Sometime yesterday, Microsoft put up an eye-opening post about its Media Center and Windows 8. It talked a lot about how the application itself would be used with the upcoming Microsoft OS but the key point about the post is that the native DVD or Blu-ray playback will not be supported.
Although this might not seem like a significant change besides people missing their native DVD playback, the change actually points to Microsoft not having to pay royalty fees associated with the native players themselves. If the company is slowly cutting out royalty payments like this, does it mean that it is looking to lower the entry cost for the upcoming Windows 8?
The idea isn’t exactly something that is foreign to the technology world since Apple did the same thing by lowering the cost for its OS and maybe Microsoft is thinking of following in its footsteps. Another revenue stream that substantiates this suggestion just a little more is the Windows Store from which Microsoft will allegedly be scraping of 20% off of each purchase for itself.
The company could be placing its bets on the fact that users will prefer to buy items from the store and by doing that it hopes to offset the initial cost attached to the OS.
As for what the final cost of the OS finally will be, we cannot answer for now but given a few changes as mentioned above; it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the next installment of Windows costs less than the last one which was Windows 7. But then again, it would also not come as a surprise if the company is looking to make the changes simply to earn more money. What do you think?