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Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it plans to cut prices of its Windows Vista operating system sold at retail outlets in a move aimed at pushing customers to switch to the newest version of Windows.The world's largest software maker said it plans to lower retail prices for Vista in 70 countries later this year in tandem with the shipment of the first major update to Vista, known as Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Microsoft Vista Retail Pack Prices Cut [uk.reuters.com]
US Price cuts:
Windows Vista Ultimate to $319
An "upgrade" version of above to $219 (eg, upgrade from XP)
Vista Home Premium to $129
Agreed, problem is you can't buy a new Dell without it.
Fortunately not true, you can purchase 4 systems with Ubuntu Linux or FreeDOS preloaded, no Windows tax. I just purchased a new Dell XPS 1330n with Ubuntu 7.10 preloaded.
I have several friends who are working pretty much 24/7 at the moment doing hardware refreshes for companies that are replacing machines like mad at the moment while they can still get legitimate XP licenses.
because i may buy a few more, just because
The price to maintain it all in a "working" order, the loss of productivity to figure out what error "-32" might mean and how to work around that.
Basically the TCO (total ost of ownership) needs to be looked at, not retail prices, they are in fact insignificant compared to the rest.
when is the end of XP anyways?
For support? 4/14/2009 [support.microsoft.com] unless you pay for extended service...
Security Patches for XP will be made for a long time, way past 2009.
I hope SP1 can fix some of the absolutely ridiculous things that go on in Vista. For instance, I'm SO sick of being asked at least 2 times if I really want to delete something. YES I'M SURE I WANT TO DO THAT! I think Microsoft got their user focus group from a list of AOL users.
I always think of the Apple ad with the PC and the secret service guy: SSG: "You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or allow?" PC: "<sigh> Allow..."
Back on topic... if I had a choice between a $300 copy of XP and $100 copy of Vista I would still buy XP.
[edited by: SEOMike at 5:09 pm (utc) on Feb. 29, 2008]
As an individual, not someone who has to maintain corporate system, I think if you work with Vista for a couple of months, you will choose it as your primary MS OS. I have Vista on one machine, XP on another now that I inherited a new laptop. The main difference on the machines is memory - 2GB on Vista and 1GB on XP, but I'll be changing that because XP machine is slow.
Previously I had Win2K on one machine and XP on my wife's laptop, which I was using quite a bit. I never once felt a desire or need to upgrade to XP and in general just always preferred Win2K, but mostly didn't see any meaningful difference between the two. With Adobe CS3, 2K was no longer supported and I had to choose and, because of pricing alone, went with Vista (which for various reasons was a *lot* cheaper for me).
My curve with Vista was like this
- day 1: desire to shoot myself
- week 1: desire to shoot Bill Gates
- week 2: desire to shoot my computer
- week 3+: "how the hell do I..." frustration at stupid new interface.
- month 1: grudging accomodation, finding some things I like
- month 2+ invisibility - the new interface is my default. It's okay.
- month 4+: now finding myself splitting time between machines and working on an XP box again after several months of Vista-only, when I'm on the XP box, wishing it had Vista.
Just the start box application launcher saves me time during the day and now navigating through my start menu to find applications has become incredibly annoying. Launchy helps, but it just isn't as nice as the Vista system for me. And I like the look and feel and some other minor usability improvements. I didn't really notice them, but now increasingly I find myself flummoxed when I'm on XP.
What I dislike
- can't run multiple IEs without virtualization
- a few install issues that I had to work around
Still, my experience with how seemingly tiny interface improvements make you see how annoying the old system is makes me not so much a fan of Vista, but thinking that I was wrong to discount the differences between Windows and Mac. It's easier for me to see how those small refinements really add up during a long day in front of the computer. If I didn't own any software at all, I would probably go for a Mac at this point, but not wanting to buy Mac versions of everything, I'm stuck with MS for now and Vista is, FOR ME, the lesser of three evils.
Put it this way,if I were shopping for a Windows computer and had to decide between two computers, both easily Vista-ready, one having XP and one having Home Premium, I would choose the latter, but wouldn't pay more than a few dollars for it. I would however not pass up a good deal just because of Vista.
I also find myself cursing that *&@%!£?&$% spinning wheel several times per day. It even pops up to say "wait" even when nothing much else is going on.
There is that... Personally, Win2K was probably the best overall OS that I've seen from Microsoft. It was rock solid for years and years for me and I was loathe to give it up. The down side of Vista is definitely the wheel that spins and spins and spins. Do I CTRL-ALT-DEL or just let is spin?
For all I said about the nice interface for Vista, if I could run my Adobe stuff on Win2K, I'd still be there. The OS didn't seize and my apps didn't seize. Ever. Can't say the same for XP or Vista.
I was planning to do the same with a new laptop I bought last month but stopped because the laptop manufacturer's support website only had downloads for Vista drivers. There were no XP drivers so I was stuck with Vista.
Having lived with Vista for 2 weeks (but with Aero etc. OFF), I must say that I have been converted. It is simply easier to use... or I am getting older :-~
The slow file operation issue has been sorted (for me) by letting the computer install all the updates it wanted. MS will be including a fix in SP1, but apparantly SP1 is just a roll-up of all the existing fixes which you can download.
Several of the updates have broken existing software, even disabled the sound recently.
Win2K was probably the best overall OS that I've seen from Microsoft
That said, I bought a new laptop with Vista Home Premium last summer and have not found too many problems except the if you did this click the continue button to continue doing what you said you wanted to do in the first place annoyances. Still has a few problems with some drivers, manufacturers appear not to have been able to get them out the door as quickly compared to other releases.
But, that;s all with a nice and pretty clean install; I've heard many, many upgrade horror stories.
apparantly SP1 is just a roll-up of all the existing fixes which you can download.
That's not entirely true. According to this Vista SP1 FAQ [technet.microsoft.com]:
In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards.
It does strike me, though, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the architecture if a third-party application can hook in in such a way that it can reliably and 100% of the time crash such a low-level utility and I do blame that on Vista.
- month 2+ invisibility - the new interface is my default. It's okay.
Next time you're near an apple store, go in and try one of the machines for half an hour, seriously. The staff won't kick you out, and at worst they'll give you some tips. After an hour of using the completely alien interface you'll have that level of "okay". Just imagine what it will be like 2+ months later.
All you need is being open to change.
And I'm sure you'll not get suicidal, nor murderous over buying that new machine again. That's until somebody makes you go back to (any version of) windows.
Has been up now for 243 days and counting.
Did you read my second-to-last paragraph? That was my conclusion exactly - it actually is worth paying for a better interface.
Bought several new notepads summer last year and without even really thinking, had Vista installed on them all, and now, as of January, they are all sporting XP.
Our stand-ups never got Vista, and thank the OS gods for that.
I don't blame Windows for lowering the price. If I had a crap OS, I'd lower the price too.
Windows 98 and Windows XP were the only true benchmarks for Microsoft in my opinion. (though I do give 95 a "little credit" over 3x too)
98 was the utopia for DOS, much like how XP is the utopia for NT.
"The price to maintain it [Windows Vista] all in a 'working' order." Right, you need a Wizard to do it!
"Of course I'm going to wipe it [Windows Vista] in favour of Ubuntu." What are you going to do with the Microsoft software? Give it to your grandma perhaps...
"I still don't think I am as productive [with Windows Vista] as I was when using Win98SE." No comment!
Hey, 'reality distortion field' comments should be posted in the right forums such as "Linux, Unix, and [Mac] *nix like Operating Systems".
Vista is neither needed nor wanted by the public at large so it is hardly surprising that retail prices have been cut. Microsoft should have simply released XP++ with aero and UAC as options. It would have been a lot less hassle for everyone. Of course, it would not have resulted in a retail bonanza built on exploitation of the foolish and the over-eager.
Kaled.
