On 22 January 2015 at 10:14, Brendan wrote: > I presume it's the drug dealer play. The first hit is 'free', but after > that you're no longer 'free'. >
I think Microsoft might end up going permanently free with Windows OS, for home users at least. (Large businesses still have a lot of lock-in to the platform so will pay for a business version.) The importance of the operating system is increasingly marginal when most activity is through a browser to the cloud. In the tablet and phone space, upgrades are free. If MS want to provide an integrated platform across devices they need all systems to upgrade together. Mac computers now get free OS upgrades. They regard OS development as a cost in the business of selling computers, with the downsides of people not upgrading being worse for their business, or, detracting from the Cherenkov glow of their products. Also, each successive version of their OS has more tie-in to the Apple cloud. The problem for Microsoft is that they don't sell desktop computers or have a "Store" that is selling much. BTW, I saw an interesting revenue analysis for Apple the other day Total annual 183 Billion USD iPhone 102 iPad 30 Mac 24 iTunes and Software 18 Accessories 6 iPod 2 source: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2015/01/where-apples-money-comes-from/ Jim _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
