Is it wrong for Microsoft to announce the new system to be free?

Of course there is nothing wrong. Although it is a little late, it is still a matter of repairing the situation. After all, Microsoft still has some basic foundation. If Microsoft is free, then maybe you can have a Northern and Southern Dynasties with Daqian.

But the problem is that Microsoft made the most decision, but also made the least decision.

That is, no refund of all the money that has already spent money to buy genuine Windows vista system users.

Suppose you are an authentic user, and you just spent $199 and bought a Windows vista that others think is a sucker, which is considered a money for Sensation.

But on the second day, the official announced that Windows Vista is completely free and everyone can directly download the genuine system. What kind of mentality would you have?

Originally, Microsoft had a little bit of a good person and announced that it would be a full refund for all the genuine Windows vista players who had already spent money to buy Windows Vista. Anyway, the total amount was less than $2 million. Although Microsoft was short of money, it would not have been shortened by the $2 million.

But the problem is, Microsoft is reluctant to give up the $2 million. I sold it openly, why did I need to refund the money!

As a result, the hearts of this group of fans who were willing to pay for money were hurt. They directly replaced their Windows vista with the latest Hongmeng system and completely said goodbye to Microsoft.

So has Windows vista attracted free users as it wishes?

The answer is: Yes, but not many, or very rare.

This is the second big mistake Microsoft makes, that is, it is announced that it is completely free without any preparation in advance.

This leads to the channels being completely inaccessible.

As we all know, if a software is completely free, the offline channels for purchasing CDs will be almost cut off, because no merchant will be willing to sell a software that is completely free and has no profit.

Therefore, free software can only be downloaded on the Internet.

However, Microsoft's turn was too urgent and did not consider the above two issues at all.

After Microsoft announced the free, all channel vendors were in an instant. Previously, almost 95% of Microsoft's software was sold in one offline channel and was installed by installation CDs, so that Microsoft has a large number of offline sales partners.

These partners all want to get benefits directly from the CD. As a result, Windows Vista is free, and all offline CDs immediately turn into garbage, and it is impossible to sell them again.

All offline channel dealers who spent money to get goods were stupid. You know, they had paid a lot of agency fees to obtain the sales rights of the Windows system. But now it's good that Windows is completely free, and they have made nothing.

Angry sellers can only return the goods as soon as possible.

Although Windows Vista has only sold less than 10,000 copies, people thought they could sell millions of copies, so the cloth goods were arranged at the millions. As a result, many dealers have paid the fees but the CDs cannot be sold at all, so they can only ask Microsoft to refund them in full.

Originally, Microsoft also planned to refund the money, but when Microsoft opened its account, it found that all the money was gone!

Yes, the money I received from the dealer was gone. After careful investigation, it turned out that the money was used to reimburse the salary last month.

So, a very realistic problem arises. The dealer wants to refund the money, but there is no money in Microsoft's account, so Microsoft cannot refund the money.

In fact, there is no solution to the problem at this time. That is, first, comfort these dealers, tell them to follow the process, and wait for four or five months to get a refund.

Then on the other side, when you use various financial means to raise funds, try your best to overcome this difficulty, and after the free Windows Vista gains a foothold, there is always a way to pay back the money.

But Microsoft's new CEO slapped his head and made an epic decision that could be recorded in history.

That is to change the sales policy of Windows vista again and launch two different versions, the digital version and the luxury version. The digital version downloaded on the Internet is completely free, while the offline luxury version is still sold for $199.

Of course, in order to reflect this is a luxury version, offline Windows Vista will be accompanied by a Microsoft coffee cup, a signature photo of all Microsoft R&D members, and a Microsoft badge. Anyway, there are many in the warehouse, and they are all accumulated in previous years and cannot be given away after being carried out.

Oh, offline Windows Vista can also unlock games like Microsoft's own three-dimensional pinball. There are no games in the online version. These are all bare benefits, and they are definitely worth $199.

Then tell those offline sellers that our policy was wrong before, and the offline version was not free, so you can still sell it, so there is no need to return it. If it cannot be sold, it has nothing to do with our Microsoft!

Then you can imagine the anger of these offline sellers.

Have you ever seen a luxury version of the perimeter that is not placed in a box, but is packed in a plastic self-sealed bag, and later it is distributed to various offline sellers, and finally a packaging bag is pasted on the packaging box?

If there is a free online version, would you be willing to spend $199 to buy the offline luxury version?

Whether you believe it or not, Microsoft believes it, but the sellers do not believe it, so various troubles began to be made in front of Microsoft. In the end, all the sellers jointly sued Microsoft. Anyway, the matter was very big, and it was news about Microsoft for a while.

In fact, as far as this matter is concerned, you can't say that Microsoft's behavior is too stupid. On the contrary, Microsoft is actually very smart.

First of all, Microsoft doesn’t have to pay nearly $100 million in purchases from dealers. This is very important for Microsoft, which is currently short of money. If you really want to pay this $100 million, Microsoft will sell itself.

Secondly, Microsoft is not afraid of offending dealers at all, because Microsoft no longer needs dealers. This is the case with Hongmeng next door. 99% are downloaded directly on the Internet. Except for the only batch of physical stores left in the Steam Game Store, or the Hongmeng system CDs burned by some installation stores themselves, there is no place to sell Hongmeng CDs around the world.

Since Microsoft no longer needs a dealer, it is natural to kill the pigs that dealer eat.

Finally, this incident was very popular, and the media hyped up. Without spending a penny of publicity, the news that Windows vista sold on the Internet was completely free of charge, spread throughout the world through these lively media. This is simply textbook-level negative marketing!

Although the reputation of negative marketing is not good, negative marketing is also marketing. Haven’t you seen that when "Genshin Impact" was just public beta, the players scolded and the reputation of plagiarism was as fragrant as the current Genshin Impact.

Now even the most junior marketing students understand that whether it is positive or negative, as long as there is news, it is good marketing.
Chapter completed!