Microsoft Reveals North American Windows Vista Pricing

[drothgery]

All I have to say is...

That's just obscene.

It's pretty nearly exactly the same as XP. And 98 (home)/Win 2K (business). And 95 (home)/NT 4 (business).

Besides, almost nobody gets a commercial OS at retail; you get an OEM copy with a new box (whether you bought a system or built it yourself).

 

[reanjr]

Who ever pays for an OS? They come 'free' with a new computer. By the time this comes out just get a new box.

I do. I can't stand "Home" editions. Also, you can't take your Windows disc and put it on a new computer if you buy a box without an OS.

I purchased both 2000 Pro and XP Pro.

Caveat: I work in IT. The features that are unavailable in XP Home are too important to go without.

Also, it tends to be cheaper to get Home bundled with three computers and buy one full copy of Pro that you can install on them as you upgrade than it is to get Pro bundled on each of the three.

 

[Ranger REG]

You think Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. simply eat the costs of the OS? No, they charge the buyer exactly what they get charged (at the very least). Yeah, they probably get a volume discount, but the consumer still gets screwed.

As you said, they buy them at bulk (and at vendor's price), put them together and sell with just a little bit above what they paid per PC but still below as if one order a generic custom-built PC from CompUSA.

 

[Kaodi]

Huh?

Please forgive me for sounding stupid, but I don't quite get what you mean by getting an OEM copy with a new box, as opposed to a commercial copy...

Also, I assume the upgrade price is if you already have a legitimate copy of XP? If that is the case, what if you wanted to upgrade from Home to Premium, would you be screwed? And in any case, you do get the Vista CDs/DVD no matter which one you get, correct?

 

[drothgery]

Please forgive me for sounding stupid, but I don't quite get what you mean by getting an OEM copy with a new box, as opposed to a commercial copy...

OEM editions of software have different licensing; they're sold with hardware (either a complete system or a motherboard in most cases; some online vendors have stretched the 'hardware' requirement to include things like a $5 cable), and only licensed for use on one machine. Retail editions can legally be installed on a second (or third or fourth) box, as long is it's only installed on one at a time.

Also, I assume the upgrade price is if you already have a legitimate copy of XP? If that is the case, what if you wanted to upgrade from Home to Premium, would you be screwed? And in any case, you do get the Vista CDs/DVD no matter which one you get, correct?

IIRC --
You can upgrade XP Home to Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate.
You can upgrade XP Pro to Business or Ultimate.
You can upgrade XP Media Center to Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

A hundred bucks? That's the price of two non-top end games. How is it obscene?

My machine is pretty new, and I thought it would be kinda silly to wait for an OS to get it. I am purtubed, however, that I need to upgrade my video card to take advantage of DX10, but at least I only have the one. I'll get two next-gens once Vista is out.

What is Windows Aero?

Aero is a 3d accelerated desktop. Shading, and fancy graphics that appear from what I've seen do little other than make the system requirements higher.

 

[Jeremy]

It makes the frames of windows translucent if your video card supports it. Combined with the ability to make your computer show things on your tv in a dumbed down media center interface it makes it so worth it to get premium!

No, but seriously, the differences between the editions takes up like 4 pages on just a simple checkbox chart. For a good preview of Windows Vista check out this informative video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QdGt3ix2CQ

 

[Ranger REG]

Seriously, the only concern I have is, can the new Vista start up and shut down my PC quicker and safer than XP?

Because I'm sick and tired of having to wait for my PC to shut down, which can worsen the predicament when dialog boxes pops up showing each program being shutting down, until the bar reaches the end (or full) then ask me to manually "End [Program] Now."

There was one time when I had to sleep, and I set my PC to shut down, only to woken up the next morning and find that my PC is still on, with a gawddamned dialog box asking me to "End [Program] Now"!!!!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

OEM editions of software have different licensing; they're sold with hardware (either a complete system or a motherboard in most cases; some online vendors have stretched the 'hardware' requirement to include things like a $5 cable), and only licensed for use on one machine. Retail editions can legally be installed on a second (or third or fourth) box, as long is it's only installed on one at a time.



IIRC --
You can upgrade XP Home to Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate.
You can upgrade XP Pro to Business or Ultimate.
You can upgrade XP Media Center to Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

That kind of sucks. I use XP Pro and that really seems to limit my upgrade options. Of coruse it was the same when upgrading Win2K. I couldn't upgrade to XP Home, not that I wanted to really but still.

 

[caudor]

Yikes, those prices make me glad I went the Mac route. I'm very satisfied with OS X, but of course I don't game as much as many PC users.

I was hoping to pick up a copy of Vista for dual-boot purposes, especially since bootcamp will be built into Leopard. XP is working fine dual-boot right now, so I'll probably wait on Vista until they get the bugs worked out.