Aside from Ultimate being about a lot more than the extras it does not have, it does represent a mistake in product segmentation - but not in the way we normally think.
Microsoft unwittingly tied the Ultimate SKU to "Extras" - no extras, no Ultimate - despite all that Ultimate does that others SKUs do not - but again, that isn't the point - it just helps set up the point.
There are too many Vista SKUs and at least one no one wants, "Home Basic" <Well, duh, you say...?>
Here's the mistake with Ultimate, er uh, "the ultimate mistake"
Home Premium. Yep. Home Premium is the real Vista Mistake. Vista Home Premium [VHP] is where it all went south.
To show what I mean, lets move some things around - to the way I would have done them [and actually wrote MS about when SKUs were still rumors, mostly]:
Vista Home Basic [kill it entirely]
Vista Home[kill the premium name - This would have been the lower end home SKU - less Windows Media Center - it would retain all else that Home Premium now does].
Vista Business [stays the same]
Vista Ultimate [this would be the only SKU with WMC and all else that Ultimate has, including Extras, but they would not have been emphasized in the way they are - more simply as future Ultimate only user functions]
Add a "Media BONUS Pack" - as separate product, Home Premium and Business users could buy, adding back WMC and media centric software not included in Business, or Home.
Drop all prices by 50 bucks across the board. Price the Media Bonus Pack at 29.99 and make it Vista only.
Whe I sent this last year, MS said, "thanks, get a life" - which I already had, of course.
Now they get to display "Ultimate Extras" as a decaying pork chop around the neck of Windows Vista.
This post was edited by lketchum on Monday, July 02, 2007 at 19:11.
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