HotHardware, citing Taiwan's UDN (United Daily News), reported on Aug. 10 that annual Windows licence prices jumped by an unusually large margin, and that the increase is larger for PCs equipped with higher-end CPUs.
UDN reported the details, citing Taiwanese PC OEM companies.
The report said the Windows licence price increases have already been reflected in current market prices. Annual licence prices have already risen by as much as 10 percent. The size of the increase differs by company, with Taiwan units of Asus and Acer at about 5 percent.
Microsoft charges higher licence fees on sales of premium PCs equipped with high-priced CPUs, UDN said.
Some OEMs may already feel tempted to switch to a cheaper SteamOS for system builders that prefer AMD hardware, but users who want the traditional Windows experience are likely to be reluctant to move to Linux in large numbers.
SteamOS is a Linux-based operating system made by Valve.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr