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Apparently 14 of them now. I don't know how profitable they are though as MS has not divulged or bragged about that aspect. Apple retails stores do seem profitable.

No, it doesn't.

£3500 isn't enough to buy Visual Studio Ultimate (or Premium).

Where else can you get a closed source compiler for $5.00? Apple does have a strict review policy to get something through.

In comparison, Microsoft wants $800 for their blessing to build on their platform. There are workarounds on the Express editions, but it's more trouble than it's worth.

Android development is free. Also, there isn't a review process to worry about.

Which platform is easiest?

I seriously didn't know Win7 came with an official option to put it on a usb stick for install.

Officially released tool for creating a Win7 install USB stick.

Well, Microsoft never really pushed VB6

Really? Visual Basic 6 was around for 5 years before it was replaced by VB.NET. Do you really think that Microsoft kept quiet about it for all that time and still somehow had it become an annoying popular development product?

and IMO they bought FoxPro just so they COULD kill it.

They aquired FoxPro in 1992, sold it through six versions and it is still available and supported today. They will not be releasing another version after the current one, but they have still sold it for over 20 years.

Microsoft Bob.

Yay! A truely failed and discontinued product. You finally found a technology that they killed off, which must have annoyed both of the users of MS Bob.

Zune.

You can still buy this today. It also still lives on in software form with the XBox360 and Windows Phone 7.

XENIX

Got sold off and transformed into SCO UNIX.

Personally, I feel absolutely no sympathy to anyone who's hitched his wagon to a company that only provides a development environment because they use illegal monopoly tactics to ruin their competition.

You don't have to feel sorry for them. Just let them wallow in their filthy money that they earned by choosing the most popular computing platform.

A household with 4 or 5 computers running vista really shouldn't have to drop $1000 to get Windows 7.

They don't. They can buy the Windows 7 Family Pack which is 3 licenses for £149.99 including VAT.

They could also pick up a copy of Office Home and Student 2010 which can be used on up to 3 computers as well for £109.99 including VAT.

While Microsoft's licensing costs may not have been great in the past they have made massive changes in recent years to make things affordable for home users.

A household with 4 or 5 computers running vista really shouldn't have to drop $1000 to get Windows 7.

They don't. They can buy the Windows 7 Family Pack which is 3 licenses for £149.99 including VAT.

They could also pick up a copy of Office Home and Student 2010 which can be used on up to 3 computers as well for £109.99 including VAT.

While Microsoft's licensing costs may not have been great in the past they have made massive changes in recent years to make things affordable for home users.

Yeah, for a while now.

Why for a digital download should the price not be equal. Surely our content hosting is not 50% more expensive. And its not just because the AUD has risen. Back when we were far from parity we were still paying well above the converted price.

US Price 320USD
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/pd/productID.216647200/categoryID.50726100/list.true

Aus Price 470AUD
http://www.microsoftstore.com.au/shop/en-AU/Microsoft/Windows-7-Ultimate-Full

Not that confused

I live in NYC (yes, the place so nice they named it twice) and according to Microsoft, the closest store to me is in Chicago. For you geographically challenged types, that's 790 miles

That's one hell of drive to the mall! Assuming I even own a car (which I don't).

The difference is that Apple only charged people $29 for the Snow Leopard upgrade. The Vista to 7 upgrade was, uh just a bit more

I use both OS X and Windows 7, but for me the big difference is that Leopard was a good OS and for $29 SL was reasonable. Vista, in my personal experience was shitty, and in no way do I feel like paying $150 or more to upgrade to what Vista should have been in the first place.

Windows Mobile 7 may be great, but I'd suggest to Microsoft that they at least have a bit of success before declaring their major competitors dead and fucking up a Michael Jackson song...

Your MS Office prices are also equally as skewed, as it starts at $119 for MS Office (Home and Student) and $235 for Business. All full retail copies.

Tell that to microsoft. http://emea.microsoftstore.com/europe/en-US/Microsoft/Office-Standard-2007-Full-(English), http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/office/category/202

Minimal business version (Office Standard) is 485.30 EUR or 400 USD.

Original post said Retail and not OEM. OEM prices you get when you buy things together with hardware.