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."

Not Quite

So our "authority" is a man from Microsoft Monitor Weblog that is owned by Jupitermedia, not Microsoft. And he's speculating that these are the leaked prices. Has anyone stopped and thought that if Amazon is posting these, that they probably weren't leaked? Or maybe the fact that Amazon constantly offers products and pushes back the release date means that these aren't the real release dates?

What I'm guessing is that these are estimates for the release date but it will most likely be pushed back and that these prices are correct and direct from Microsoft. Intentional, though, not 'leaked.'

Re:Not Quite

But "leaked" just makes it sound so so cool. I have to jump right in and post it on my blog too. Gotta show the peeps I have my ear to the streets!

Re:Not Quite

The 30th is a Tuesday.

Is it going to come bundled with the first security patch or will I have to download it separately?

Re:

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

Re:

Regarding the leak date, I think January 30th is probably not a wise move (or maybe it is?) After the holiday spending spree, most people won't have money left and those who got new computers as gifts will need to upgrade their OS.

As you said, people wh

Re:Not Quite

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.

from the article, price list

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

I want to see the OEM version prices. Nobody here normally pays full retail price for Windows.

Re:from the article, price list

I want to see the OEM version prices. Nobody here normally pays full retail price for Windows.

Is "OEM" some new BitTorrent client?

Re:from the article, price list

remove "full retail price" from your comment, and you would be closer to the mark.

Re:

Call me "nobody," then. I refuse to pay for an OS I can't move from one machine to another.

Re:

"Can't" or "shouldn't"? I bought an OEM copy of XP Pro a couple of years ago, and it installed and runs just fine after a complete upgrade to the machine - the only things that are original are the monitor and the case.

Me too--after a power surge killed

Re:from the article, price list

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.

Re:

It pays to have a good relationship with the big computer store in your neghborhood, and the address for Newegg.com handy.

Well, don't just tease us... what's the address for Newegg.com?

Re:from the article, price list

In real money:

Windows Vista Ultimate 22.9 g / gold
Windows Vista Business 18 g / gold
Windows Vista Home Premium 14.2 g / gold
Windows Vista Home Basic 12.3 g / gold
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade 14.2 g/ gold
Windows Vista Business Upgrade 12.3 g / gold
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade 9.4 g / gold
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade 6.1 g / gold

That's a lot of gold arrrrrr.

Re:from the article, price list

More like:

Windows Vista Ultimate 1 leg 1 arm
Windows Vista Business 1 leg 1 ear
Windows Vista Home Premium 1 arm 3 toes
Windows Vista Home Basic 1 eye 1 ear (you won't be getting Aero anyway)
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade 1 arm 4 toes
Windows Vista Business Upgrade 1 arm
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade 1 ear 3 toes 2 fingers
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade 1 eye

All prices include your soul.

Re:from the article, price list

Wouldn't it be more useful to list the prices in a gold currency that most people here probably have, like WoW gold? Currently the exchange rate seems to be 0.173 USD per gold, which makes Windows Vista Ultimate come out to about 2600 gold (US servers).

Re:from the article, price list

Just go to Amazon [amazon.com] and see the prices in USD.

Wow $399.00 for the Operating System... and, how much is the hardware?, and what can this Operating System can do?
I guess we (in Mexico) will continue to get it the Aye! way, it would be stupid to think that people will pay $400 for Windows when they payed $300 for the computer.

Ha!

Re:from the article, price list

Well back in the early days of Microsoft one of their driving mandras was to make it so that the hardware was a commodity and that you'd be paying mainly for the software. Looks like they have finally reaches their goal.

Ok you can all go home now.. Microsoft is closed.

Re:from the article, price list

Why are there so few of them? I want a copy that customized for me.

I can't wait to watch tech support with all of these versions floating around.

User: "I have Windows Vista, and I want to do x, can I? How do I?"

Tech: "Uhhhh...god. Ummmm, what version of Vista do you have?"

User: "Version, what version? It's Vista."

Tech: "Is it Home Basic, Home Premium, Homosexual, Gamer, Business, Business Gamer, I Think I'm Running A Business But Might Be Delusional, OpenVista, NetVista, Free...oh wait, Ultimate?"

User: "It's Home...I think."

Tech: "Which Home?"

User: "I just want to do some network stuff. sob-sob-sob"

Tech: "Is it 9:00am yet? I need a drink."

Re:

But his karma whoring allows my total laziness to even avoid clicking TFA, so I can just scroll down the thread!

Re:from the article, price list

First, you're comparing Canadian Vista prices to US OS X prices. US prices will almost definitely be less (it's lower in TFA).

Second, how many times will you buy OS X in between releases of Windows? Since XP came out, you've likely bought OS X three times (10.2, 10.3, 10.4) at $129 apiece and soon a fourth. The copy of XP you bought or, more likely, got from an OEM in 2001 is only now getting a pay-for update.

OS X is more expensive. If you like it more, that's cool, but your argument that it's cheaper doesn't hold up.

Re:from the article, price list

>Apple releases an OS, and the service packs as another OS

total BS.

Tiger gives you Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator etc.

are you saying MS gives these "service pack features" for free? NO, that's what you're paying for Vista for (except you don't get Automator).

MS service packs give you features that Apple include in the first place, such as a firewall and the ability to go on the internet for more than 12 minutes.

Apple service packs are free (security updates and "minor" program updates).

Also Apple only sells full OS versions. if 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 didn't interest you then you can go straight from 10.0 to 10.5 for the same single low price (10.1 was free). Apple releasing more often gives users options about when to update. for MS users the choice is between a very expensive OS or a less expensive but feature-crippled version.

Also the OS X licence requires no activation and is legal to use on several computers (not sure the exact number since I only have 1 anyway).

SP1 Release date

That's the important one!

Yawn. Nothing to see here, please move along.

Does anybody outside of Microsoft actually care about Vista? WinXP is fairly stable, it runs all the software (or nearly all of it) developed for every version of Windows since Win95. Also, WinXP does not have perverted-control-freak class DRM embedded into it, like Vista does/will. Personally I view Vista as a significant downgrade from WinXP - it will negatively affect the utility offered by a Windows computer.

Re:

No, clearly nobody cares about Vista. This is obvious when you look at the total lack of coverage it receives on sites such as Slashdot.

OB bash.org

Slightly modified to mantain it on topic [bash.org]

[Th3No0b] Im going to be the next hitler
[Th3No0b] Im going to burn all the MS-Windows servers and 1 BSD server
[RageAgainsttheAmish] why the BSD server
[Th3No0b] See? no one cares about Windows
[RageAgainsttheAmish] lmao

Re:

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 securit

Market segmentation

The windows pricing is a classic example of what marketeers call "market segmentation". When deciding how to price a product, you ask "How much will people pay?", and the answer is different people will pay different prices - some people actually want to pay more for essentially the same product.

It is an increasingly unpopular pricing method because people resent it. Note, for instance, the rapid growth of budget airlines (in Europe at least) - a lot of their popularity can be put down to the fact the traditional pricing model for flights was highly segmented - customers have come to resent paying different prices for essentially the same thing and so the budget airlines, with their simpler pricing model, have grown in popularity.

It is interesting that Apple do not do this, they don't even have separate "upgrade" prices. If you want the latest version of their OS or basic software (iWorks or iLife), then you pay one price. As a customer I like that.
 

Re:

No, the reason budget airlines have grown in popularity is that they are undercutting ALL of the segmented prices of the major airlines. Trust me, if British Airways had a 'Cargo Class' flight that was cheaper than all the 'budget' airlines, I'd be packing

Actually the original poster is right

No, the reason budget airlines have grown in popularity is that they are undercutting ALL of the segmented prices of the major airlines.

That is incorrect, at least in North America (I know firsthand about Canada and I'm told the US it was the same). I rem

Re:

It is interesting that Apple do not do this, they don't even have separate "upgrade" prices.

Of course, at least on the OS it doesn't make sense for Apple to offer a separate upgrade price. All Macs come with OS X, so all Mac users are upgrade users.

Let's get this straight

They want me to pay $450 for something that will almost certainly force me to upgrade some bits of hardware to give it a chance of running, will potentially fail to run some of my software and in return does what exactly? Look pretty whilst constantly asking me if I'm sure?
Call me negative but I'm not exactly in hurry to join that particular queue.

Amazon's taking orders for Vista

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 [com.com]

I didn't need this...

to figure out Vista's release date.

i was just going to watch the Weather Channel and check for frost warnings for Hell and its surrounding counties...

Questions and Answers

Are they really going to make the deadline this time?

I would rather ask:
Are they really going to make a release that will resist to cracking more than 15 minutes?
You all know both answers, however.

It is now cheaper to buy a Mac

* 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

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:

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 Wikipedi [wikipedia.org]

Compare to Mac OS X

Vista Ultimate: $399

Mac OS X: $599. To be fair, there is a Mac Mini bundled with.

His American prices are guesses

The prices he lists are for canada only. The information for America is just him guessing what the prices will be.

"Based on current U.S. prices (which I wrote about last week), I would expect Windows Vista to sell in the U.S. for the following prices (full/upgrade):"

"Of course, these are guesses only. Some discounts will probably be available in the retail channel"

This isn't leaked information, it's guesses made by the guy.

me too

whether its the stellar video driver support, or the fantastic sound card support, to the plethora of games and business apps that all work flawlessly without hours of tweaking.... you're right, linux kicks ass.

Re:

At first I thought you were being serious. Then I realized you were trying to be sarcastic. You have no idea what you're talking about, and your sarcasm just happens to mirror reality.

So you back to your ignorance, I'm gonna go play some Quake 4.

Small correction

whether its the stellar virus support, or the fantastic spyware support, to the plethora of trojans and malware that all work flawlessly without hours of tweaking.... you're right, Windows kicks your ass.

Changed to Tuesday because....

that way they can release all the required patches on the same day.

Re:

Well, they're announcing January 30th now. So I guess they still have time till next Christmas.

Re:version version everywhere

Tom, come now. First, the ultimate pricing is $399/$259 (full/upgrade) USD. And can you point to an example where a MS product has been not "fully" working because it is running on a "lower" version? I cannot think of any off the top of my head at least. I have Office professional at work (XP Pro) and at home (XP Home) and I get the exact same functionality. Same with my games, development tools, etc, etc. Now I cannot say for sure there has never been such a case, but as I cannot think of any I'd be very interested to hear any examples.

There are certainly some applications which require a certain version (Media Center, IIS, etc, etc) but I cannot think of a single example where a MS application supported by both Home and Pro versions have ever had the Home version crippled in some way. I may well be wrong and would be interested to hear examples if I am.

Re:version version everywhere

You may recall this slashdot article [slashdot.org] which outlines how all the versions will be crippled relative to ultimate. I also recall that the transparency will only be activated in the higher up versions.

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.

Starter is a joke and will only run 3 pieces of software at once. This version of Vista is like an "upgrade" back to Windows 3.1.

Re: Vista Broken in Many Ways

vista is the first of many to come for sure. Here's a breakdown of the brokenness of each version

Starter Version: Really REALLY broken (supposedly for developing nations)
Home Basic: DVD burning is broken, Eye-candy is half broken. Desktop search is broke

Dude..

Mark January 30'th on your calendar, the date of the next internet Pandemic.

You are not very well informed. If you had invested in a interstellar subspace communicator and listened to the cosmic news channels every once in a while you would know that Janua