Don’t look now, but it appears that Microsoft is looking to introduce a price hike for certain versions of its operating system. Basically, Windows 10 prices for some SKUs are in line for a revision.
This has been revealed by the ever accurate Mary Jo Foley.
Her sources claim that the software titan is pondering these changes, which while will largely affect enterprise users of Windows, but some of these new policies may cause prices to go up for enthusiasts as well.
The idea being that Redmond will be changing up the way it licenses Windows 10 to its OEMs, who in turn may push the price hike along to customers.
Microsoft wants to begin licensing Windows 10 based on the processor family used in the system, meaning systems with Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron chips will see some major uptick in prices. This will not only affect enterprise users, but also power users that want go get these machines.
According to an OEM price list, server grade processors with four or fewer cores will now attract a cost of $144 per license for Windows 10 Pro for Workstations.
And those with more than four cores will incur a license cost of $230.
Redmond is on track to launch Windows 10 Pro for Workstations later this month, and according to some documentation this version of the operating system will become mandatory for all desktops running a server grade processor like the ones listed above.
Interestingly, the company is yet to disclose the upgrade costs for Windows 10 Home and Pro users that want to hop onto this version of the OS.
Speaking of versions, a second big change is also on the horizon.
One that may be even more troubling for end users that purchase Windows 10 machines with downgrade rights to Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. Buyers that opt for volume licensing from Microsoft will not see any change here.
However, those who do not have these agreements in place, may see Microsoft increase the price of such SKUs by as much as $270 per license.
This is clearly a move to prop up the market share of Windows 10 by discouraging users from buying machines that gets them access to an older version of the operating system. How they react to this remains to be seen. But on the whole, these are some drastic changes to pricing.
