If the final product sold for $50, and didn’t have product activation, I’d be interested.
“If the final product sold for $50, and didn’t have product activation, I’d be interested.”
If it sold for $50, activation would not be necessary for sure. I would think they could do this if they wanted. I doubt Dell/HP/etc are paying the $100+ OEM license price an individual has to pay.
Microsoft may have much deeper problems with the Vista/Windows7 track though. Non-profits I deal with are looking seriously at Mac even though it will cost them more initially. They perceive Mac as a safer platform out of the box, less prone to virus/malware/etc threats and for general office needs it solves their problems as well if not better than Microsoft. They also think there will be a shorter training curve. Since most are XP based now anyway, they are looking at fork-lift upgrades now matter what they do. I think Microsoft will have their work cut out for them to not loose significant market share over the next few years.
I don’t know what corporate customers are considering but sooner or later, they will need to leave XP as well. I don’t know if Mac or Linux are truly enterprise ready, but the fact people are beginning to look around should concern Microsoft.
Or DRM. I don’t see why I should have to purchase a product a portion of the cost of which is to protect someone else from me, and which uses some of my other property (hardware) to the same ends. Microsoft should serve the interests of those who buy their software, and no one else’s.