[rescue] VirtualBox anecdotes - was Re: A wee bit off-topic

[Dan Sikorski]

> On Jun 22, 2015, at 8:25 AM, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Keep an eye out for computers sold with "Windows 8.1 with Bing" - those PCs
> have free (as in beer) copies of Windows, no paying a windows 'tax'.
>
>
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2158665/microsoft-announces-windows-8-1-with-b
> ing-for-low-cost-pcs-and-tablets.html
>

I suspect this is bundled with hardware that I want to avoid anyway.

> And going forward, MS announced that anyone that evaluates a Windows 10
before
> release will get a free permanent license for windows 10 for the machine
the
> evaluation was run on when it is released later this summer. The so-called
> 'Microsoft Tax' is going away.
>
> http://m.slashdot.org/story/295719
>

I fully disagree with the above statement.  Windows 10 is being provided as a
free *update* to users who have *already purchased* a previous version of
Windows.  the b
Microsoft Taxb
 has already been paid, and they will
continue to sell a large number of windows licenses to OEMs.  Ibd hazard a
guess that Microsoft figured out that very few people were ever buying their
upgrade licenses and simply ran whatever version of the OS came pre-installed
on the hardware they purchased.  They also noticed that the market has moved
toward lower initial cost hardware with less upgradeability (largely based on
movement away from desktop PCs to laptops).  So, they are giving up some small
amount of upgrade sales direct to consumers to gain a little goodwill and/or
encourage consumers to ditch older versions of windows that they do not want
to update/support anymore.  In the meantime, they continue to sell OS licenses
to OEMs just as they always have.

Also, this is all concerning the consumer market.  Windows licensing looks
completely different in the business market.