Windows Vista Prices and Release Date Leaked

Nieske writes "Prices and the release date for Windows Vista have leaked online. Ed Bott's Microsoft Report has information on pricing, and the release date is currently January 30th, 2007. Are they really going to make the deadline this time?" From the ZDNet article: "In Canada, at least, the rumors of a 'modest' price increase were true, based on this list. Will these same relative prices hold true in the U.S.? Who knows? But if they do, then it's mostly good news for Windows customers. There's no price increase for Home Basic. Home Premium, the Vista version that maps most closely to the OEM-only Windows XP Media Center Edition, will finally be available as a retail product for a slight bump over the Home Basic product, similar to the $39 premium typically charged by large OEMs for Media Center upgrades. And Vista Business buyers will get a break with a small discount relative to XP Professional."

Comments

from the article, price list

[Dance_Dance_Karnov]

FULL versions (all prices Canadian)

        Windows Vista Ultimate $499

        Windows Vista Business $379

        Windows Vista Home Premium $299

        Windows Vista Home Basic $259

        UPGRADE versions (all prices Canadian)

        Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade $299

        Windows Vista Business Upgrade $249

        Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade $199

        Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade $129

I didn't do the conversion to real money.

Re:from the article, price list

[Jarnis]

I work at a VAR and went thru a very long and convoluted email exchange with Microsoft about this.

The end result is: OEM is tied to a computer. However, you can change anything except the motherboard, and it's still the same computer. You can also exchange the board if it's due to a 'defect'.

And 'defects'... well, accidents happen. It's a dangerous world.

Only drawback is that once you do change motherboard, you are required to activate the copy over the phone, and if it was a big-name OEM (those that don't normally ask for product key when you use the recovery disc), you may have to replace the key that's on the OEM sticker with a replacement issued by MS phone support. But in the end, the license is still valid - as long as the board swap was due to 'defect' (or, essentially, if you lie it was due to a defect). So in reality OEM is transferrable, if you know what you are doing.

Prices in US dollars

[LotsOfPhil]

FULL versions
Windows Vista Ultimate ~$450
Windows XP Professional w/SP2 ~$387
Windows Vista Business ~$342
Windows Vista Home Premium ~$270
Windows Vista Home Basic ~$234
Windows XP Home w/SP2 ~$234


UPGRADE versions
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade ~$270
Windows XP Professional w/SP2 Upgrade ~$234
Windows Vista Business Upgrade ~$225
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade ~$180
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade ~$117
Windows XP Home w/SP2 Upgrade ~$117

Amazon's taking orders for Vista

[mytrip]

Amazon.com is taking orders for Windows Vista.

http://news.com.com/2300-1016_3-6110494-1.html?par t=rss&tag=6110494&subj=news

It is now cheaper to buy a Mac

[maynard]

* Windows Vista Home Basic, $199/$99.95
* Windows Vista Home Premium, $239/$159
* Windows Vista Business, $299/$199
* Windows Vista Ultimate, $399/$259

* MacOS X Tiger (single user) $129
* MacOS X Tiger (family license) $199
* MacOS X Server $999

I suspect that Windows Vista Ultimate is not the server edition, which will almost certainly be more expensive than $399. So... assuming comparable hardware prices for Apple x86 PCs vs. the generic market, Microsoft has now priced themselves above the competition. I seem to remember Microsoft taking the market by _undercutting_ their competitors some decades ago. It would appear they have forgotten what competition does to the market leader. Perhaps it's time they relearn that lesson?

Re:It is now cheaper to buy a Mac

[Anonymous Conrad]

You're comparing two separate product lines there: the 9x line

• Windows 95: 1995
• Windows 98: 1998
• Windows ME: 2000

and the NT line

• Windows NT 3.1: 1993
• Windows NT 4.0: 1996
• Windows 2000: 2000
• Windows XP: 2001
• Windows Vista: (~2007)

XP, according to Wikipedia, was 10/25/2001, although the CDs are labelled '2002 version'.

Re:It is now cheaper to buy a Mac

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

Here's a point: ALL Mac OS X sales are upgrades because Mac OS X only runs on Macs which were already preloaded with OS X in the first place.

Here's another point: Most people get their copy of Windows preloaded on a system. OEMs don't pay anywhere near retail for Windows XP. Windows XP Home, for example, is around $85-$90 for OEM System Builders and about 1/2 that for the big tier-1 OEMs.

Re:Not Quite

[TrisexualPuppy]

From Wikipedia:

* Windows Vista Home Basic, $199/$99.95 * Windows Vista Home Premium, $239/$159 * Windows Vista Business, $299/$199 * Windows Vista Ultimate, $399/$259 * MacOS X Tiger (single user) $129 * MacOS X Tiger (family license) $199 * MacOS X Server $999

It is unlikely the Vista Ultimate is the comparable version as Windows Server 2003, so this list seems more than incomplete. Since Apple has come down in price when they switched to generic x86 hardware, the price gap is coming to a close very quickly. Microsoft is not understanding that they're about to be competed out of the marketplace... and this may be the end for the giant. I, for one, wish you luck, Microsoft.

Re:Not Quite

[MrAnnoyanceToYou]

Why is this comment not rated funny and insightful +20?

Re:Yawn. Nothing to see here, please move along.

[kestasjk]

This will probably end up only for the people who read at -1, but here's a list of some of Vista's main improvements:

Lots of security features (drive encryption, much improved firewall, address space randomization, users aren't admin, lots of IE security improvements), loads of revamped new stacks (audio, print, network, video), IPv6 by default, new memory manager, .NET better integrated in, nicer interface all around (yes, lots of stuff from OS X, but that's a good thing), lots of bundled applications are much improved (IE7, Outlook, Task manager, Windows update, etc), new WIM deployment image stuff to make multi-installs easier, NFS client support for better UNIX integration (no more being forced to support SMB on Linux), improved program installation API which should make things cleaner, etc.

As for the DRM; I'd rather have it built into the OS where all developers can re-use it, so media will hopefully be easier to transfer between apps which use MS' DRM. Worst case scenario; it'll be one DRM scheme to break instead of a million different ones.


Whether you like Windows or not, Vista will be a very nice and much needed improvement; businesses will be upgrading, and I expect the vast majority of XP users will be too.

Re:version version everywhere

[ben there...]

The biggest deal is that the ability to rip a DVD is only in the home upgraded version, and the ability to use non-M$ networking protocols is only in the pro.

You'll still have the ability to rip a DVD the old-fashioned way, without the DRM. Just use the programs you do now to decrypt and rip. You just won't have it built into Media Player/Center. And you won't have Media Center at all if you get Home Basic. Home Premium is essentially what is currently Media Center Edition.

Also, I wouldn't think you'd need non-MS networking protocols unless it's actually a work laptop, which would necessitate getting one of the Pro versions. Unless Novell can ship their own driver or something.

Starter Edition isn't really even worth mentioning in this country. It's a POS.

Re:Not Quite

[Martin Blank]

Microsoft has been working up with OEMs to allow free upgrades to Vista for computers bought from October on through the actual release date. Customers wishing to upgrade will probably be provided free media to perform the upgrade, as I recall that's how it was handled when XP was nearing its release date.

Re:Not Quite

[EastCoastSurfer]

Way back when I bought a computer that came with window 3.11, I received a coupon for a free upgrade to win95 when it came out. They could end up doing the same thing.