Windows Vista?

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Sheazle

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060301-6295.html

I don't know about any of you, but that sounds a lot like really expensive shareware to me.

Remember Doom? Descent? "Hey, here's a free game, feel free to get addicted. Oh, by the way, if you want to get past level 3, you're going to have to give us (more) money"

I'm not saying it's a bad thing...just a little shady for my taste.
 
Think of it now, if someone who had Home suddenly needed the features of Professional to join and make use of a campus network or whatever, they could hop on that thing and unlock an upgrade. Takes out the whole necessity of performing a reformat and/or a reinstall.
 
As long as it is an unobtrusive icon in the control panel it sounds like a good idea to me. I would just get annoyed if I constantly had alerts popping up suggesting I upgrade, or if advanced features were left in the basic version but everytime you tried to use them it told you you had to upgrade to proceed.

Remember when XP was first released and it would CONSTANTLY try and get you to sign up for Passport, and Windows Messenger? That was a cheap move by Microsoft.
 
ElBarto79 said:
As long as it is an unobtrusive icon in the control panel it sounds like a good idea to me. I would just get annoyed if I constantly had alerts popping up suggesting I upgrade, or if advanced features were left in the basic version but everytime you tried to use them it told you you had to upgrade to proceed.

Remember when XP was first released and it would CONSTANTLY try and get you to sign up for Passport, and Windows Messenger? That was a cheap move by Microsoft.
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That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's just like some CD burning programs and other utilities. Especially programs that come with retail PC's.

"burn CD's 10x faster with the PRO VERSION!"
"In order to use this feature, you need the PRO VERSION"

with shareware, it doesn't bother me, because it's to be expected, but on my operating system? if it's going to be as annoying as these shareware programs, i might have to spend umpteen-zillion bucks on the super-duper-mega-godzilla version. I can see it now. "sorry, we didn't really expect anyone to buy this version, so we didn't write these features into it, in order to use this feature, you need to call us so we can actually write the software. sucker."
 
This is nothing short of awesome.

Sheazle, why don't you read the differences between the versions? Your example is off-base from anything I have read. FUD.
 
LstOfTheBrunnenG said:
Think of it now, if someone who had Home suddenly needed the features of Professional to join and make use of a campus network or whatever, they could hop on that thing and unlock an upgrade. Takes out the whole necessity of performing a reformat and/or a reinstall.
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There is also a cost benefit, you don't have to buy a whole 'nother OS. You can upgrade your existing license. As I said, nothing short of awesomeness in binary.
 
One saying comes to mind...... "A turd wrapped in gold foil is still a turd."

Keith
 
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, it's a great idea. The point I'm trying to make is that it could easily get out of hand with upgrade "suggestions" etc.

Does anyone remember the little paperclip in MS word? I hated that little bastard, always trying to tell ME what I was doing. I know that I'm writing a letter, thank you, Mr. Paperclip. I know what I want to do with MY computer, If I want to upgrade, I will decide to do so. I would definetly appreciate having the capability and opportunity to upgrade on the fly, I just don't want to have it shoved down my throat all the time.

It's kind of like when you go through the drive through at a fast food place. "Welcome to Whereever, would you like to try our Super-Duper Deluxe Burger Supreme today?"

No, I don't, I want to look at the menu and decide for myself what I want.

So I guess really what I'm trying to say is that I'll be pissed off if my operating system keeps trying to con me into upgrading.
 
It'll probably be like in Win XP and past versions - "Click here to disable this message" type deal. Don't get all worked up.

And you can disable the paperclip. Hell, I don't even install the office assistants when I install Office (was that thing even in Office 2003? beats me).
 
i'm sure you will be able to disable the messages. i'm not worried about it. i mostly just wanted to see what thoughts other people had on this particular feature.
 
The good, noble white hat says - This will be useful and convienient, provided Ultimate doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

The black hat oppertunist says - This will be useful and convienient, due to the fact that Ultimate will now be free :D
 
That’s a great idea I think. But I’m still having my eye on Ultimate edition… as long as it doesn’t cost arm and leg. :rolleyes:
 
I think it is a great idea. Microsoft is allowing us to buy the cheapest version without worrying that we may need a feature from the pro or ultimate version later and having to purchase another licsense at full price, but instead we can just upgrade what we have at lower cost.

Nothing like shareware or limited speed as some previous posters suggested.
 
Sheazle said:
The point I'm trying to make is that it could easily get out of hand with upgrade "suggestions" etc.
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Yeah, well, XP *could* do that as well. One update from MS, and bam!

"Would you like to purchase office to open this .doc file?"
"Would you like to upgrade paint so you can edit files with more tools? <CLICK HERE>"

However, they don't.

When they do, OK, time to get up in arms...
 
MS are being so greedy and always have been...why are there these different versions in software? i mean sure, having a few to sort out certain things (like servers and home and home performance or something like that) versus making you pay tons more money to get features that are advertised and should a given

they make a product and dont let you get the whole thing unless you pay more? i really dont like that business, i REALLY dont like that business
 
HopePoisoned said:
MS are being so greedy and always have been
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There a business...what do you want them to do? They try to maximize profits like everyone else. Think of Hobbes, or Adam Smith if you want.

...why are there these different versions in software?
Click to expand...
Because they can...

While I agree that having, what 7 versions is a bit much, it forces a certain % of users to make the choice between a 400 dollar version and a 500 dollar version. And if X amount of people choose the 500 dollar version thats a +100 dollar profit for each user MS has just minted. Furthermore, on topic, by using this "upgrade on the fly" feature it cuts down on MS's production cost (i.e. packaging and shipping a physical product) which will, most likely on their public statments for Qx show a larger profit that they would had otherwise as variable cost have been cut.
 
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