Well, the big to-do for the day has been Vista pricing. Apparently Microsoft Canada's not the only company that's going to have someone fired today. Amazon.com has all prices online for pre-order. They've also listed a launch date, which apparently is January 30th, 2007.
I've broken it down a bit to make it easier to understand.
Edition |
Regular Price |
Additional License |
Upgrade Price |
Additional License |
Ultimate |
$399.00 |
$359.00 |
$259.00 |
$233.00 |
Business |
$299.00 |
$269.00 |
$199.95 |
$179.00 |
Home Premium |
$239.00 |
$215.00 |
$159.00 |
$143.00 |
Home Basic |
$199.00 |
$179.00 |
$99.95 |
$89.95 |
You know what? I think the regular and upgrade prices are totally reasonable. The upgrade price on Home Premium was even $100 cheaper than what I expected. But obviously Microsoft didn't listen to a damn word I said when I talked about the discount for additional licenses. This is pure and total crap. Microsoft has completely screwed the pooch on an outstanding opportunity to get everyone to upgrade to Vista legally and inexpensively.
I know one family that wants to move to Vista… they have 4 computers. There's NO WAY IN HELL they're going to pay $588 for an upgrade copy of Home Premium plus 3 additional licenses. It's just not going to happen.
I'm not even going to mince words here. Microsoft, you REALLY boned this one up. I'm really glad that 40 influencers in one room telling you about how important the additional license problem was meant absolutely nothing.
[via Microsoft Monitor]