Analyst: Windows 7 is Still Too Expensive
NPD analyst says that cheaper than Windows Vista is not cheap enough.
The big news last week was Microsoft announcing the retail pricing of Windows 7. Check out our previous coverage for the pricing details as well as the limited offer of upgrades at less than half price.
We asked you last week what you thought of Windows 7 pricing, and your responses were varied. Understandably, for those who build their own systems, the OEM pricing is most relevant. Others feel that it's too expensive – a sentiment shared by an analyst at the NPD Group.
NPD Group VP of industry analysis Stephen Baker wrote in the company blog last week with his thoughts on Microsoft’s pricing structure. He praised the (mostly) free upgrade program for PCs purchased on or after June 26, 2009, which solves many buying decisions for those who need new computers for back to school, as Windows 7 won’t be out until October 22, 2009.
Baker was less enthusiastic about the retail pricing of Windows 7, however, saying, "Besides the fact that $119 is a price point that fits nowhere in these economic times, it is still way too much for the software. … It is in Microsoft’s best interests to erase all vestiges of Vista from consumers' homes, and by making the upgrade expensive … Microsoft is creating a large disincentive for consumers to move to a far superior platform with a better user experience."
The NPD executive was also puzzled and displeased that Microsoft isn't offering a multiple user license package. He compared it to Apple’s upcoming Snow Leopard OS X software upgrade, which will sell in September for $29 for a single user license and $49 for a family pack that includes five licenses. Baker posed that in times when families have multiple computers in the home, a family pack similar to Apple’s offering is far more consumer-friendly.
What do you think? Even if Microsoft doesn’t change the eventual retail prices for Windows 7, would you be more inclined to upgrade your entire household if such a family pack were offered?

so yes micrsoft should sell windows 7 at a fair price for the economy and as a way to say im sorry for messing with you all with something worse than windows me....as far as a family pack, never would happen in my home...i buy one copy and call it in if i need to...i have 5 computers in my home.... 3 of wich will run windows 7...the same copy... leave one as vista/ xp.... the other is my linux box....
but again after all the money people spent on vista...that should be considered into the price if they want everyone to upgrade.....
I'd make Home $99 and Professional $199, and allow up to 4 activations, each. If you only have two computers at home, you already know at least two other people who want an upgrade. You could even charge those people the $20 or $40 and make your money back. Think about it, you could actually do something positive, and reduce piracy... even if just a little bit.
I'm getting one discounted Professional upgrade, and then someday if XP stops running on my old Compaq I'll figure out if it's worth trying to upgrade...
I beg you, follow the same $30 for a single license and $50 for a family pack (as Apple does) with no gotchas for every version of Windows 7 and not as an upgrade, I'm talking about the full blown price.
And please please please, one single version in the future. Hell, it's still not too late to release a single version like Ultimate 32bit/64bit.
I say go one step further. Start blitzing mail/newspapers/point of sale counters with media of Windows 7 Ultimate in the minimalist packaging. Hand them out for free and then charge for a key online after a 30/60/90/whatever trial at the above mentioned pricing scheme. Not as a promotion! As a permanent price point.
Are you saying you won't match Apple in the one thing they are actually price friendly with?????
You can do this! People need/want this at this price. Let this be the year that Microsoft gets incredi-buzz on something positive like this. This can be truly historically positive.