Planning Windows 8: SKUs
21 December 2010
This is always a touchy subject. As many of you have witnessed with Windows Vista, some people within the company felt that it was a good idea to overcomplicate SKUs and extort money from people by offering 'Ultimate Extras', which turned out to be not so ultimate at the end of the day...
Moving on, however, we simplified SKUs with Windows 7, but we want to take it a few steps further with Windows 8. Within Microsoft, things that should be low in number are high, and things that are high in number should be low. To paraphrase, we wish to narrow down SKUs to match the KIN sales figure of 2. What this means is that, while we're still going to have VL/Enterprise edition, and a version of Windows to throw at developing nations as one feeds leftover scraps on their plates to pets, we're going to only have 2 versions of Windows that will be widely available.
Of course, the matter of deciding on SKUs will also bring us to the topic of x64 vs. x86. Unfortunately, due to lazy developers, lazy hardware manufacturers, and lazy people, we cannot push x64 to be entirely mainstream at this point without isolating markets (e.g. netbooks). We're getting there, however, as adoption for 64-bit machines have been on an uprise.
Anyways, without further ado, here are the Windows 8 SKUs:
Windows 8 Home - Tailored towards home users (in case you thought something different from its name), this will be the general version of Windows 8. It will pack all of the features home users need, which we obviously cannot disclose at this point. In order to support those on older machines, or form factors which require x86, this SKU will be available in both x86 and x64 flavors. It will be priced at $59 per copy, with a family pack available 24/7/365 priced at $100 for 4 PCs.
Windows 8 Professional - Containing features targeted towards businesses and enthusiasts, Professional will be the version of 8 for those who want it all. This version of Windows will be x64-exclusive. Radical decision, you say? While it's excusable for Joe Black to use an x86 machine, it is not acceptable for any self-respecting business. Windows 8's projected RTM date is in 2012. 20-****ing-12.
The only businesses that won't be able to adopt Windows 8 due to this shift are those that still run IE6, with an "IT staff" on payroll using work time and resources to masturbate to tentacle porn all day instead of making beneficial decisions that will bolster security and productivity for these businesses. The same goes for enthusiasts. If you like Windows, you like building PCs, then why would you run an x86 OS in 2012?
Professional will be priced at $100 per copy. Not only due to the additional features, but because we don't want consumers to purchase Professional only to shoot themselves in the foot with the tools reserved for more savvy users.
And that's it. That's all that's needed for mainstream SKUs.
--Steven
Moving on, however, we simplified SKUs with Windows 7, but we want to take it a few steps further with Windows 8. Within Microsoft, things that should be low in number are high, and things that are high in number should be low. To paraphrase, we wish to narrow down SKUs to match the KIN sales figure of 2. What this means is that, while we're still going to have VL/Enterprise edition, and a version of Windows to throw at developing nations as one feeds leftover scraps on their plates to pets, we're going to only have 2 versions of Windows that will be widely available.
Of course, the matter of deciding on SKUs will also bring us to the topic of x64 vs. x86. Unfortunately, due to lazy developers, lazy hardware manufacturers, and lazy people, we cannot push x64 to be entirely mainstream at this point without isolating markets (e.g. netbooks). We're getting there, however, as adoption for 64-bit machines have been on an uprise.
Anyways, without further ado, here are the Windows 8 SKUs:
Windows 8 Home - Tailored towards home users (in case you thought something different from its name), this will be the general version of Windows 8. It will pack all of the features home users need, which we obviously cannot disclose at this point. In order to support those on older machines, or form factors which require x86, this SKU will be available in both x86 and x64 flavors. It will be priced at $59 per copy, with a family pack available 24/7/365 priced at $100 for 4 PCs.
Windows 8 Professional - Containing features targeted towards businesses and enthusiasts, Professional will be the version of 8 for those who want it all. This version of Windows will be x64-exclusive. Radical decision, you say? While it's excusable for Joe Black to use an x86 machine, it is not acceptable for any self-respecting business. Windows 8's projected RTM date is in 2012. 20-****ing-12.
The only businesses that won't be able to adopt Windows 8 due to this shift are those that still run IE6, with an "IT staff" on payroll using work time and resources to masturbate to tentacle porn all day instead of making beneficial decisions that will bolster security and productivity for these businesses. The same goes for enthusiasts. If you like Windows, you like building PCs, then why would you run an x86 OS in 2012?
Professional will be priced at $100 per copy. Not only due to the additional features, but because we don't want consumers to purchase Professional only to shoot themselves in the foot with the tools reserved for more savvy users.
And that's it. That's all that's needed for mainstream SKUs.
--Steven
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