

Ask HN:  Why doesn't Microsoft release Windows 7 for free? - sillysaurus3

If Microsoft wants to prevent people from switching OS&#x27;s, why not give their most successful one away for free?  Is Windows 7 still a sizable portion of their revenue?
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ScottWhigham
MSFT is a public company and you can look at the annual/quarterly reports to
glean the revenue from Win7/Win8/etc (which, IMO, offers insight).

[http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar13/download-
cent...](http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar13/download-
center/index.html)

I'm not sure I'm reading it right but, on page 74, it says the "Windows
Division" recorded almost $2.1 billion in revenue. There's also a quote in
there that 65% of that revenue comes from OEMs (if I'm reading that right). So
if they just gave the software away, they'd be $2bb poorer, right? What would
the benefit be - would people who are on Apple/Linux switch to Microsoft all
of a sudden just b/c the OS is free? What would they sell the people so that
they can make up that $2bb loss? I like the question you've asked but CEOs get
fired for "losing" $2bb in revenue without replacing it with "hope for a
better future".

It's a bit tougher to pull that info from the Apple report -
[http://investor.apple.com/SECFilingNav.cfm?FilingID=1193125-...](http://investor.apple.com/SECFilingNav.cfm?FilingID=1193125-13-416534&CIK)
\- but maybe it's there.

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gtirloni
Microsoft is transitioning and Windows 7 is part of the old strategy, it's
tied to different dynamics (that still work, mind you). Windows 8 and on, MSFT
is trying a different thing with the devices and everything.

I think it makes sense to keep these worlds/strategies separate. They're also
making a ton of money on Win7 so why kill that stream of revenue? They can let
it die slowly while they improve/tweak their Win8+ strategy.

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dublinben
Microsoft wants people to use Windows 8, not Windows 7. They've already made
it free on devices with screens smaller than 9 inches.

Windows 8 license sales account for more than $20 billion in revenue a year,
which free Windows 7 licenses would significantly harm.

Microsoft certainly wants people to upgrade from Windows XP, _to Windows 8_.

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majurg
Enterprise I would think. Volume license fees probably make up a good chunk of
revenue for microsoft.

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ondiekijunior
windows 8 isnt such a big upgrade from windows 7 in performance. i would posit
that at the moment windows 7 is better, but doesnt really lead to higher
future income for microsoft. With WinB, they are building an appstore, selling
UI packs etc. Once you ave windows 7 the only addition may be Office, and you
are done with microsoft. So actually for economic sense they should just give
out win8 for free to all, hike price and withdraw support for windows 7. Then
they should launch an appstore for windows 8 and enable further revenue
streams eg adverts on apps etc

