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May 10, 1999

Is Microsoft Gouging Deeper?

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Will you or your company use the Win2000 for-pay preview? Have you used other for-pay betas? Is it a reasonable way to do business, or just a way to gouge the users?

Discuss it in LangaLetter threads.

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Fred Langa is a senior consulting editor and columnist for Windows Magazine. Fred's free weekly newsletter is available via subscribe@langa.com. You can contact him at fred@langa.com or via his website at http://www.langa.com.

By Fred Langa

OK, now I'm getting really steamed. Last December in "For-Pay 'Betas': Benefit Or Boondoggle?", I wrote about Microsoft's increasingly frequent practice of charging for betas under the guise of "preview" programs.

I wrote how a beta program once involved the limited distribution of preliminary code to a relatively small group of trusted individuals or organizations. The beta testers would help find real-world bugs and report these back to the software publisher so they could be corrected before the final "gamma" code was frozen and released.

But just as it's done in so many other areas, Microsoft has turned that around. The company has scaled back its true, classic betas, and in parallel offered the beta code to all comers in something called a "preview" program.

At the end of last year, Microsoft offered a "preview" of Office 2000. You'd get beta code (with the warts and bugs endemic to all betas), but now you'd pay $20 for the privilege.

But with that particular beta---er, preview program--you could argue that $20 might be reasonable: The Office 2000 program included a box of six commercial-quality CDs plus a slender (but commercial grade) "Getting Started" booklet. Add up the materials costs, printing, CD mastering and duplication, shipping, and so on, and it was probably close to $20. Maybe--maybe--you could justify the cost.

But last week Microsoft announced a "Corporate Preview Program" for Windows 2000. (Win2000 is, of course, in the manner of the singer Prince, "The Operating System Formerly Known As NT 5.") Let me tell you, using Microsoft's own words, what you get in the preview package. While you're reading, try to guess how much Microsoft wants to charge you to preview this unfinished beta code. You'll get:

"Windows 2000 Evaluation and Deployment Kit--a two-CD set with planning and technical deployment guides."

"Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Guide--a manual with step-by-step installation and how-to instructions."

"Limited technical support from Windows 2000-trained Microsoft support engineers. Support services vary by country."

"A subscription to Windows 2000 Beta Update, an E-mail newsletter that notifies you about new technical information on the Web."

"Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000 Server code for alpha processors at no extra charge."

It's noteworthy that you will get some tech support with the beta; that adds some real value. But it's also noteworthy that you won't get the beta in a timely fashion: You'll have to wait "six to eight weeks for delivery from the date that Windows 2000 Beta 3 is released."

OK, two CDs of unfinished beta code--- blank CDs cost under a buck each. You'll get some manuals (OK, paper and printing isn't cheap), an E-mail newsletter (negligible cost, and it's probably marketing propaganda anyway), and some limited tech support. What do you think Microsoft is charging?

In all, you can spend more than $100 on the preview package! The base package is $60, but if you want the beta Server code, it's an extra $20. If you want non-English versions, that's another $20. Then, add in shipping... (For all the pecuniary details, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/preview/order.asp)

Think about that for a minute. You can spend more---much more---for a look at a beta of Windows 2000 than you will for the actual, final, released distributions of, say, Linux. For example, SUSE is releasing Linux 6.1 on May 3, and its full, final version will cost just $50!

It's bizarre and even a little grotesque. Microsoft is one of the most profitable companies in the world, and yet it's now charging more just to get a look at a buggy beta preview than competitors are charging for final, shipping code!

I don't think that's right at all, and I am at a loss to see Microsoft's pricing scheme as anything as other than purely greed-driven. I could see charging maybe $10 or even $20 for this (although Microsoft could easily afford to subsidize its business customers with at- or below-cost pricing). But there is just no way Microsoft's costs will be anywhere close to $60 (or $80, or $100...) a pop. It's got to be greed.

But that's just my opinion. What's your take? Will you or your company use the Win2000 for-pay preview? Have you used other for-pay betas? Is it a reasonable way to do business, or just a way to gouge the users? Join in!

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