Windows Vista Pricing Announced and Compared to XP
Tue Sep 5, 2006 1:18PM EDT
See Comments (18)
PC World recently posted in interesting analysis of the sorta-announced-but-not-really pricing for Windows Vista. Specifically, this piece compares Vista prices to those for XP when it was announced in 2001. The numbers aren't really surprising: Vista is expensive, but so was XP.
The big news is that Vista comes in so many flavors and editions that pricing is difficult to compare directly. But the addition of an "Ultimate" edition, at a whopping $400 new, is considerably more than any version of XP has ever been.
I won't waste time regurgitating PC World's work, but I will express disappointment with Microsoft over not just the ridiculous prices, but also the nickel-and-diming us over additional features like fax support and Remote Desktop, a very useful tool that I've written about in the past. Even if you want to add something as simple as search to your OS, it'll cost an extra $40 over the $200 "Home Basic" edition, a version which is so stripped down I can't imagine anyone will actually pay for it, unless it comes preloaded on a new computer.
How much is appropriate to pay for an OS? Compared to the XP of old, most versions of Vista don't actually look that expensive. But the PC world is a different place now than it was five years ago. Free alternatives to Windows abound, and even MacOS doesn't cost this much. Does Microsoft really think people are going to willingly hand over an extra $100 for the luxury of having hard drive encryption, a standard feature on just about every other commercial OS on the planet? And don't get me started on the absurd "upgrade" pricing: Upgrading from XP to Vista Ultimate gets you a whopping $40 discount.
Now that the beast has a price tag on it, are you more or less interested in jumping to Vista?
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7 Posted by darktruth06 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:36PM EDT Report Abuse
For that price tag, I don't care how good Vista is. I'll stick with XP for as long as I can survive with it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Maybe Gates made it so expensive because he has too much money and wants people to stop buying Microsoft products...
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8 Posted by m_alian2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse
Thank yoo for the review. I won't upgrade because it's really expensive, Micrsoft must think of a better way to earn more money. It's ok that they have devoted so much time on it but it's not fair to increase prices as much as they like....
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9 Posted by thesaint258 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:05PM EDT Report Abuse
The only way I'm getting Vista is if it comes preloaded, and that'll be a while since I just bought a new computer for law school. $400 for a top of the line OS is insane. Especially when Vienna's going to come along a few years after Vista finally gets out.
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10 Posted by scryer_360 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:10PM EDT Report Abuse
WTF? $400 for such features as "Remote Desktop?" That feature is free with Linux, Unix or even Opera! Fax support? Again, free with those OSs! Microsoft is going to have to do something extreme to keep me using its products, like say, lowering the price a few hundred dollars.
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11 Posted by ssscud on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:39PM EDT Report Abuse
VERY MUCH L E S S interested Chris. Microsoft is worst than the bush administration. N0w that Bill is gone, it is microlost not microsoft. I hate apple but it is easy to see it is a better OS. Especially since it can run XP faster than a wintel box.
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12 Posted by lucian303 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:59PM EDT Report Abuse
I upgraded to Linux Ultimate edition and it cost me $0. Sure it was expensive, but it was worth it. Has all the features of this VISTA thinggy without the bugs and then some. The only downside is that it runs too fast and uses up too few resources. So in the end, to remedy this, I'll have to switch to VISTA. Ah, I can't wait for the hard drive churning, slow loading, crash prone M$ software ... although I have no choice, it's so slow...
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13 Posted by trevor_brown on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:21PM EDT Report Abuse
I agree with those who will run XP for the years to come. If and when XP is no longer viable as an operating system, I'll either switch to whatever is available in Mac, or upgrade to whatever comes out well after Vista. Honestly, I see no reason to switch to Vista. What are they offering? At least the jump from Win98 to XP had a noticable change. Yes, I skipped ME, but anyone who really thinks about it would have skipped it as well. Whatever happened to the "one software" approach that Microsoft claimed was their goal? No more WinNT, or Win2000...or even XP Pro. Gates needs to take back his company and send the morons in charge to the unemployment line. Its stuff like this that will push Apple further into the limelight. Yes, Apple updates it software a little too often, but you can still get by with older versions of the OS, and the hardware rocks.
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14 Posted by lapman4421 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:56PM EDT Report Abuse
To add to the mac vs pc, Microsoft owns 49% of Apple corporation,and the mac now features all the same hardware that a pc has..right down to the intel dual core cpu.as a comp and network tech i do not upgrade to another operating system til at least 2 years goes by til they get all the bugs out of it.beleave me there are going to be plenty of bugs,hello remember xp when it first come out viruses security issues pop ups galore for the first 2 years,i made a mint on xp the first 2 years it ws out fixing pc's from these anomilies.My opinion is wait a year or 2 before jumping into Vista,that and also the price will come down a bit also,garanteed ,wink!!!
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15 Posted by lapman4421 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:56PM EDT Report Abuse
hey as far as Linux goes i agree its cheap but try playing a windows media file with it ,hehe good luck like the mac os you are limited in some applications like voice and network software ask any gamer he will tell you both linux and mac os really suck,
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16 Posted by taficke on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:54PM EDT Report Abuse
gala_dragos i do not work for microsoft!
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17 Posted by eggmaster9989 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:52PM EDT Report Abuse
taficke you are a fool the man said "Microsoft Products User Only" learn to read, and by the way what is so good about linux, and where can i get it?
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18 Posted by huskyredbaja on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm gonna opt for Home Premium since the upgrade is $160 at Amazon and I don't need all the business features included in Ultimate. I'm not gonna wait too long to get it since there never really was a price drop for XP. But yah, like a previous guy said, an OS update only comes every 5 years or so for Windows. I also would appreciate it if people stopped only whining about the $400 price tag as this price tag is only for the Non-Upgrade ULtimate version. If you already have a Windows OS than you get a 140 discount for the upgrade version anyway...
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6 Posted by pk_imobile on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:14PM EDT Report Abuse
Unfortunately, like most new high-tech things out in the world, Vista is expensive, much more so than any comparable version of XP. But, the extensive Beta test reviews from PC Magazine show great promise; hopefully, the operating system will live up to its hype...and price.