Much has been said about how ungodly expensive Windows Vista is going to be, but what is it really worth? While software is rarely priced based on what it actually does, I figured I'd take a unique approach toward figuring out the real value of Vista, with a feature-by-feature analysis of how much the upgrades are worth to the user. Are there other ways to get the same features? How much do alternatives cost? Here's my blow by blow analysis of Vista's new features and what they're really worth:

• Windows Aero - $20 - The new interface is pretty and all, but what's a bunch of fancy windows and 3-D effects really worth? Well, about 20 bucks, based on existing software like WindowBlinds, which lets you snazz up your GUI with eye candy. Though Aero doesn't actually do anything, it's still the most anticipated part of Vista and 20 bucks sounds about right for it. I'm also including the new version of DirectX in here.
• Windows Shell and other under-the-hood upgrades - $40 - Though the underlying file system changes were stripped from Vista months ago, Windows Explorer gets an upgrade by letting users do more interesting things with filters and "stacked" files, which essentially lets you pile a bunch of related files on top of each other for easier sorting. Some of these upgrades seem really useful, like true thumbnails for all files, even text documents. The guts of the OS are of course radically upgraded too, which will hopefully lead eventually to greater OS stability. 
• Integrated Search - zero - Free alternatives like Yahoo! Desktop Search and Google Desktop abound, and while some of Vista's search functions are helpfully tied into the OS, few people are going to use it for much more than finding documents.
• Windows Sidebar - zero - Vista is late to the game by letting you add widgets to your desktop. Yahoo! Widgets has thousands to choose from, but with Vista you can get a couple of dozen. Woooo, a calculator!
• Windows Mail - $5 - Replaces Outlook Express and looks nicer, most notably includes an upgraded spam filter that might actually not suck and promises less data corruption than Outlook Express.
• Windows Calendar - $1 - I'm being generous. There are too many free calendar alternatives out there, but at least this will be integrated with Mail.
• Windows Photo Gallery - $30 - Vista has put serious work in upgrading photo management in Vista. It's one of the OS's best new features, and users with a large number of pictures will probably love it. Alternatives like Adobe Photoshop Album are more expensive (and are still better than Photo Gallery), but this is a feature actually worth something.
• Windows DVD Maker - zero - In 2007 you can finally burn a DVD movie with this bare-bones app, without venturing into Windows Movie Maker (which is also upgraded to support HD). Pretty useless. Free alternatives abound.
• Windows Media Player 11 - $1 - Supports HD video, but otherwise is just cosmetically upgraded. I hate all the overhead of Media Player as it is and don't even use it.
• Media Center Features - $20 - Now you don't need extra software or a special version of Windows to hook up TV tuners (two, even), or import HD video to your PC. Very useful for those who want it.
• Internet Explorer 7 - zero - The beta has some cool features but they aren't worth paying for, especially considering nearly every website on earth looks broken when rendered by IE7. Alternatives are free.
• Snipping Tool - $10 - A cool way to take better screenshots, and annotate them. I'll be using it for sure.
• Windows Experience Index and Problem Reporting - zero - Lets you benchmark your system, test for stability, and optimize your PC, as well as letting you submit more detailed problem reports to Microsoft and track them. Frankly we shouldn't have to pay for this.
• Windows Defender - zero - Integrated anti-spyware tool. It's already free for XP, as are alternatives. 
• System Restore Upgraded - $5 - I like System Restore as it is, but this version seems a bit better.
• New Windows Security Features - $1 - Will Windows really become more secure thanks to five years of "secure by design, secure by default" stumping? I doubt it. But at least they're trying, so here's a buck. Integrated drive encryption (called BitLocker) is a cool feature, but free alternatives are available.
• Parental Controls - $5 - Not sure how well they work, but it beats adding in extra software which you'd have to pay for.
• DRM - minus $10 - Vista is swarming with DRM software that will prevent you from doing all sorts of things you should be allowed to do. $10 penalty.
• Various Other Junk - $5 - Stuff like Windows Meeting Space, upgraded Minesweeper (seriously), new fonts, and speech synthesis may be mildly useful, but probably not. Here's a five spot for the whole lot of junk that I haven't explicitly mentioned.

The final tally: $133.

Ironically, that sounds just about right. I mean, I'd totally pay $133 for Vista. I might even pay $199 so Microsoft could have $66 in mad money or to give its programmers a little vacation. Unfortunately, to get all of these features, you'll need to fork over $400 for Vista Ultimate Edition, a full three times what the OS is really worth. Better news: The upgrade is $260 (not $360 as previously reported), which puts us a little more in the ballpark, but still twice what it's really worth.

But that's just my analysis. You'll probably put your own values on certain core features of Vista that are different than mine. I'm sure parental controls are worth more to some, for example. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you value all of these upgrades at zero.

So what's your Vista value? Post it in the comments and let's see what it's really worth to you!