Operating System Pricing

Over at the Mac Night Owl, Gene Steinberg has just written...

"Did anyone think that Vista Ultimate was truly worth $399 list price, when Apple charges $129 for its standard Mac OS X user licenses? Talk about greed!"

Hm.

I've noticed this a great deal around the web - various blogs, comments and articles either complaining bitterly about the high price of the Windows operating system or celebrating Apple's cheaper prices. Unfortunately, it's an entirely spurious comparison.

Firstly, because when most people buy Windows, they buy an OEM copy bundled with a new computer. In Australia, it costs about the same as a typical upgrade of MacOS X. It's not so much that Windows is more expensive than MacOS X, then, but rather that they have a different approach.

And it is a spurious comparison for the second reason that Microsoft is a software company who makes its money from two flagship software products - Windows and Office. Apple is a hardware company and makes its money from Macs, iPods and iPhones. I'm willing to bet they could give the Mac OS away for free with nary a bump in their earnings but how is Microsoft going to subsidise Windows? And how would the shareholders react if they tried?

Well, many people consider Apple to be "greedy", too, for their purportedly more expensive hardware. Ultimately, it is simply that Microsoft and Apple have different businesses and different approaches. For Microsoft, Windows must remain profitable - along with Office - to help support the company and fund new projects.

It's not greed. It's just business.