7 ms·
Asus selling millions of PCs a year that each pester their users to make a Microsoft account is well worth a major discount to them than any sort of additional
by graypegg 19d ago
Asus selling millions of PCs a year that each pester their users to make a Microsoft account is well worth a major discount to them than any sort of additional OEM licensing revenue. Giving Asus cheap licenses lets them sell cheaper units to more people.
And yeah, Asus DOES need to sell windows laptops because the market demands it, but it doesn't mean they need to follow all of Microsoft's rules/goals. ("Pleeeeease put an NPU in every laptop and advertise copilot for us, pleeeease") Giving them a steep discount gives Microsoft a lever to pull if they feel like punishing an OEM later, though with the goal of avoiding anything that halts the sale of PCs with windows on it, which is bad for all parties.
You can't really model that on a supply/demand curve. Microsoft supplies Windows licenses, but Asus supplies a big chunk of market access. A license to software is an infinitely available resource which only has a value determined by the market's willingness to pay for it; a market that microsoft has historically been dogshit at accessing themselves. (Surface product line, for example)
- yepyeppers 19d agoThat’s a narrow view to suggest it’s just Microsoft’s Copilot that’s pushing NPU’s on PCs. You need some NPU or GPU for system requirements not just for Copilot but for any local models including Gemini Nano in Chrome, open models, models running on Linux without Windows at all. Intel and AMD are both making chips with NPU’s on the die just like they have made them with integrated GPUs. AI isn’t going away any more than graphics acceleration is. You can deliberately buy a low-power board or notebook that doesn’t have those capabilities if you want. It will save you money too.
- graypegg 19d agoWhat? I think you're latching onto something meant as a general example, as something specific. Microsoft has many goals they'd like to push on their OEMs, I'm sure. You're having a different conversation.
- kqp 18d agoThank you. Cheaper → more licenses and also more post-license profit, yes, agreed, hence my (admittedly oblique) wellness comment, but this is also true of direct to consumer prices, and my question is specifically about any price difference between the two. PC makers intermediating other MS objectives makes sense. Re market access, does Asus actually increase the size of the Windows market, or sell to people who’d otherwise buy Windows another way? I think you’re saying yes, a big PC maker plays a part in getting more people to buy Windows more often, and that’s the biggest thing I was missing.