Vista Price Drop
April 9, 2008
Now, it may just be me, but is this cheaper than it used to be? Amazon lists Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 for $289
The Windows Vista Ultimate without SP1 lists for $319, formerly $399.95.
I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t follow pricing that terribly closely, but this does seem to be cheaper than it was in the past. Anyone?
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April 9th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Not sure about cheaper (like you I don’t follow the price..unless I plan to buy) but still not what I would call cheap. Not when you consider you can get Leopard for $129 (or less) or a Linux distro for free.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I know, it isn’t that cheap. Windows XP was about the same price for the full version, and the Vista upgrade is still cheaper.
The thing I don’t understand is, what do jungle cats have to do with this? A Leopard for $129? I wonder how much it would cost to feed one.
Of course, I’ve seen the price for Mac hardware, so I can see why Apple can cut a little bit off of the OS.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Of course, I’ve seen the price for Mac hardware, so I can see why Apple can cut a little bit off of the OS.
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Apple computers are no more expensive than IBM compatible systems of the same quality.
Microsoft has 90% of the desktop market so they think they can gouge you and make you pay whatever they want.
And clearly they are right, since you are sitting here defending a $400 operating system.
What a load of crap.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Depending on where you get your hardware. True, most big box stores sell junk, but I landed a sweet deal (much, much cheaper than a Mac counter-part) from an independent that put it together for me.
I still have no real compelling reason to upgrade to Vista and yes Ubuntu is looking more attractive all the time. Both Mac and Windows are a marketing racket if you ask me, but I’ve been working in the Windows world for so long that inertia moves me forward. I’ve heard that the latest release of Ubuntu makes a dual-boot system easier than ever. Perhaps I need to give it a spin.
Interesting on price Mike. Microsoft really should keep there price competitive for greater adoption. They need something more compelling than “the-latest-and-greatest” to get folks to move off XP if you ask me. Certainly bringing the price down would do that.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:01 am
@Silverwolf
Thanks for the comment.
Being new to Macs, I guess I would be a little naive to think that the price at the Apple Store is representative of the going rate for Macs.
Because if that were the case, then I would have to point out that a Macbook Pro with 512M video card is $2,500, and a Dell Precision M4300, exact same specs (they are all intel hardware now) is $1,600.
There is at least one difference, the Apple has 90 days of support, with a 1 year hardware warranty. The Dell has a 3 year NBD on site warranty. Ever use their warranty? I’ve used both Apple’s and Dell’s support. Dell wins hands down.
I wasn’t defending a $400 OS, I was wondering if the price had come down to $300. I believe my mistake was to mention that Apple may charge less for their OS because it’s proprietary to the hardware that they sell.
Hang on, if it only works on Macs, then isn’t any software they sell essentially a “upgrade” since you already have an OS?
I digress. The funny thing is that I was looking at Vista, not because I needed it for a PC, but because I needed it for a Mac.
@Phil
I still have the stance that if you have XP, there is no reason to upgrade to Vista. Then again, if you’re buying a beefy new computer, I don’t see much of a reason to avoid Vista either.
I do agree that a lower price would probably speed up adoption. You should take note that the price I quoted is for the full version of the OS. The upgrade to ultimate is $200. You can get the upgrade for home premium for $100.
That actually brings up the mistake that I think Microsoft made, which is to make so many darn versions of Vista. With XP, there was 2, home and professional. Heck, I thought that was too many.
Thanks for the comment Phil!
April 10th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Wow, one little leopard comment and this turned into a Mac vs PC debate.
I agree Apple have a monopoly on their hardware but I bet if M$ could have done the same thing, they would have too.
Also, I completely agree with you on the vista upgrade. There is no reason. I upgraded for the free period but never really settled at home with it. I really could not justify the expense for the limited features I would actually use over XP.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:19 am
@Kevin
It’s bound to happen sooner or later.
Hehe, maybe it turned into that a little bit
Thanks for the comment Kevin!
April 11th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Personally, I think the Mac/Windows debate is something like, “The company that I sold-out to is better than the company that you sold-out to…” Who always wins in that debate is M$ and Apple, never the end-user. Technology is driven by market demands and constantly pulls at us to spend more often for stuff we don’t really use or need.
I do appreciate Mike’s updates on Windows-oriented info. As a one who “sold-out” to Windows for better or worse, it’s really helpful to stay-up with what’s happening in that world.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thanks Phil!
I make my living in a Windows environment, and that happens to be the technology that I’m most familiar with, and what I stay most up to date with.
I don’t really think that one OS is better than another in every aspect, and to be honest, if something works for you, then that’s great. If you use Windows, Mac, or Linux, what matters is if it does what you need it to do.