More Vista Pricing Options Unveiled

Yesterday Microsoft unveiled more pricing options for Vista. While the price of shrinkwrapped copies and upgrades from XP had been previously announced (they're at the bottom of this post, for your reference), the company had not released prices for upgrading from one version of Vista to another.

Thanks to what it calls "Windows Anytime Upgrade," if you have a lower-end version of Vista like Vista Home Basic, you can upgrade the software to a higher-end version without having to buy additional DVDs: All versions of Vista are contained on every disc, so you can upgrade easily without having to run out to purchase another box. The upgrade process amounts to paying online for a new key, then using your Vista DVD to upgrade appropriately.

Here are the prices, from Microsoft's official blog on the topic:

Also announced is the Windows Family Discount, which lets buyers of a copy of Vista Ultimate purchase up to two copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for $50 each. That offer expires in June.

Are these good deals? Well, they're about par for the course, as it will cost you a bit more (about $30) to upgrade in two stages than to upgrade in one. I anticipate the only people who will want to use these Vista upgrades are those who purchased a new PC with a crippled version of Vista like Home Basic and who want the features of one of the more capable versions.

Bottom line: If you plan on upgrading an existing PC (and you probably shouldn't), think hard about what version of Vista you want up front. Vista is expensive enough as it is without spending even more money on double upgrades.

As promised, here are retail prices for Vista for comparison: