

The 9 Flavors Of Windows 8 Show The Key Difference Between Microsoft And Apple - justjimmy
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/02/the-nine-different-flavors-of-windows-8-shows-the-key-difference-between-microsoft-and-apple/

======
untog
TechCrunch is overstating their case a little, here. Certainly, that
screenshot shows "PrereleaseARMEdition","EnterpriseEvalEdition", and so on.
Obviously these aren't relevant.

The different flavours of Windows are disliked by consumers, and liked by
corporate customers. The answer is clear: just have one 'consumer' edition and
stop selling both Home and Home Premium. The rest- Professional, Ultimate,
Enterprise, etc. are all fine.

Pet gripe: I wish people would stop saying that OS X costs $29.99 and that
Windows costs considerably more. They both operate on considerably different
models- OS X is released once per year, Windows much less frequently (and with
service packs).

~~~
aneesh
OS X doesn't cost $29.99. It costs $29.99 _plus_ the cost of Apple hardware
(the cheapest of which is the $600 Mini). Unless you go the Hackintosh route,
you can't install OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Whereas you can install your $100 Windows license on your choice of hardware
devices that support it.

~~~
tvon
You could just say "Windows runs on a wide variety of hardware, OSX does not"
to more simply get your point across.

edit:

Okay, the point being made is "Apple hardware is not cheap, and you need Apple
hardware to properly run OS X".

It's made in a very hand-wavy way, though, which I find a bit annoying.

~~~
kiloaper
That's not the same point.

Edit: At least the poster now acknowledges this. Anonymous downvotes? And
people claim we're not edging closer to Reddit more and more each day.

~~~
xiaoma
> _Anonymous downvotes?_

All votes on HN are anonymous, whether they're upvotes or downvotes. Showing
who voted which way on what just isn't one of the features of the site, and
that's a good thing.

------
currywurst
Where do they find these mythical "confused" consumers ? This trope is really
getting overused IMHO.

As far as I can tell, most consumers use the version of windows installed on
their desktops/laptops/tablets. Enterprise users have their decisions made for
them anyway by corporate IT. So that leaves a minority group who i) plan to
upgrade ii) assemble their own boxes. The latter are sufficiently educated and
the former usually consider a simple one-to-one mapping for their upgrade path
("I have windows 7 home, i upgrade to windows 8 home").

So, did I miss anything ?

~~~
flomo
I purchased a netbook, and the only OS available was Windows 7 "starter
edition" -- and you can't even change the wallpaper! So, I am confused why
this product even exists. (But I guess if Microsoft wants to put their
brandname on something which is intentionally defective, that's up to them.)

------
yread
Their article is missing the source link

[http://windows8beta.com/2012/03/exclusive-windows-8-sku-
reve...](http://windows8beta.com/2012/03/exclusive-windows-8-sku-revealed-in-
consumer-preview)

A week back there was this rumour of only 3 editions:

[http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/windows-8-skus-mentioned-on-
hp...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/windows-8-skus-mentioned-on-hpcom/4739)

------
kbob
Absolutely correct. The key difference between MS and Apple is that MS is a
software company and Apple is a hardware company.

As a software company, MS tries to maximize SW revenue by differentiating
their basic product into various flavors at various price points.

As a hardware company, Apple does the same thing with Macs and iWhatevers.
Then they throw in the software for a nominal fee (nominal for the affluent
people who can afford Apple's hardware, that is).

Nothing to see here. Move along.

------
hammock
Apple follows this model too, just on a hardware level, not a software level.
All of their products come in different flavors intended to add a little price
discrimination to their product lines. E.g. the 5+ different types of macbook
pros.

------
sj4nz
Nine different products = massive confusion for users. Apple certainly made
more money when they simplified their computer offerings so that users didn't
have to do extreme mental exercises to compare features and buy.

~~~
jiggy2011
Is it going to be that confusing? Most people have their choice made for them
by their PC manufacturer which is usually the home version unless their IT
department specifies something else.

Most of these editions won't be widely available on the shops either I bet,
there will be specific versions for enterprise users or for ARM etc. The real
choice will come down to 2 versions (or so) as it has with win7.

If you are buying the OS itself as an upgrade then it is probably because you
want specific features and your going to want to be able to choose the edition
you have.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
> _Most people have their choice made for them by their PC manufacturer_ //

It's a up-sell opportunity for PC sales staff too - people see the bottom
price based on the MS Windows with all the decent functions removed. The sales
staff will tell them they need to have MS Windows 8 Super-non-breaking-hacker-
resistant-anti-mildew Edition instead ... oh and by the way now you've settled
on that you'll need extra RAM otherwise it will run slow as anything.

The lack of knowledge about the different editions basically cripples a
regular buyer's ability to decide for themselves.

~~~
jiggy2011
I've never seen sales staff try and upsell a Windows edition to someone who
didn't need it (in the UK at least), not saying it doesn't happen of course
and if your running a non server version are the hardware requirements any
different?

AFAIK the only reason you'd need something other than Win7 Home is if you want
to connect to an AD network or have legacy software you need to run.

You get features like encrypted folders etc in other versions but this can
easily be replicated for free with software like truecrypt.

------
lionhearted
Not a bad article, but it misses the key two words of the whole thing:

 _Price discrimination._

Price discrimination is attempting to get the maximum price a person or
organization would be willing to pay.

Apple doesn't do that -- they just go 100% upmarket. Microsoft has the
challenge of trying to get top dollar from wealthy people using top-notch
machines while also preserving all their market share at the low end of the
market.

It's hard to say which model is better. Apple's is sexier and wins more
spectacularly, for sure, and I love Apple. I'm all-in on Apple. But the Apple
model is also immensely more prone to catastrophe. Two bad product cycles in a
row, or missing an emerging trend and it might be curtains for Apple again.
Well, they have the huge cash position. But it could get pretty ugly if they
miss the boat, whereas Microsoft can even endure a mess like the huge delay
post-XP followed by the heavily-panned Vista, and still be okay.

~~~
justjimmy
My short time with Apple's OS (4 years), I noticed Apple doesn't make drastic
changes but rather alot of tweaks and gradual improvements. (From a UI/UX
perspective)

Windows on the other hand makes erratic leaps and breaks users' expectation
(from previous versions) alot, and have to relearn alot of new flow. (Not just
the OS but its Office Suite as well. The Tabbed categorization of Toolbars
really frustrated me). Now that with 8, they're shifting their focus, again.
Will it work? Who knows – I just know I have to learn everything again, and
it's daunting.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
I would categorize Lion's scrolling change to be drastic.

~~~
justjimmy
Not when the underlying experience exists on iPhone and with the prominence of
the touchpad (from MacBooks), it's not a blindsided change.

