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Tuesday, September 05, 2006 9:35 PM PT Posted by Harry McCracken
Windows Vista Pricing: Not So Comparable
With today's news from Microsoft, we know for sure how much Windows Vista will cost when it shows up next year. And with five versions of the OS--Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate--there are ten prices involved: Five full-version prices and five upgrade ones.Microsoft says that it's "committed to keeping prices low for customers," and that Vista versions will go for the same price as "comparable" XP editions. With Windows XP Home listing for $99 (upgrade version) and $200 (full version), and Windows XP Pro listing for $200 (upgrade) and $300 (full), that would mean that Microsoft is saying that Vista Home Basic is comparable to XP Home, and Vista Business is comparable to XP Pro.
In fact, it's not quite that simple. Vista Basic, which targets folks with (appropriately enough!) basic needs is dumbed-down in a critical way that has no counterpart in XP Home--it doesn't have the flashy Aero transparency effects that are maybe the single most-hyped new feature in Vista. Consequently, optiong for Vista Basic will be a cost-cutting sacrifice in a way that choosing XP Home simply isn't. The mere existence of two other home-oriented editions of Vista--Home Premium and Ultimate--acknowledges that fact.
Home Premium, which will list for $159 (upgrade) and $239 (full) is, roughly speaking, equivalent to today's Windows Media Center Edition, with the Tablet PC's pen features thrown in. And as the cheapest version of Vista that has Aero, I believe it's the one which many reasonably serious Windows users who are content with XP Home will choose. (Media Center is only available as an OEM product--albeit one that's readily available if you're building a PC yourself--not a shrinkwrapped box, so it's hard to do the math on how its price compares to that of Home Premium.)
Meanwhile, Vista Ultimate, at $259 for an upgrade or $399 for the full version, is more expensive than any current edition of Windows. And with its kitchen-sink approach--it has all the stuff from all the other home and business versions--I think it's the one which many home users who now choose XP Pro will go for. (Vista Business, the version that Microsoft says is comparable to XP Pro, will apparently lack some of the entertainment-oriented stuff that's in Vista Home Premium.)
To summarize: I think a lot of XP Home types will come to the conclusion that Vista Home Premium is the best upgrade for them, and a lot of XP Pro fans will instinctively turn to XP Ultimate. If I'm right, that means a lot of folks will be paying $59 more than the list price of the version of Windows they're currently using. With millions and millions of people moving to Vista, of course, Microsoft has every reason to give as many of them as possible a reason to plunk down $59 more apiece than they might otherwise have done.
Even with today's pricing announcement, there are some unknowns that will have an impact on how much Vista ends up costing us...such as:
How widely available will the versions be? Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate will presumably all be readily available online; it'll be interesting to see if retailers like Best Buy and Staples make room for all of 'em. (Vista Enterprise will only be available to volume-license customers.)
What impact will the new versions and their prices have on new PCs that are preloaded with Vista? As far as I know, Microsoft hasn't released its OEM pricing for all these versions. But it seems likely that a PC preloaded with Vista Home Premium will cost a bit more than one preloaded with XP Home, and that one that comes with Vista Ultimate will cost more than an XP Pro one.
How widely available will all the new versions be on new PCs? Will direct vendors like Dell and Gateway let you choose between Basic, Premium, Business, and Ultimate? Will retailers have plenty of machines with all four of these Vista variants? (You've gotta think that Basic will only be commonplace on really cheap computers--it'd be a bummer to buy a brand-new computer that can't make Vista look its best. But it'll be interesting to see whether Premium, Business, and Ultimate will all show up frequently on retail PCs, or whether only one or two of the versions will tend to prevail.)
One more question: Assuming you're planning to upgrade to Vista sooner or later, which version are you inclined to buy?
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There were rumours about a way to electronically upgrade Vista to a higher version from within Vista. Has there been any clarifications from Microsoft on that?
That might allow some people to get Vista Basic now and then upgrade the product. I also don't completely agree that Aero is going to be the defining factor for Vista. A lot of the new technologies in Vista work without Aero, and its not unlikely a lot of older computers would not be able to use Aero anyway...
I think it is high time Microsoft lost its monopoly on operating systems! Someone needs to come in and dump them, the way they dump their previous operating system versions in order to siphen greater and greater amounts of money for less and less product. Where are the competitors??? I predict that as soon as some smart company offers a valid alternative to this monopoly, that new company will completely overtake Windows in less than a decade.
If Berlineagle were right, we'd all be using Mac's by now. What people don't understand is building a robust operating system is not easy. There are alternatives but people still choose Microsoft. Why? The alternatives aren't as good for most users. People complain about Microsoft but they have a right to recapture their investment just like any other business. If you don't want to buy their products...don't. There are other alternatives. For me, I'll keep using them as I have no problem paying for a commercial OS that let's me accomplish what I need to do.
If Berlineagle were right, we'd all be using Mac's by now. What people don't understand is building a robust operating system is not easy. There are alternatives but people still choose Microsoft. Why? The alternatives aren't as good for most users. People complain about Microsoft but they have a right to recapture their investment just like any other business. If you don't want to buy their products...don't. There are other alternatives. For me, I'll keep using them as I have no problem paying for a commercial OS that let's me accomplish what I need to do.
It's true that Microsoft has every right to make a profit and market forces dictate that they can charge whatever they want since they are the PC OS monopoly. However, I think that'll change in the future if trends continue with applications becoming browser-based instead of OS-based. I predict that Macs will gain significant market share when people realize that they don't NEED Windows anymore to run their applications. That's assuming that Apple will continue to lead in their hardware/OS design and security.
BTW, I'm leaning towards Vista Home Premium, but I may have to go for Vista Ultimate. It depends on security and networking.
Going with Apple is like shooting yourself in the foot technology wise. We benefit greatly no ENORMOUSLY from the PC of which Microsoft is merely a part of. Apple has had the benefit of the data and information that has been a part of the massive tide of competition in the PC market to glean wisdom from and merely come to the market late to offer a refinement of PC technology.
If we went to Apple this whole process would implode given how proprietary they are. We'd be paying a lot more for a lot less and not have any options. Apple has it easy they don't have to deal with the billions of configurations that Microsoft does. Nor are they even close when it comes to OS productivity. Any switch to Apple would be a total waste because all the same problems would emerge that Microsoft is taking care of just now Apple would have to develop the infrastructure and start all over fighting viruses etc.
Leave the Apple to CAD and computer illiterate small business people. You need data and science for innovation. Apple may bring some innovation, if you call magnetic power cords and one button mice innovation, but they don't bring the science and data and even with their simple hardware situation mac's still freeze, need to be reinstalled etc. If people switched to Apple we'd be in trouble.
I hope they always remain nothing more than a cult computing platform and quite frankly I think that's what will happen. Ipod's are going to go out of style because they can't even buld an mp3 player worth a crap. They far too often sacrifice function for style and do little more than rip off their fanboys. The shuffle is the best example of this maclot mentality, yeah build a mp3 player where you can't even see what song you're playing. GENIUS!
What about this price comparison?:
full; upgrade, seperated by semi-colon
Vista Home Basic: $149; $69
Vista Home Premium: $199; $99 (upgrade) / XP Home: $199; $99
Vista Business: $249; $169
Vista Ultimate: $299; $199 / XP Pro: $299; $199
I know this won't happen but in my opinion this should help lower the costs for OEM manufacturers.
Oh, and good comment, fugadude. Why do I want to fork over $600+ for Mac Mini instead of getting Vista Ultimate upgrade for $260 if my computer meets or exceeds the minimum/recommended system requirements? Because if you want a Mac, well, you have to buy yourself a hardware that came with Mac. You can't just install Mac in your non-Apple computer and hope for the best. I know there's Linux, but I prefer the user-friendliness of Mac and Windows and nice-looking GUI.
But of course, if I really like to have a Macintosh, I'd like to have a computer tower, but I don't want to break my bank, so Windows will be my best buy.
Mac OS X and Linux are the best operating systems out there at any price for almost all users, home or business, beginner or expert. Berlineagle is right, except we're at about year 3 of his 10 year window because OS X and Linux are lightyears ahead of what came before. Except Unix, but that hasn't been a consumer product. Many major features of Windows came in Macs first: the mouse, graphical user interface, Aero interface, etc. Apple built OS X on top of Unix because it works and works well. Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?