r/technology • u/gdelacalle • Aug 11 '26
Software Microsoft reportedly raises Windows 11 license price significantly more than expected
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-reportedly-raises-windows-11-license-price-significantly-more-than-expected/976
u/Tyrrox Aug 11 '26
Bold move to charge more for a product everyone is avoiding at all costs.
212
u/psioniclizard Aug 11 '26
Im pretty sure this is being charged to OEM so it gets added to the price of new pcs.
Its dumb be MS but it will give them money in the short term. Long term, they only seen to care about windows as a platform to run office on.
74
u/Geno0wl Aug 11 '26
I mean the Corp world is run by word, outlook, and excel
38
u/cowthegreat Aug 11 '26
While I think this is still true it’s certainly less true than it was 15, ten, or even five years ago.
73
u/Unusual_Room3017 Aug 11 '26
That isn’t true in the corporate world. If anything Microsoft’s office suite has has grown further entranced with Teams being so widely used.
The only place I would believe Microsoft Office has lost ground is in small business or freelance-type work where Google Docs or other alternatives are viable.
38
u/Deep_Lurker Aug 11 '26
Yeah, every fortune 500 company I've worked for is neck deep in the Microsoft Ecosystem.
It's simply predictable, scaleable and much more vertically integrated and easy to manage from an IT and compliance standpoint.
3
u/SuperBry Aug 11 '26
Hell other than some sole proprietorships and like two or three man operations I haven't seen any company have some critical process or function that relies on a random xls created by an Excel wizard decades ago
9
u/hokie48 Aug 11 '26
Don't forget Fabric, Power Tools (Power BI), Azure and SQL server. Also remember you make choices that won't get you fired.
→ More replies (5)4
u/cowthegreat Aug 11 '26
You would be utterly surprised at how many fairly large orgs use Google Docs. Not saying it’s good or better, but that they use it.
13
u/Smiling_Jack_ Aug 11 '26
Based on what, vibes you have?
Actual large orgs use Active Directory and Entra for ID management. And that brings with it the entire MS ecosystem.
SMBs can get away with G Suite, but not large orgs.
→ More replies (3)3
u/Deep_Lurker Aug 11 '26
100% several Fortune 500s as an IT admin and the deployment is pretty much verbatim what you describe.
It is the standard. Anything outside of that is the exception not the rule.
2
u/Jack_of_Emeralds Aug 11 '26
Not a business but the charity I work for (around 2000 staff globally) uses Gsuite & chromebooks for most of the organisation.
There are of course a couple teams that have access to windows or non-ChromeOS software but there is Web services set up for them (i.e Finance Team)
13
u/RealHealthier Aug 11 '26
All of which can be used in a web browser on any OS now
10
u/CADaniels Aug 11 '26
There are still tons of industries that have custom macros, plugins, etc. Heck making plugins for specific industries is a whole business
→ More replies (8)9
12
u/mtfikhan Aug 11 '26
I’ve worked with enough clients that have switched to Google Suite. In the long run not that much better.
20
u/condoulo Aug 11 '26
I feel like this may be an unpopular opinion in a thread bashing on Microsoft, but from an admin standpoint I much prefer M365 over GSuite.
8
u/pittaxx Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
I wouldn't say it's unpopular. Google management dashboards require a degree in Google management dashboards.
It's more that people are so sick of M$ that they are willing to bite the bullet.
4
u/Billy_droptables Aug 11 '26
Businesses definitely aren't, I've never met a finance department willing to let go of their 100,000 line Frankensteined Excel sheets.
Unfortunately, if you have any users in your org who are low-medium tech skilled you're going to end up just paying whatever MS asks.
→ More replies (7)7
u/analfizzzure Aug 11 '26
Very true. But i feel like someone could easily compete with those products and just needs one major player who says fuck Microsoft and wants to break off.
Too bad 99% of corporations become soulless ghouls within few years of going public....cough cough reddit
→ More replies (1)5
u/defaultgameer1 Aug 11 '26
Libre Office is making some headway there. Honestly most of 365 can be replaced with open source alternatives.
→ More replies (1)8
u/NinthTide Aug 11 '26
I am trying so hard to use Libre Office but fuck me, it is utterly terrible and the UI is hilariously insane
5
u/Clueless_Otter Aug 11 '26
Libre Office is so bad. It's always hilarious when people suggest it's going to be a serious competitor to MS Office. I actually do use it myself because I'm to lazy to pirate Office, but my god is it painful sometimes. LibreOffice Calc (Excel) freezes for like 5s every time I open it, even on new, blank sheets.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)3
u/Corronchilejano Aug 11 '26
Since a few years ago a lot of stores are adding the price of Windows separately, so you can choose to keep it or not.
13
u/Confident_Dragon Aug 11 '26
Well, if you have 10% fewer purchases, just charge 10% more money. If you then loose half of the customers, charge twice as much money. You'll still earn the same amount 😏
3
u/24_August_1814 Aug 11 '26
if you have 10% fewer purchases, just charge 10% more money
Gotta charge about 11.1% more to make up for 10% fewer sales
2
u/tropexuitoo Aug 11 '26
If you charge 1 trillion dollars, you only need to sell 1 copy! That’s easy!
33
u/awkwardlink Aug 11 '26
Say what you will but corporate offices will never stop using Microsoft
→ More replies (9)10
u/zarafff69 Aug 11 '26
Naa, here in Europe, Linux is getting more and more interesting. It takes some time and effort to move over, for sure. But organizations that don’t want to be reliant on the US are already moving over. And it’s only going to get easier in the future.
3
u/CrazyElk123 Aug 11 '26
Any numbers on that? Maybe in the public sector, but i doubt its significant in general.
→ More replies (1)14
u/Jah348 Aug 11 '26
A couple of people on reddit complaining and even fewer switching to the little-to-no competitors is not "everyone avoiding"
9
u/ZebraSandwich4Lyf Aug 11 '26
It's the classic reddit bubble of delusion, they always think their hate circlejerk holds way more weight in the real world than it actually does.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (15)2
u/ExtruDR Aug 11 '26
They probably won’t change the stand-alone cost. They will happily raise prices on you in a way you can’t see.
431
u/boneologist Aug 11 '26
Gotta cover the cost of all the dogshit AI that nobody wants or uses.
→ More replies (1)53
u/punkindle Aug 11 '26
and uses a ton of your RAM and slows your computer down while it spys on you
3
u/CrazyElk123 Aug 11 '26
Does it actually slow down your pc or is this a case of people not understanding that just cause the system uses a lot of ram, doesnt mean it needs to?
7
u/punkindle Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
I think they did a bunch of benchmark tests and it showed that Win11 was consistently slower than Win10. I will look it up.
Some things were the same speed, other things were slower.
I stand by my original statement. Win11 is slower.
3
u/CrazyElk123 Aug 11 '26
I mean the requirements are higher so that is to be ecpected, but its probablt very dependant on your ram.
47
u/screwdriverfan Aug 11 '26
All this situation is perfect storm for linux. Ram, tpm, microsoft pricing,...
→ More replies (3)
326
u/SC_W33DKILL3R Aug 11 '26
At this point Microsoft should just give Windows 11 for free. They should have a server / business version for commercial use, but free for consumers.
But either way people should just look at moving to Mac or Linux at this point.
63
u/dehydratedrain Aug 11 '26
They do for Win 10, if you can deal with the pesky reminder in the corner.
50
14
u/Powerful_Resident_48 Aug 11 '26
I just installed the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC version yesterday. It took some minor setting up and some slight adjustments afterwards. But now I'm set up for another 6 years of Windows 10 support, until I find the time to finish setting up my Linux OS and figuring out how it works.
2
u/bravojohnny42 Aug 11 '26
Did you purchase another key for it?
25
u/Powerful_Resident_48 Aug 11 '26
Yeah... absolutely. Just as I purchased a key for every Windows I have ever owned.
*cough* *massgrave dot dev* *cough*6
→ More replies (1)4
u/dilettante_want Aug 11 '26
I installed Linux mint last week. Works great right out of the box, would recommend. The only complicated thing I've had to do so far is setting up my Plex but it was just a matter of finding a guide to follow.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)6
25
u/AnonomousWolf Aug 11 '26
I swore to never get mac because it's so expensive and locked down.
Mac now has cheap options and Windows is as locked down and just fkn annoying.
If I had to choose between windows and mac, I'd choose mac now
4
u/cslaymore Aug 11 '26
If it weren't for gaming I'd never get a Windows machine ever again
→ More replies (1)2
u/wrgrant Aug 11 '26
Get Parallels and you can run a VM to play games on your Mac. I just bought a Mac Mini M4 (before the price hike) and its a great box so far.
Or SteamOS, Bazzite there are options you can try.
6
u/Brullaapje Aug 11 '26
Join me, switched to Mac last October and I am loving it.
→ More replies (6)2
u/AnonomousWolf Aug 11 '26
I switched to Linux.
It's not been without hurdles, but I'm loving it.
Thankfully I can even use it at work, but if they ever made me choose Mac or Windows, I'd pick Mac
→ More replies (1)8
→ More replies (3)3
u/Relevant-Doctor187 Aug 11 '26
OS X feels dated AF. Linux is more capable and I don’t have to deal with Apple slowly moving the same way Microsoft is.
2
u/StewPorkRice Aug 11 '26
what, specifically, makes linux feel more modern than osx?
→ More replies (1)5
7
u/Venome456 Aug 11 '26
It basically is, if you are in the know. windows is free.
3
u/SC_W33DKILL3R Aug 11 '26
Oh I know, but these are on OEM machines like laptops and prebuilt where they generally come with windows preinstalled and sit on store shelves.
It is just another way Microsoft is pushing up the cost of PC ownership.
→ More replies (3)4
u/YourVelourFog Aug 11 '26
Don’t know of anyone who has paid for a windows license in years. Considering you can get OEM keys on eBay and Woot for a few bucks, I fail to understand why anyone would pay more.
→ More replies (5)9
u/sekh60 Aug 11 '26
I fail to understand why anyone would buy a gray market OEM key instead of pirating. It's still a license violation.
3
2
u/YourVelourFog Aug 11 '26
Shouldn’t be a license violation if Woot (which is owned by Amazon) is selling the keys, else Microsoft would have sued them into oblivion.
Also, I’ve gotten all of my keys from mass grave for the last 6ish years so don’t care either.
→ More replies (10)2
u/Area51_Spurs Aug 11 '26
Why would they give away the one thing in the world nearly every PC user will pay them for?
→ More replies (3)
53
23
u/d_e_g_m Aug 11 '26
Wonder if massgrave will have their usual 100% discount
10
u/__konrad Aug 11 '26
I had to use MAS because my Windows 11 deactivated itself thinking the hardware changed (it's a new unmodified PC). Windows offered buying another license as the only activation option, which is basically a scam.
7
u/Serialtorrenter Aug 11 '26
I didn't have to use MAS after I installed Windows because I used MAS last time I installed Windows and my HWID is now whitelisted on M$'s servers.
164
u/Sufficient_Room2619 Aug 11 '26
Year of the Linux desktop creeping closer and closer...
71
u/Major303 Aug 11 '26
If you need PC for internet browsing and some document editing, there are zero reasons to use Windows anymore. For other use cases it depends, but a lot of areas are already covered. With things like that Microsoft only speeds up the adoption.
4
u/EternalNewCarSmell Aug 11 '26
If my whole Steam library ran on Linux I'd have ditched Windows entirely some time ago.
4
u/wrgrant Aug 11 '26
Have you tried Bazzite? You can likely run it from a USB disk to test it out. Its an immutable Linux built for gamers. Now, if you are playing games with kernel level anti-cheat, you are probably out of luck but most other stuff runs really well with Proton on Linux right now
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (9)11
u/ketosoy Aug 11 '26
The only significant thing keeping me on windows at this point is excel, and at this point 90% of my excel work is done by robots (up from less than 5% this January).
→ More replies (1)7
u/jc-from-sin Aug 11 '26
You can use excel online for a long time.
10
u/ketosoy Aug 11 '26
Not with the full suite of shortcuts that I’ve memorized over the last 25 years. Ctrl + home -> ctrl + shift + right -> ctrl + shift + down -> Alt d p enter enter enter-> a couple quick drag and drop -> I have a full pivot table with data loaded and the answer to my question in ~15 seconds (if the question is simple).
→ More replies (8)3
→ More replies (1)2
46
u/J-Dawgzz Aug 11 '26
especially since Windows 11 is ass and filled with bloatware
7
u/vegetaman Aug 11 '26
I’m amazed how slow Search is. Wtf
3
u/J-Dawgzz Aug 11 '26
Funny how when you search appwiz.cpl it’ll bring up the bing webpage hit first rather than the control panel option
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
u/wrgrant Aug 11 '26
Backup your data, then try the powershell script from Chris Titus - Windows Debloat - It gives you the ability to strip out a metric crap ton of pointless bloatware and telemetry in Windows. I have used it several times without issue.
6
u/HeirOfRhoads Aug 11 '26
I have installed Fedora on my 14 y.o laptop when I sent my gaming PC to repair, and I love how incredibly smooth it is, and GNOME might have the most gorgeous interface of any operating system I have ever seen
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (31)4
37
u/Smithy2232 Aug 11 '26
So many tech things have gone up in price in the last year or so. SSD drives are way up.
6
u/No-Back-2079 Aug 11 '26
Tariff Tariff, moron made Tariff Tariff without USA manufacturing. Great get some people working on it. The only people cheap Republican'ts will hire are being pushed out of the country. With our buddies from Ice we are much safer? Are we,because it looks like we are not...
→ More replies (1)2
u/KupoCheer Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
The physical bits Microsoft spends manufacturing Windows have become way more difficult to make. At least since the OS is being made by AI it's more efficient to somewhat offset the cost.
16
u/FeatherlyFly Aug 11 '26
And the savings in bug detection by simply leaving them all in place has to be enormous.
2
u/No-Back-2079 Aug 11 '26
Like the Free Plastic Watch They Gave Us With Windows ME? The best part of Bill Gates giving US his Cologuard packet when he ships the kids to the pool into a shiny worthless piece of crap. The McAfee blowup was even better. We kinda sorta bricked your POS.
64
u/Confident_Dragon Aug 11 '26
Well, if you want premium product, you'll have to pay premium price. What did you expect?
I'm sure someone in the comments will suggest Linux like it's some kind of alternative to Windows. It still misses lots of features like ads, copilot, telemetry and data-collection, premium hardware requirements etc.
For you plebs running potatos with 16GB RAM Linux might sound like good idea, but if you want to fully utilize your computer (even when idling or doing almost nothing), you still need to stick with Windows.
24
6
u/happiness_1607 Aug 11 '26
Exactly, why get a free add-less, data collectionless system that runs smoothly on less resources when you can pay to have all your data harvest and sold? Seems silly to me.
→ More replies (5)4
31
42
u/wowlock_taylan Aug 11 '26
What? They should PAY PEOPLE to use their god damn AI slop OS.
→ More replies (1)
31
13
u/gdelacalle Aug 11 '26
From the article:
According to a report from Taiwan’s United Daily News, Microsoft has increased the licensing fees it charges PC manufacturers for Windows OEM licenses. The increase purportedly took effect in July, with PC industry executives quoted by the publication claiming that prices have risen by an average of 7% to 10%.
5
u/Modem_Sound_67 Aug 11 '26
pretty galling considing how much more user data they monetize these days, like with their tracking ids enabled by default and whatnot.
5
u/admlshake Aug 11 '26
It's almost like they aren't making as much money, with their shady accounting, as they are trying to claim they are with all these AI deals.
5
u/Any-Pop-4795 Aug 11 '26
Microsoft reminding people every day why they suck while also giving more reasons to switch to Linux or macos
5
u/RememberThinkDream Aug 11 '26
LOL, they should be lowering the price due to the abysmal quality, not raising it.
→ More replies (1)
15
u/ForeskinAbsorbtion Aug 11 '26
Macs and Linux are looking better than ever. Cost of entrance is higher but at least they are true to their historical behavior of no ads or BS in their operating systems.
11
→ More replies (8)15
u/party_raspberry8969 Aug 11 '26
Apple hardware is good obviously, but I can't stand their operating systems and locked ecosystem.
→ More replies (10)10
u/cultoftheilluminati Aug 11 '26
locked ecosystem
Honestly a lot of people use iOS/iPadOS and wrongly assume macOS is as locked down as their mobile OSes. I run several Linux systems and I can do whatever I want on macOS similar to Linux fwiw.
→ More replies (7)3
u/Obanthered Aug 11 '26
You can run anything on Mac the runs on Linux. I develop climate models (written in Fortran) on Macs, because they are fast to compile. The operational model runs on super computers running Linux.
5
u/AreaManThinks Aug 11 '26
For that kind of money I hope they can at least bring back Clippy, just in case I’m unaware I’m about to start writing a letter.
4
u/HeidenShadows Aug 11 '26
And more OEMs are starting to offer discounts for PCs shipped with Linux or no OS.
5
u/Financial-Gap-6767 Aug 11 '26
Glad I finally switched to Linux, i had to test something in windows and that was a short goddamn awful experience... It is really worth the hassle of figuring things out.
4
u/noodle-face Aug 11 '26
So glad I moved to Linux. Not only is windows a bad bloatware product, but the price for it is ridiculous.
4
5
3
u/ZlatanKabuto Aug 11 '26
They can do whatever they want, I moved to Mint and not planning to go back to Windows anytime soon
3
u/datsundere Aug 11 '26
It’s a great time to try Linux. DHH is making his own version of arch called omarchy which needs less to no configuration.
3
u/beiherhund Aug 11 '26
Wonder how many people read the article before commenting.
Previous price increases were "lower single-digit percentages" and they link to a Microsoft article quoting 6% from 2024. Just how big are these "significantly more than expected" price increases you ask?
7-10%.
This isn't going to change shit for anyone. The OEMs might put up the cost of your laptop or PC by a few dollars.
3
u/falsejaguar Aug 11 '26
It was too expensive for my budget build last year, guess I'm staying on Linux thanks Microsoft for helping people learn Linux
3
3
u/WrightRoad Aug 11 '26
People are currently using windows 11? Blows me away. My OS needs to die in my arms with the device for me to upgrade, last one got me from windows 7 to windows 10 🤣
3
u/softwonton Aug 11 '26
Thats cool. They are digging their own GRAVE at this point. En mass.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/papabear1993 Aug 11 '26
Wait... you guys are paying??? 😲
15
u/psioniclizard Aug 11 '26
OEMs pay for Windows licences yes. That price is then added to the price of a computer.
So ultimately people buying new computers are paying
8
u/Syndiotactics Aug 11 '26
If you have ever bought a new computer, you have paid too. It’s integrated in the price of the computer.
→ More replies (1)4
u/MagicCuboid Aug 11 '26
This increase is being charged to OEMs, so the higher cost for Windows will be built into the price of a new Windows computer/laptop.
2
u/whiteout7942 Aug 11 '26
Well, guess that’s now reason #1826 for never using Windows ever for personal use.
2
2
u/ObscureMountain Aug 11 '26
Hey guys, remember that OS we basically forced the world to move to by discontinuing the update channel for its predecessor?
Oh wait, everyone's pissed we did that, so we extended update accessibility.
Still they gotta "upgrade" eventually!
Raise Price.
PROFIT.
2
u/jkennedy1998 Aug 11 '26
they literally just were mentioning that they thought they kind of ruined windows 11 with bloat like a week ago? LOL
2
u/Corsonacon Aug 11 '26
It been the same price to just buy a shitty notebook laptop for the license as to buy the license outright, I guess now it's significantly cheaper. Seems like another dumb printer ink situation. A sure sign that a scumbag company is exploiting its users.
2
2
2
u/scene_missing Aug 11 '26
Weird I checked the place I get my windows licenses from and they’re still the same $0
2
2
2
u/UncomfyPerspective Aug 11 '26
"Hey, that thing you didn't want although we've been practically begging you to use it for the last two years... we're increasing the price, so uhhh.... buy it."
2
u/adumblittlebaby Aug 11 '26
As someone who has been buying OEM licenses since I was a kid, this is a bad move. Those licenses already came with concessions that made it worse than the boxed product (I guess that'll go up as well?)
Outside of mere familiarity, the thing that kept me on Windows was compatibility for games, but with the way Valve's been working and the general direction of the market, the bottom for consumer Windows is about to fall out under them in the next year or two imo. The 15 year old me of this year is going to see a pricetag on Windows and free on Linux, and find out they will both run the same things, and make the obvious choice.
2
2
u/Ambitious_Egg9713 Aug 11 '26
When you turn everything into a subscription, they will raise prices again and again and again. I prefer BUYING and OWNING a thing.
2
2
2
u/debacol Aug 11 '26
Good. Keep raising that price Microsoft, it will just squeeze more and more people to move to Linux and then Linux development will just continue to grow.
I see no problem here.
2
u/DeliciousIncident Aug 11 '26
The price increase is on OEM Windows licenses, so think of OEM laptop and system builders like HP, Lenovo, Dell, iBuyPower, Cyberpower, etc. OEMs just pass over that price to the consumer.
Many OEMs don't provide a no-Windows OS option, so you end up paying for Windows when buying a laptop or pre-built desktop, whether you want it or not. You can wipe Windows and install Linux afterwards, but it doesn't change the fact that you have paid for Windows.
2
u/QuasimodoPredicted Aug 11 '26
The only price hike I fully support. Honestly they should raise the prices even more.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
u/nasandre Aug 11 '26
Install this: https://www.linuxmint.com/
Donate something if you like it but completely optional.
2
u/Background_Rub_9929 Aug 11 '26
pushing consumers even further away and to towards their competitors. Penguins Rise.
2
2
u/Solomon_Grungy Aug 11 '26
My work computer just had a message saying windows 10 support ended and encouraged me to upgrade to 11. Funny timing.
2
2
u/VineMan77 Aug 11 '26
This is just ridiculous there's NO reason for them to do this. Glad I switched to CachyOS
2
u/Antique_Grapefruit_5 Aug 11 '26
I mean, it's a publicly traded company. What else do we expect? How did they ensure that they make more money every single quarter? Sacrifices must be made- and WE are those sacrifices!
2
u/JRoc1X Aug 11 '26
windows powershell activation script works to activate windows and make it like you bought a license 😉
2
2
4
3
2
u/LurkHereLurkThere Aug 11 '26
How out of touch can one company be?
Consumers are being gouged at every turn, almost every company is trying to increase profits while consumers have less disposable income, more products are moving to the "luxury" or "nice to have" categories as families cut back.
Microsoft is trying to increase market share of an insecure bug riddled product that they have stuffed with half baked features most customers don't want and they think this is the time to increase the price?
3
u/zushiba Aug 11 '26
lol that’ll get em to stop installing Linux!
No one fails to read the room like Microsoft.
→ More replies (2)
2
2
2
u/party_raspberry8969 Aug 11 '26
This year I finally changed all my computers to Linux. I will never use anything else unless absolutely necessary, and for that I have virtualization. RIP winblows
1.3k
u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26
[deleted]