Microsoft combats Chromebooks by cutting Windows licensing fees by 70 percent | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft combats Chromebooks by cutting Windows licensing fees by 70 percent

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49 pointsvyrotek29 comments

Don't most PC makers just make back the Microsoft licensing fees through bundled software deals? I'm not sure if price is really the reason people buy Chromebooks either - a ZDNet debase seems to agree [1] - people often buy Chromebooks for the simple reason that they aren't Windows PCs.

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/zdnet-great-debate-results-there-are-go...

>people often buy Chromebooks for the simple reason that they aren't Windows PCs.

Not in my experience. People buy them because they are dirt cheap.

> Not in my experience. People buy them because they are dirt cheap.

My experiences are similar. Your average person in Michigan wants to walk into Best Buy/Wal-Mart and buy a $300 computer that does everything they want. Any more than that and the think you are trying to rip them off.

£220 isn't that cheap compared to used laptops. I bought a refurbished Chromebook for some £165 because I'd always complained loudly about not being able to buy a little ARM netbook with good battery life and native Linux, and I thought I should put my money where my mouth is. However, I found the battery life unimpressive for ARM, the OS irritatingly limited, and the build quality relatively poor. I dropped it and cracked the screen about two months ago, and as an emergency replacement bought a used Dell Latitude D430 (2GB RAM) from a local shop for £115. It's a dream, a nicer laptop in almost every way - rather faster, phenomenal keyboard (with F1-F12 and a delete key, thankyouverymuch), magnesium frame.

Used laptops can be a really good deal, but I think: 1) many people never even consider buying used computers; and 2) battery lifetime in used laptops is really hit-or-miss, and if you have to replace the battery, you lose most of the savings vs. just buying new.

Maybe makers can stop bundling so much crap now?

I'm glad there's enough heat to get the hold behemoth on their toes, but yeah, chromebooks are great because they are appliance laptops.

If MS drops licensing fees, then keeping the crapware means increasing your profit margin from near-zero to slightly above near-zero.

Now that the expectation of crapware has been set, manufacturers will probably pocket the savings instead of passing them on, while continuing to include crapware.

Manufacturers will do whatever they can to maximize profit. They already have razor thin profits, if not losses, they will pocket the savings if they can...but their competitors might have other plans.

Would be good for Microsoft to release a Windows RT Book without the desktop. Would still be a lot better than Chromebook because it does run apps

This would be about as successful as the RT tablet. And it couldn't run Office without the desktop.

So how do you explain the success of Chromebooks, besides it's cheap price of 200-250$? The SurfaceBook I'm suggesting would be in that price range too, just running a WinRT + IE system rather than Chrome only.

Microsoft is on an anti-Chromebook crusade at the moment but an MS-branded Chromebook clone wouldn't shock me. And that would not be the Surface. I'm thinking something with a proper Internet based OS. Some new variant of Windows that plays well with their online services like Outlook.com and Office 360. And something that can sit comfortably on your lap without becoming a balancing act. Microsoft seems to be shooting in all directions so, why not?

An MS branded Chromebook would take the very worse features of all the products and merge them into a hideous mess. They should sell a range of laptops with the full desktop version of Office included. They should include a subscription gaming service. Sell machines with batteries included, just like Apple.

Win phone is very tightly coupled to an MS outlook account. It'd be weird to offer a de-phoned win phone alongside win8rt, but it would measure up against Google's stuff.

I don't see IEbooks being much of a success.

Well, IEbook would be an awful choice for the name. I hope we never see an IE OS. And, to be clear, I don't think it would be a success or that I'd get one. I'm just saying Microsoft has been acting so erratically that they might very try that.

It's great that Microsoft finally feels threatened by something, but I wouldn't use Windows even if they gave away their machines for free.

Why not just make Windows free for noncorporate useres?

That's the smell of desperation...

It's about time this happens.

Now, why not lower the price of individual licenses to get more people to upgrade from XP?

This is like a horse and buggy company competing with the railroads by cutting the cost of horses. Why use a computer when a slide rule is on sale?

Are you comparing ChromeOS to a sliderule?

Edit: downvoters - I genuinely don't understand the analogy here - windows is a superset of ChromeOS that runs on similar hardware so I really don't see which is which. I picked ChromeOS for my question because it's simpler than windows, and so more likely to be the sliderule in the computer vs sliderule analogy.

Microsoft = Horse and Buggy company

Windows = Windows

Google = Railroad company

Chromebooks = Trains

He is saying Microsoft is trying to complete with something that is leaps and bounds better than what they have to sell. I'm not saying I agree with the that statement but that is what he is saying.

Thanks for partially decoding - what is the sliderule then?

Also other than saying 'ChromeOS is the future, windows is outdated' does this analogy offer any insight?

Sorry, I didn't mention those and that was what you specifically asked about.

He is saying why use a computer (Chromebook) when a slide rule (Windows) is on sale (sale referring to MS slashing licensing costs 70%).

Another way to put his analogy is you (All other things being normal) wouldn't choose to take a train over an airplane just because the train is cheaper (I have no clue to going cost for train vs air travel but bear with me). Even though the train is cheaper it will also take a much longer time to get to where you are going so the money you saved can be counted as lost due to the extra time it took.

Here Windows is the train and Chromebooks are the planes, again I am not saying I agree just trying to help explain the point of view.

Thanks again, that is actually what I originally through the meant. My problem in understanding is that analogies usually work because there is some similarity between the qualities of the analogical objects and the objects they refer to.

In this case, referring to a chromebook as a computer while a windows machine is a sliderule is not an analogy because nothing about the computer<>sliderule relationship holds true about the chromebook<>windows relationship other than the fact that the op prefers chromebooks over windows and presumes that computers are also universally preferred offer sliderules.

I.e. There is nothing analogical about the statement. It's just an expression of preference dressed up to look like an analogy.

It has the same explanatory value as chromebooks:windows::hamburgers:cyanide

Personally I would consider Chromebooks to be the horses, I don't need a glorified VT 100.

As for the reports of huge sales, I never saw anyone in Europe using one or them being on sale for that matter.

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