a whole new level in terms of disabling certain functionality (i.e. disconnecting you from the Internet after an hour if you aren't authorized). For people like you who seem to enjoy this kind of thing, I think your days of a free ticket may be nearing an end if you want to upgrade to Vista.

 

does that mean MS will log or be tracking me everytime i go online, thats invasion of privacy and i dont think it will pass
I know MS is trying its best to curb piracy but it aint workin. they should hire some of the talented hackers instead. "It takes a thief to catch a thief"

 

Most everything that the product does will be in EULA (End User License Agreement) which you agree to when you install it, so you're not going to be able to justify your piracy or their deactivation of your pirated Windows by claiming "invasion of privacy". I'm not so sure MS's Activation procedure falls under that anyway; all they do is make it so that the product requires Activation, and if you don't Activate it, the product itself stops working - this doesn't require any information, private or otherwise, to be communicated to Microsoft.

If you are concerned about it though, it's probably time to think about switching to Linux or something.

 

Although there will undoubtedly be pirated versions of any software in the present and/or future, they are illegal. We therefore ask that you refrain from discussing these topics here on the Forums, as they have no place here.