Bonum Certa Men Certa

Vista 7: Disablement as a Business Model

“[Vista DRM] seems a bit like breaking the legs of Olympic athletes and then rating them based on how fast they can hobble on crutches.“

--Peter Gutmann



Old man with hat



Summary: Microsoft makes money from artificial limitations embedded in its software

"WHAT's the difference between a full install CD and an upgrade," asks a reader regarding Vista 7. The answer he believes to be true is that "Microsoft changes a number in an INF file."



"I don't buy Windows," he added. "All these different versions are, take a base system, disable some core functionality and then rename it and charge people more money. The price difference for Microsoft is about one penny. This is just another example of Ballmer's obsession with productization. Remember 'snapins'. That is where you get a GUI that does nothing and then pay more for the actual functions." Here is an example of "snap":

Many corporations implement business applications like Microsoft Dynamics to automate their business processes. However, usually only about 15% of information workers are licensed to use these systems and only a fraction of those actually do.


Our reader interprets it as: "we've disabled your software, pay us more money and we'll re-enable it."

"This kind of thing would be trivial to implement on a real system, it a simple scripting problem," he adds. Here is another example:

The following MMC snap-ins are available by default in the Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Ultimate Edition of this version of Windows...

[...]

The specific additional MMC snap-ins that are available as part of Windows Features may vary depending on the edition of this version of Windows that you are using.


"It's a perversion of the technology," remarks our reader. "Produce mindless MSCP 'professionals', that can't script and are reduced to clicking on 'snapins'. There are people out there who actually think 'snapins' is computer technology. Reminds me of that story 'the little black bag' about a doctor's toolkit from the future that could diagnose patents using colour-coded chips. The doctor was reduced to selecting from colored vials."

Here's some pricing information for Vista 7:

Windows 7 Home Premium $199, Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade $119, Windows 7 Professional $299, Windows 7 Professional upgrades $199, Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade $219, Windows 7 Ultimate $319


Even Microsoft's friends at NPD suddenly claim that it is far too expensive.

A RETAIL ANALYST with NPD Group, Stephen Baker, has said that Microsoft's pricing for Windows 7 is "way too much for the software."


Anything less than "Ultimate" is simply crippled by design, so the entry-level prices are intended to deceive. GNU/Linux has no such restrictions. Vista 7 is yet another good reason to abandon Windows for modern operating systems.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
 
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025