Microsoft victims: bend over, grab your ankles

[boutons_]

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/gr/news_logo.gif (http://news.com.com/2001-1_3-0.html?tag=prntfr)
http://www.news.com/ (http://www.news.com/2001-1_3-0.html?tag=prntfr)

Acer: Vista is an excuse for Microsoft price increases




By Colin Barker
http://news.com.com/Acer+Vista+is+an+excuse+for+Microsoft+price+increa ses/2100-1016_3-6130136.html

Story last modified Fri Oct 27 09:39:48 PDT 2006


Microsoft is raising the price of its software as it prepares to launch Vista, according to one of the leading PC manufacturers, Acer. According to Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president of the Taiwan-based company, the issue is simply that the basic home edition of Vista, Home Basic, which is available for preorder (http://news.com.com/Can+a+Vista+coupon+save+holiday+PC+sales/2100-1003_3-6108930.html?tag=nl) on Amazon.co.uk (http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2F&siteId=3&oId=/Can+a+Vista+coupon+save+holiday+PC+sales/2100-1003_3-6108930.html&ontId=1001&lop=nl.ex) for 154.99 pounds ($293), is so basic that users will be forced to move to Vista Home Premium, at 189.99 pounds ($359). A Home Edition of Windows XP is currently available for 165.99 pounds, but has a recommended retail price of 176.99 pounds.

"The new (Vista) experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel it at all," Wong told PC Pro magazine. "There's no (Aero) graphics, no Media Center, no remote control."

Wong also said that the manufacturer's license for Vista Home Premium is 10 percent more expensive than for XP Home. "We have to pay more but users are not going to pay more," Wong said. This would mean an increase in the cost to PC manufacturers of 1 percent to 2 percent, according to Wong, in a business where the profit margin is around 5 percent or less.

At the top of the Vista lineup (http://news.com.com/Piecing+together+Windows+Vista/2009-1016_3-6050105.html?tag=nl) is the Ultimate Edition, which can be preordered for 325 pounds ($614) and, again, is significantly more expensive than the XP operating system it replaces (http://news.com.com/Holiday+PC+buyers+get+Vista+upgrade+promise/2100-1016_3-6129027.html?tag=nl). Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 has a recommended retail price of 289.99 pounds ($550), but is currently available for 234 pounds ($444).

Colin Barker of ZDNet UK (http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.zdnet.co.uk&siteId=3&oId=/Holiday+PC+buyers+get+Vista+upgrade+promise/2100-1016_3-6129027.html&ontId=1001&lop=nl.ex) reported from London.

Copyright (http://www.cnet.com/aboutcnet/0-13611-7-811029.html?tag=ft) ©1995-2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

$614 dollars for a piece of software... they can go screw themselves

[CosmicCowboy]

$614 dollars for a piece of software... they can go screw themselves

You will pay it eventually. I remember saying "screw it...windows 95 is OK..."

Then it wouldn't run the "new" stuff.

There will be screwing going on but Microsoft will not be the recipient.

[boutons_]

There is NO over-the-counter Windows market. Almost nobody will actually buy Vista OTC for $600+.

Windows is 99.9% consumed/hidden as the infamous DOS/Windows-tax on new PCs.

Vista will be such a pig in MHz and RAM that your perfectly suitable XP box will probably be underpowered and not upgradeable. So you buy Vista included a new PC.

[ducks]

what they are doing is making it impossible for people to build their own computer
the big manufacters and bill gates want it that way

[MaNuMaNiAc]

most people here in Argentina can't afford that kind of price tag. $600 is roughly what most people under the average salary here make in two months. I know piracy isn't ideal, but over here its the only way most people can afford to have a computer. I know XP came out in 2001 so $600 every 4 or 5 years is not really that steep a price, but $600 for a piece of software is ridiculous.

[JoeChalupa]

I'm glad Mouse builds my PC's.

[1369]

http://images.apple.com/macosx/leopard/images/indexheaderposter.jpg

[leemajors]

luckily my father-in-law has a developer's license.

[xrayzebra]

There is NO over-the-counter Windows market. Almost nobody will actually buy Vista OTC for $600+.

Windows is 99.9% consumed/hidden as the infamous DOS/Windows-tax on new PCs.

Vista will be such a pig in MHz and RAM that your perfectly suitable XP box will probably be underpowered and not upgradeable. So you buy Vista included a new PC.

Oh, but they will boutons. That is the problem.

Linux will ultimately be the answer to the high prices. Just
like firefox browser, which I use exclusively, is the answer
to IE.

If I was more computer literate I would go to Linux, but
I have to stick with the O/S that comes with the computer.

[Marhq]

As I write this, my computer is upgrading to the latest version of Kubuntu linux, released this week. I can do almost anything a Windows user can do (sometimes more), it's free, and it runs in my older than dirt hardware. And I'm using a full desktop distro; there are specific light distros intended for legacy hardware.

I didn't know much about linux (especially installing it) when I first started, but then again, neither did I when I first started with Windows. The jump from Windows to linux is way smaller than that from DOS to Windows.

Give it a try! You don't have to wipe Windows out of your computer, you can try it with a Live CD version: a fully functional linux running from a CD, without making permanent changes to the hard drive (obviously it'll run slower than a normally installed version). And even if you do want to install it in your hard drive, you can keep Windows and dual boot.

Saludos.

[TDMVPDPOY]

yeh i was thinkin of movin to linux also