Windows Vista Pricing Revealed

[Shawn Andrich]

Windows Vista Pricing Revealed

Microsoft has gone public with the final cost for Windows Vista, the only operating system to support DirectX 10.

After weeks of speculation, Microsoft has finally released the final pricing structure for Windows Vista. It's worth noting that the "Basic" version will lack the advanced 3D interface functions the other versions [http://news.com.com/Vista+wont+show+fancy+side+to+pirates/2100-1016_3-6060700.html] will have.

Full versions

* Windows Vista Home Basic: $199
* Windows Vista Home Premium: $239
* Windows Vista Business: $299
* Windows Vista Ultimate: $399

Upgrade versions

* Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade: $99
* Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade: $159
* Windows Vista Business Upgrade: $199
* Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade: $259

All versions will support DirectX 10 [http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA0NSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==], the new graphics standard for future games. Windows XP will not support DirectX 10, so users who want to get the most out of the next line of video cards will have to get the latest operating system from Microsoft.

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[Goofonian]

Gee, I thought it was bad that XP had home and pro editions (and some business editions that weren't really advertised).

now they have 4!?!?!

If there are useful (read: needed) features in the "Ultimate" version that aren't in the home premium version I will be most upset. Time to start looking towards apple again I guess.

 

[Sokaku]

*sigh*
One more reason to go on a Mac ^_^

 

[Shawn Andrich]

As far as gaming and features goes, I don't think you'll need more than Premium to get all the new features that Vista is really pushing. Ultimate is for crazy people with too much money, as near as I can tell.

 

[GunShy]

I am personally psyched for vista. My roommate got the public beta release and from what I've seen it's pretty slick.

 

[Incommunicado]

Prices are really through the roof with this release. Guess Microsoft won't be selling a lot of retail copies this way and relies more on OEM market instead. Nice thing here in Germany is that the courts ruled that the OEM (or SystemBuilder as called here) has to be sold to private people as well. This way you can get XP home for 80? and XP Pro for 120?.
Thus I hope the Premium editions will be sold as OEM as well and not only the Basic version.

 

[Virgil]

The prices are pretty much the same as the current versions of Windows, or at least in the same ballpark. Current official prices are:

Home: $199
Pro: $299
Home Upgrade: $99
Pro Upgrade: $199

Remember, these are the full retail prices being annouced - they may or may not be what we usually pay. In reality, if I'm setting up a PC, I'll be picking up an OEM version to install on it as well (which is currently XP Pro, at $139.99).

The only version I could see not being offered as an OEM deal might be Ultimate. The main advantage of Ultimate, other than getting perks from Microsoft, seems to be having the multimedia handling abilities of the Premium version (which includes all Media Center functionality) along with the domain login functionality of Business. You'd have to be in a pretty specialized situation to need all that for anything other than bragging rights or IT research/educational purposes.