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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 3:55 PM PT Posted by Anne B. McDonald
All Vista Upgrades On One DVD Says Microsoft
In an effort to simplify the distribution of Windows Vista and make it easier for customers to upgrade, Microsoft will include the various retail versions of the OS on one DVD instead of having separate DVDs for each Vista edition, the company said today.In the past, Microsoft distributed each version of the Windows client OS on its own disk, says our colleague, Liz Montalbano of IDG News Service. However, in a move it is calling "Windows Anytime Upgrade"--which cuts costs for Microsoft as well as making it easier for customers to upgrade--the version of Windows Vista that a customer buys will be activated by his or her product key and will be on a disk with the other editions of the OS.
For example, if a customer buys Windows Vista Home Premium from a retail store, he or she will get a DVD that also includes Windows Vista Ultimate, but the product key for the purchase will only activate Home Premium and its features and functionality, Mike Burk, a Microsoft spokesman, told IDG News Service.
"With Windows Anytime Upgrade, the idea is to provide customers with the most convenient user experience possible by enabling them to more easily and directly upgrade to a higher edition of Windows Vista from within their current edition," he said.
Consumers will have their choice of several versions of Windows Vista when it becomes available, which is scheduled for January 2007: Windows Vista Ultimate, which will cost $399; Windows Vista Business, which will cost $299; Windows Vista Home Premium, which will cost $239; and Windows Vista Home Basic, which will cost $199.
Microsoft has said it plans to urge customers to purchase premium versions of Vista in favor of Windows Vista Home Basic, the entry-level version for U.S. consumers.
Ken Fisher over at Ars Technica has a detailed blog entry on Microsoft's decision that's worth a read.
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It's good news for hackers. It'll be a lot easier to push this on hundreds of warez sites.
If it lowers costs, then why are they charging $199 for basic? I remember, they are greedy. I must have forgotten.
People WILL find a way to hack in and get all the ultimate extras when they only pay for home, having Windows Vista Ultimate Edition myself, its not that great at all, all Windows Vista versions will require a premium pc, since it is alot heavier than XP, expect pc prices to shoot up next year when Vista comes. I am switching to a Mac next spring in time for Leopard. Windows Vista is the nosiest in your business OS i have ever seen, it acts like your mother and prevents you from anything you try to do, I have been a Windows fan for the past 11 years, and my idea of windows is already depreciating! Buy a Mac!
> why are they charging $199 for basic? I remember, they are
> greedy. I must have forgotten.
No, because they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D. The only people who are greedy are the users who expect to get something for nothing. Developing and engineering something as huge and complex as Vista is very expensive. If you don't like it, go open source, but don't moan about it being unfair.
>No, because they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D
Poor Microsoft, they are just trying to break even on their investment...
> Poor Microsoft, they are just trying to break even on their
> investment...
Companies tend to do that, what with it being essential to their survival and all.
It's funny, people moan about paying $199 for a PC operating system whose developer has spent $20 billion on R&D in the last three years, but they're fine with spending $200 on an iPod that costs $90 to manufacture when Apple spends about 10 times less on R&D than Microsoft (see http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-Spending-Less-And-Less-On-R-D-19826.shtml).
>No, because they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D
Why did they spend so damn much on R&D?? Oh yeah...they cancelled longhorn because they screwed it up so much ($$), they delayed Vista many times ($$) and cancelled many features for which code had already been written ($$).
If you don't want to pay $199 for the home BASIC edition of Vista, seriously consider Linux or OS X.
You shouldn't pay because of Microsoft?s follies, which caused its R&D budget to go though the roof (20 billion).
at least it'll be easy to buy the 199 home basic edition and then hack the CD and upgrade to ultimate. *sigh*
poor microsoft, they can never seem to make the right decisions
I'd rather they put in delays and spent some extra money than hit deadlines and released an inferior product.
It seems that whatever Microsoft do, people are going to criticise. The fact remains that Vista is set to be an amazing OS. Just look at the Betas.
> at least it'll be easy to buy the 199 home basic edition and then
> hack the CD and upgrade to ultimate.
That's doubtful. Look at the success of Windows Genuine Advantage in stopping XP installations from using Windows Update. And, of course, you know what no updates to Vista means, don't you? You won't get the new file system that will be released after the OS.
enjoying your job at ms jamesm. Windows Genuine Advantage (the ability to be trashed by numerous virii and malware) has been HACKED big time, not once, not twice but at LEAST 3 times. Just visit any russian warez site to download the fix to windows activation. What a joke. jamesm, stop working, cuz ... your pr isn't working. MS is selling a deliberately dumbed down OS and then charging big bucks in order for the end user to get a complete OS (something like OS X, which comes in ONE FLAVOR FITS ALL). It's money grubbing, monopolistic high-handed price gouging.
Vista Beta 2 was a complete dog. Vista RC1 is better, but I still prefer XP. Windows Vista looks to me like Microsoft learned nothing from Windows Millenium fiasco.
The only winners will be PC makers. If the OS costs $199, why not get it and a new PC for $100 more.
Everyone needs to get a grip! Windows Vista is a HUGE undertaking. I have been a system analyst/programmer in corporate environments for almost 30 years, and I'm sure my most complicated project probably required one million times fewer lines of code then Microsoft programmers have had to assemble to make Vista.
Is it perfect? Of course not. Humans worked on it, and they make errors, like any person would. Will Microsoft catch every one of those errors before they release Vista to the public? Of course not.
It's easy to prove a program has bugs, after they reveal themselves, but it's almost impossible to prove a program does NOT have bugs. Anyone who has coded knows that.
It's also naive to believe that the Mac OS, or Linux, or any other complex piece of software is perfect out of the box. They have their warts as well, but their limited use as a desktop OS means that hackers are not targeting them. If usage rises beyond single digits, watch out!
Why don't you guy's exchange e-mails so you can bitch directly to each other since some of us could give a tinker's damn about your opinions on the cost and your vague it's a "dog".
I agree with DrTechnical like i posted in The IE flaw replay most of the world uses it is why it gets attacked if all use Mac or w/e then they will start to be . DrTechnical knows what hes talking about .Amen its about someone said stuff like he did .
>> why are they charging $199 for basic? I remember, they are
>> greedy. I must have forgotten.
>No, because they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D.
Might be right - however, Microsoft is one of the companies which gets most of the money back they invest!!! It is far better than any pharma company - and these are quite good in earning money!!!
Greedy... Bill Gates - who needs so much money??? No one - there are a lot of people on this world who are dying of poverty!!! Think of it.
Bill Gates isn't greedy.. He's a philanthropist.. He already gave at least $28 billion for charity so he's no greedy..
How much more space will you need on the hard drive to download Vista ,Another question when they first come out how many update and bugs will we have to add to the operating system ,, My computer when I update and I have 100 g drive takes up alot of space and resources also ,,Even when I cut down most of the resources ,,its stilllll alot ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Just wondering ,,,,,,,,,,,ty ,,