MS drops Vista retail price to spur sales
updated 09:20 am EST, Fri February 29, 2008
MS Drops Vista Price
Microsoft late yesterday said it would drop the price of retail copies of Windows Vista, timing the drop with the release of Service Pack 1 for the OS. The cuts will take effect worldwide and will be largest for the top-end Vista Ultimate edition, reducing the up-front price for a full copy from $399 to $319. An upgrade version for existing Windows owners will now cost $219, down from $259. Home Premium, the most common version of the software, will drop from $159 to $129 for an upgrade-only version of the OS.
Developing nations will receive one of the larger discounts as Microsoft will stop selling upgrade editions but offer full versions at the lower upgrade prices; in these areas, a combination of piracy and a largely first-time customer base are the motivation for the drop, the company says. Prices for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) copies meant to ship with new PCs currently remain unchanged, as are prices for Vista Business and Home Basic.
The discount is primarily to accelerate sales of upgrades to users still running Windows XP or earlier versions of Windows, says Windows Consumer Product Marketing corporate VP Brad Brooks. In the year since Vista's release, the "vast majority" of Vista copies were sold as OEM versions for customers upgrading to new PCs rather than retail editions, Brooks claims. Those that have bought Vista separately from their computer have usually been early adopters, while most other customers have been more likely to buy during promo campaigns Microsoft has tested over the past year.
The move puts the price of an upgrade copy of Vista Home Premium at the same price as a full copy of Mac OS X Leopard and may be an attempt to revitalize slumping Vista sales. Despite its role as Microsoft's primary OS, it was preloaded on a relatively low 37 percent of all new PCs in 2007 and has gradually seen its sales rate slow over the past several months.
Stand-alone upgrades are also widely considered as faring poorly due to Vista's steeper system requirements, which have led to many basic systems running the software poorly. A recent lawsuit has accused Microsoft of providing misleadingly low requirements through its Vista Capable logo program from late 2006 and early 2007, which encouraged sales of computers during the months between the announcement of Vista's last delay and its actual release.
wow
02/29, 09:37am reply
Windows Vista Ultimate: $319 Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: $129 Linux (any variety): $0
Being able to choose?: Priceless
noza
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2007
vista = what a joke
02/29, 09:45am reply
OS X Ultimate can be bought along with a quiet Core 2 DUo Mac Mini that works great as a media computer for as low as $429 in the Apple Refurb Store. Yes, OS X (a much better OS), can be bought with a computer with gigabit ethernet, usb, firewire, optical audio output, media remote control, and more for just slightly more than the cost of vista.
dliup
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
Vista = Windows Me 2007
02/29, 09:56am reply
Vista! Talk about a t***. LOL
Also, I'd like to have Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for free please. That would be great, m'kay?
I agree about choice. Point well taken. Now just to get Open Document Format pushed through and things will get even better. Farewell, Office.
Rezzz
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
you can...
02/29, 09:57am reply
...lower the price of a Ford Pinto as well. its still a Pinto.
Herod
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2007
I'd consider it...
02/29, 09:59am reply
I'd consider it, if MS paid me to use it. And if they did, which of the 6 versions would I need? Would it be compatible with my year old thinkpad? Uhhhh-I'll stick with XP and OSX. Once Vista catches up with Leopard in 2012 (hey-I'm an MS optimist), perhaps the MS market share will have dwindled enough to make Windows irrelevant. Ooopps--my bad--more irrelevant.
BTW: Great point-dilup!
Monde
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Joined: Jan 2004
re: vista=joke
02/29, 10:14am reply
plus... you can also run Windows on your Mac mini, side-by-side with OS X.
Really, do PC fanboys have anything at all to talk smack about any longer?
climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001
Who cares?
02/29, 10:44am reply
Even if they give it away for free, you still can't polish a t***.
Mr. Strat
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2002
ME
02/29, 11:24am reply
Windows Vista is the next version of Windows ME, a stop gap c*** OS.
Athens
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Jan 2003
PC fanboys
02/29, 11:42am reply
"Really, do PC fanboys have anything at all to talk smack about any longer?"
No, but that will not stop them.
nat
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
I see riots
02/29, 11:55am reply
I see riots now outside Microsoft headquarters because they lowered the price and some had to pay more for it because they bought it sooner. Or does this logic only apply to Apple?
bhuot
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Joined: Nov 2003