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Amazon.com reveals price of Microsoft Vista
How did Amazon.com get its hands on pricing for Windows Vista, Microsoft's long-awaited new operating system? The online retailer is based in Seattle, not far from Microsoft's Redmond headquarters, so perhaps Amazon.com employees picked up word at a local coffee shop. According to Amazon, which is now taking Vista preorders, the OS will be released January 30, 2007.

However Amazon may have gotten its hands on Vista's price tag, the revelation is causing a ruckus online. A new copy of Windows Vista starts at $199, and goes up to $399 for an enhanced edition with TiVo-like digital video recorder features, notes JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox on his Microsoft Monitor blog, where he pulled together prices for all of Microsoft's multiple Vista versions.

The price to purchase a new copy of Vista are pretty close to what Microsoft charged for its last version of Windows. But it's the add-on prices that have people scandalized. As more and more families have multiple PCs, Windows developer Robert McLaws observes that a family of four, each with its own PC, would have to pay $588 to upgrade to Vista. "I'm not even going to mince words here," writes McLaws. "Microsoft, you REALLY boned this one up."

Are you willing to pay the price to upgrade to Vista?
Posted by Owen Thomas 10:07 AM 14 Comments comment | Add a Comment

You're assuming Vista will ever actually ship.

Vista is a mess and isn't worth any money to upgrade.
Posted By Jim, Hershey PA : 1:10 PM  

No, I'm not going to pay any $147 to "upgrade" to Vista. I've already upgraded my home PC - to Linux.
Posted By Gary Layng, Toronto ON Canada : 2:14 PM  

Even though I consider myself an early adopter of technology I'll pass on Vista. I'll upgrade when I upgrade my entire computer unless adoption rate of Vista is very high which I doubt.
Posted By Ryan Vancouver, Washington : 3:21 PM  

there will probably be enough bugs & holes to make the upgrade a real headache for most. That added to the cost to upgrade the two PCs I have and I'm inclined to take a wait & see approach
Posted By Jetford, New York, NY : 3:59 PM  

Not in 734 years
Posted By stuart sundby marshfield wi : 4:21 PM  

NO! I already run a version of Linspire Linux which is just as easy to use as Windows although I still have an XP machine too. The cost is simply too high for multiple machines. So far I'm not at all impressed with any of the MS Live stuff either. I think Microsoft has lost touch with reality at last and its monoploy is starting to finally crumble. Look at the sucess of Firefox as a simple example, once there was an alternative people quickly switched. Once people discover some of the better desktop Linux systems out there adaptation will flourish.
Posted By Phoenix,AZ : 7:44 PM  

Apple anyone?
Posted By Russell Maycumber,St. Augustine FL. : 8:16 PM  

No Way...
Posted By George, Tulsa OK : 10:51 PM  

NO, I would not pay 399 or even 199 for the new Windows Vista. I would rather pay for a newer computer with it installed instead. For my old PC's I would install the latest Mandriva Linux instead.
Posted By Brian Reeder, Virginia Beach, VA : 1:10 PM  

XP works just fine...
Posted By Dave, New York, NY : 8:57 AM  

Having played the MS game of "upgrading" every few years for a bug riddened OS that requires new upgrades for all my old software to run properly; I've unabashedly become a software pirate. I'll wait until a cracked version appears on the net and upgrade then.
Posted By Ralph NYC : 6:01 AM  

No wonder, people love pirated Operating System CDs ;-)
Posted By Jack, Milpitas, CA : 11:48 AM  

I downloaded a copy of MS Vista RC1 last night from Microsoft website. So far, this has been the best version or WIndows I have every installed. It detected all of my PC's hardware and all drivers. The only problem is Nero 7 and Alcohol 120% both trialware software won't work. I searched the net and found an article that stated MS has disabled both of these software. This version of Windows maybe better than XP. Looking goo so far.
Posted By Earl, Colorado Springs, Colorado : 2:18 PM  

Fedora CORE 5...it's free, it's linux..it's time. Try to dream of a Microsoft-free word..it CAN happen
Posted By giz, austin tx : 10:34 AM  

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