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Amazon Begins Selling Windows Vista

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

August 29, 2006, 2:29 PM

Online retailer Amazon.com has begun to accept pre-orders for Windows Vista, which it says "will be released on January 30, 2007." The company is charging $399 USD for the Ultimate Edition of Vista, $239 USD for Home Premium and $199 USD for Home Basic. Vista Business is priced at $299 USD.

While Amazon frequently lists products before they become available and shipping dates are often an estimate, the pricing usually does not change. Microsoft also appears to be planning a new "Additional License" pack to go along with Vista, which includes just a Product Key and enables customers to use Vista on a second computer. On Amazon, however, pricing for the license pack is only $10 to $20 less than the full retail Vista packages.

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By vistacharity

edited Jan 12, 2007 - 5:26 AM

Microsoft is charging $399 USD for the Ultimate Edition of Vista, $239 USD for Home Premium and $199 USD for Home Basic. Vista Business is priced at $299 USD --------- BILL GATES GIVES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CHARITY - THE CREDIT FOR THIS GENEROSITY OF BILL GATES SHOULD NOT GO TO BILL GATES ---- BUT TO PEOPLE WHO PURCHASE THE SOFTWARE OF MICROSOFT ------ Dear Bill Gates if you are reading this then kindly do some charity by reducing the prices of the software which your company sells and make software and operating systems which no devils ( hackers & virus creators ) will be able to screw.

Score: 0

By tigarashi

edited Dec 29, 2006 - 12:18 AM

I am planning to buy Vista Home Premium as soon as possible, but right now my computer is installed with Window XP professional, do I have to save all the programs in some other place and instal Window Home Premium first and then transfer the program? Or can I install Vista Premium over XP professional without removing programs? Thank you for your answer.

Score: 0

By PostDeals

posted Sep 5, 2006 - 9:28 PM

When is an operating system worth $399?

When its not made by MICROSOFT :)

Score: 0

By deminicus

posted Sep 5, 2006 - 10:43 AM

I wonder if ms will give some sort of discount to people who are beta testing vista. Anyone know if they are known to do that?

Score: 0

By Ramhound

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 10:25 PM

DX 10 Card - Check, or should be check
Dual Core CPU - Check
4 GB of Memory Check

More expensive games? How do you figure? Office is Office, and Halo is well Halo.

Score: 0

By yuanxin

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 7:53 PM

$399 USD is only the tip of the iceberk.

Add a DX10 video card, a uptospeed dual core CPU, 2 Gb of PC200000 RAM....

Not to mention a new generation of more expensive "Design for Windows Vista" apps and games......

I will stick to XP under the dust settles in 2 years......

Score: 0

By Bobbitchin

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 5:22 PM

Will I pay $399 USD for the Ultimate Edition of Vista, $239 USD for Home Premium and $199 USD for Home Basic?

In a word NOPE!

Neither will I pay $400 for an X-box 360.

Score: 0

By Ramhound

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 10:46 AM

After the WGA troubles here for myself and clients, and understanding that Vista has the equivalent of WGA embedded into that Operating System (and cannot be removed), I think that WinXPPro is the last Windows O/S we shall be using here.
Reluctantly we have made the decision to go to Linux, and are advising all of our clients to do the same.
We have "dormant and unuseable" licences going back to Windows v3.1 and tens of thousands of Dollars tied up in those now useless licences.
So that's where we are going - with SUSE Linux.

Ultimate edition isn't going to require activiation, same with the Vista Bus version.

Both of these versions can be used to upgrade XP Pro, any version can be upgrad XP Home.

Again, this version has ALOT you won't need, go with the BUS and allow third party developers to give you the rest of the features ( BUS will HAVE THE SAME FILES, so the content is there, so third party devs can import the same dlls microsft uses ).

Score: 0

By XNeo```

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 9:34 AM

I hope the price is good for the quality Vista is offering. But i think it's good enough for the new and awesome features.. One more thing: If you can't affored it don't buy it...

Score: 0

By iblob

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 1:17 AM

I don't know what everyone is complaining about, personally I think this is a great price for an OS.

Think of it this way, the OS costs less then most programs that you would use on it! (ie. photoshop, $700) instead of the under priced OS.

For something that allows you to run several very usefull programs should (and i say this knowing they wont change the prices based on my comment, lol) cost a lot more!

So as I see it either everyone should think the OS should cost more, or they should start complaining about the very over priced software (ie. photoshop, office, etc.).

Score: 0

By Johnbald01

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 12:13 AM

I don't mind a free market, and capitalism in our country. It is our economic footprint.
What I do mind is any and all software whether OEM or Retail being sold to a consumer anywhere in the world that currently has no guarantee from defects, no warranty period, and no return to vendor for money back within ten to thirty days of purchase.

I would love to see some legislation drafted on this. The EULA on the software is in essence having each person give up consumer rights prior to actually using the product. You are accepting something prior to using it. If I could put together a state proposition with backing and signature help I would commit to making it happen. If one state can establish a software product warranty provision, than you can bet that the others would fall in place.

I think there has to be a set criteria which may be termed "reasonable expectations of product performance" that have to be defined in order for a proposition or bill to go forward and get required signatures. It could be a simple requirement that the product will function as advertised with no adverse effects to other software, and or Operating systems. It is huge in scope just small in statement.
I think we have to eventually take a stand. I believe Open source is a great avenue but as there will always be many other types of manufactured software that are not open source and are sold at retail there has to be a consumer movement that will make it occur. It is either the public wakes up or continues to get the shaft put to them on thes outlandish prices. I cannot see the Vista because it is beyond my economics, LOL....

Score: 0

By AlexBR1974

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 11:41 PM

I bet Vista (and a crack) will be available before Christmas! Won´t spend any Money on it, I´ll just spend some time downloading it via bittorrent or whatever!

Score: 0

By dougau

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 8:24 PM

I think that in these days of rising gas and health cost, Bill Gates doesn't realize or perhaps doesn't care that most cant afford to pay as much for a operating system as a computer. I can see around $200.00 but good lord, thats half my house payment!!

Score: 0

By 1lofty

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 7:29 PM

After the WGA troubles here for myself and clients, and understanding that Vista has the equivalent of WGA embedded into that Operating System (and cannot be removed), I think that WinXPPro is the last Windows O/S we shall be using here.
Reluctantly we have made the decision to go to Linux, and are advising all of our clients to do the same.
We have "dormant and unuseable" licences going back to Windows v3.1 and tens of thousands of Dollars tied up in those now useless licences.
So that's where we are going - with SUSE Linux.

Kind Regards

Score: 0

By Wyojake

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 3:19 PM

Well after paying the original price for XP and seeing how they are giving it away by comparison now service pack 2 included, and after falling for XP-64 (biggest scam ever promoted - we should all get a free copy of something for the bother and effort) think I will wait while all of you suffer at full price and pick my copy up down the road in a couple years. Listen up MS we tire of this hype and crap.

Score: 0

By imatt711

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 10:06 AM

While i do find this pricing unfair, the majority of the computer using population, are going to just wait until they buy a new computer, sure some of us need innovation, but most will wait.

Score: 0

By behindspace

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 8:33 AM

I'm tired of the M$FT price gouging. Maybe I'd consider buying vista if there was hope that inside of the first year there wouldn't be 300 security fixes or vulnerabilities discovered.

I have this feeling that DX10 won't be available for WinXP, which bothers me. IE7 was fun to play around with, I only wish the beta didn't overwrite IE6 (since its BETA software it would make more sense to be able to uninstall it if it sucks)

As far as my PC goes, if M$ forces the upgrade I'm turning my PC hardware into another Linux box (already have a FC4 box, this one will probably be Ubuntu, I’d like to see what the buzz is about), and buying a Mac Pro, since you can get OSX for $129 (yeah, sure, Mac's are $2500 machines, but considering the amount of freelance graphics & web design work I do, it's a smarter choice for me on the whole). The only reason I've stayed with Windows for so long is gaming, but now that Apple has boot camp, I can still run all my PC Games/Applications inside a native windows environment.

I won't knock M$ for making you pay for an OS, but I will bash them, because the average user will have to go buy a new computer with the system requirements to run their damned OS. I know my system needs an upgrade for Vista, because my vid card doesn't support DX10, and that's fine, I've had designs on buying a new card closer to the release of DX10. So that doesn't bother me, but the fact that if, say my dad, wanted to upgrade to Vista, he'd have to go drop the cake on a new PC all together. it's not fair to the general consumer for M$ to release an OS that you have to get a whole new system (or massive upgrades) to run.

So, the points of my ramblings are:
1.) Why charge so much, $399 is exorbitant for an OS
2.) Why force an upgrade of perfectly working hardware, just to support the visual aspect of Vista
3.) I'm sure it's a decent OS, I've played with the buggy betas, but I won't pass judgment because of those, because they're just betas, and betas are meant to discover bugs.

So, M$, why charge so much if the general user will require spending another couple hundred bucks to bring their system up to spec?

Hmmm...

Score: 0

By kezra35

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 4:50 AM

I just got done reading all of the crying about Vista and MS here. Are people really that cheap that they can't purchase a LEGAL OS ?

I bet if you stopped buying video games and twinkies and grew up you could afford it.

So buck up or shut up!

That's just my .02

So let the bashing begin.........

Score: 0

By The Man

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 10:56 AM

twinkie = $1.39
MS Vista = $399.00

"thats a big twinkie"

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 12:40 PM

Actually, it's only 287 (and a nibble) Twinkies.

Presuming you buy one a day (I'm probably being generous), you'll be able to afford Vista by roughly the time it comes out.

Score: 0

By Crand3

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 12:43 AM

OK you tards, let's have a simple math lesson. Last version of Windows was XP and was made available to the public in 2001. The latest version, Vista, is being made available in 2007. That's 6 years between versions. Assuming you bought XP Pro, that means Windows has cost you about $66 per year or $5.50 per month. The cost is minimal when compared to the quality of product delivered. You always can stop complaining and go use another operating system. Because after all, there is no monopoly in the computer operating system market, just market share.

So far this year, cost of gas put in my tank = $2800 and change. Cost of OS for my Media Center = $140.00

Score: 0

By The Man

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 3:11 PM

"So far this year, cost of gas put in my tank = $2800 and change. Cost of OS for my Media Center = $140.00"

how on earth do you think that's an accurate analogy?
you could maybe compare your cars gas consumption to your computers power consumption.
the OS is a part of your computer, same as the hard drive or the video card.
why don't you compare some other components in the same fashion?
lets see...
motherboard, bought in 2000 for $200, still use it today. that's 6 years of use at $2.77 per month.

Score: 0

By cranbers

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 8:05 PM

I downloaded the pre rc1, it sucked. I say that because it has some serious bugs and is almost unusable for me. The best things about it were ie7 and the smooth interface. Is it an improvement over xp? It's prettier, it has a lot of unecessary changes that makes the os more confusing and annoying. I can't believe they spent 5 years to come up with this. I hav eno doubts they will sit on this os for another 5 years, why spend your billions on r&d if youd on't have to ? Most companies have to be creative to be successful, microsoft simply looks at an idea, copies it puts it out for everything but the os, They lose money until the other guy goes bankrupt. That is their success story for all products except the os where their is no true competition. Linux and mac os have such a small market share with no advertising and barely any support its almost impossible for them to succeed on a paid for basis.

How much did microsoft make on xp over the last 5 years? 200 billion? 300? Do you think it costs even a small fraction of that to maintain/develop stamp the cd's etc? Nope it doesn't and that is exactly why Microsoft has a 30 percent profit margin with 2 products at the bulk of that 44 billion dollars and everything else making ends meet and the rest loosing millions of dollars per quarter.

Microshaft needs some serious competition or it will just get worse and worse. There really is no hope for any other os's because microsoft has sucked the majority of the money out of the os market. They are like a plague that continues to spread into other markets and industries, all financed by windows. Stop windows and office and you will have a company that couldn't make it. If a person with a better os came out even if it was completely 100 percent compatible with windows programs it would crash and burn. Because microsoft would probably go so far as to hire an assin to take them out. Either that or they would sue them to death or buy them out. Is that competition? How much longer do you think apple will be around with thier os. next thing you know they will be a computer builder like dell and drop their os all together for a pay off of 100 million.

The fact microsoft sat on Internet explorer and xp for 5 years says exactly why they need more competition. Do you think any other industry could have a product for that long without updates or changes and be still with 90 percent + market share for the average consumer/corporate user? Microsoft is untouchable therefore needs an outside force to tear them apart.

Computers are way too much apart of todays everyday life to be dependent on a single vender's computer operating system. It is hurting the industry because microsoft doesn't use their money to advance their own products. The dominate the market, then do updates as necessary in order to retain their market share. Then they sit, for years. Until something free, comes out to compete. Notice that word, free. That is the only way others can compete, linux and firefox are the best example.

Score: 0

By alphatrigon

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 6:21 PM

ultimate edition should include 2 retail MS games...then I'll buy no blink :)

hmm, rise of legends and something else...

maybe if marketed as a home product, 2 packages. 1 game and a productivity app...or 2 games for the gamer pack

Score: 0

By ray56_32223

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 5:47 PM

Shortly they will release upgrades to different products that will run only under the Vista to force people to upgrade. Then those that hang on will finally upgrade to Vista. Same old routine.

Score: 0

By RedBoar

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 12:16 PM

Is this the example of inflation finally reaching the computer industry?!?

Score: 0

By IT kalle

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 5:11 AM

The internet is so open. U can get all sort of windows for free they are all in the downloading programs and the best way is torrent. Between MacOS and Linux is everywhere to!!!

Score: 0

By PC Rat

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 2:51 AM

...

Sure glad Microsoft is dispelling
it's image as greedy !

...

The Computer Rodent

...

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 7:03 AM

They have a huge legal fund to top up, and they are buying up IT companys to further enhance there product line up.

Your not forced to buy it, and they even offer downloads to try it before you buy.

They even let resellers include a OEM version to allow cheap computers to hit the market without the high cost of buying the shrink wrapped OS.

It appears your just trolling adding lame cheap comments to boost the inflated ego of yourself.

If you dont like or dont think it is worth it then dont bloody buy it !!

Score: 0

By paulm

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 4:39 PM

You tell 'em Galway ;-
People can't help themselves. So they will fork out the dosh even though XP (and probably W2K) do what they require just fine.
It's a consumer society and MS loves that.
Must buy, must buy!

Score: 0

By The Man

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 12:15 PM

way to stick up for the faceless multi-BILLION dollar corp.

do you work for MS?

Score: 0

By iblob

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 7:01 PM

Why is it that when you people that are solely against microsoft come accross someone who is for them that you accuse them of working for MS and are just posting to promote it.

Not everyone can be against something you know. There are people out there that arn't quick to judge.

Plus I bet just about all of you guys that complain about MS dont actually hate them that much. Think about it, if you truly disliked MS then you wouldnt be using their OS!! And if you are using their OS then you are either a hypocrite or just plain hate every OS creator and so you just use Windows because its the 'best' one out of the others.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 6:03 PM

I use there OS,and a few of there apps.
There software is used globally, and they allow a global multi billion $/£ software industry to exist. To keep profitable and maintain there market leading position they have to continually develop and adapt to the changing conditions. The end user benefits, and these tend to be companys who can afford to buy the software. Home end users also wanting to use a pc must accept that using a PC is not cheap and just because you can pick up a pc for under 100 £/$ you can load it up with what the hell you like and that the products you use need to develop and have a value set by the vendor.

It makes me laugh that you are all quick to hammer MS when they are in part responsible for the huge money involved in IT.

Do you think Intel or AMD or any other company would be where they are now if it wasnt for microsoft ? Do you think DELL or any other PC manufacturer would be alive or earning billions if it wasnt for MS?

Bottom line is if you like XP, whats your problem ?
If you dont like XP, one of your options is Vista or any other OS of which some cost so little might as well be free, but not as popular (wonder why ?? hmmm )

So there you have it. I think basically you complain because theres no contest really. We all know MS software will work, it will be suported, and it will have tools and resourses to make using it worth while. Well this takes money, and I think its money worth paying. Thats why im not afraid to say so because thats what everyone else who buys MS software thinks as well, and we apparently are the biggest bunch of users on the planet.

Score: 0

By cranbers

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 8:15 PM

Yeah ok dude, the entire industry supports Microsoft not because they want to but they are forced to. You may support them and are happy to pay hundreds of dollars for an os you will have to upgrade in a few years to stay with support and security updates. They don't allow the industry to exist, unless you mean they take billions of dollars out of the industry.

Are there any other companies in the industry including Intel, invidia, Linux and game developers that make anything near what Microsoft does? What does Microsoft do to make this possible? They have a operating system that they neglected for 5 years. They stalled development of the Internet for 5 years because they were so c***y and ignorant as to not release an update to ie. They had no plans to ever release an update to ie until FireFox took 10 percent within a few years. People don't need tabs they said, now what does ie have? Same thing for everything else.

Microsoft quite simply thinks like you do, they are the master, they control the i.t. industry software market and everything else electronic for that matter. They want the console industry, cell phones, servers. And even the ipod industry. why? because they cannot stand to see another company successful. that is a very dangerous company to have the soul provider of anything let alone the computer.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:24 AM

They are a company. Companys want to earn money, increase/maintain market share and maintain customer loyalty and support.

"They want the console industry, cell phones, servers. And even the ipod industry. why? because they cannot stand to see another company successful."

They want to earn money, They are able to span many markets and release products that people desire and buy. Its a free market and the consumer decides, you dont wear a tin hat do you ?

"Are there any other companies in the industry including Intel, invidia, Linux and game developers that make anything near what Microsoft does?"

Your point is ?? Do as MS do and if they want to enter a market all they have to do is make a better competeing product. Its not hard right ?

"They have a operating system that they neglected for 5 years."

Yea thats right, no updates, no bug fixes, no companys bought out and integrated, no r&d, just sat playing solitare.

"They stalled development of the Internet for 5 years because they were so c***y and ignorant as to not release an update to ie."

IE integration cost them allot, allot of presure was aimed at MS to remove it from the OS and even split the company. You are quite foolish to blame Ms for the state of the internet when they are other issues at stake. You are free to use any other browser, all MS did was give a basic browser to get you on the net, so that you have the tools to function. As the market grew more choice came and things evolved to there current position, thats how business is and if you cant understand it then your a poon. Do you think Intel would have the core2 technology released now if it wasnt from AMD ?

"They had no plans to ever release an update to ie until FireFox took 10 percent within a few years."

plans ?? in an industy that changes so quick as IT only a fool can say such a thing, and to believe it ... well ....

"the entire industry supports Microsoft not because they want to but they are forced to."

Thats right, i have a gun at my head right now while I type this ....

While I understand what you mean I cant agree with it. We use MS because it what most people use in business, and the work you do has to be accessable by everyone else. Dont blame MS, blame the system.

Whos the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows the fool (Yea yea its a starwars quote)

Score: 0

By The Man

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 6:27 PM

just because my slave master feeds me, doesn't mean i have to like him for it.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:28 AM

Jealousy is a sin

Score: 0

By imatt711

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 1:21 AM

OEM, is usually a couple bucks less than upgrade, i'll wait till newegg has it up and buy a cheap pci card as my "hardware requirement"

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Aug 29, 2006 - 10:47 PM

I can't help but chuckle as so many run about panicing and ranting over the price... especially as so many of these same folks declare that they are content pirating XP.

If you are content pirating and using XP, you are in affect saying that you have no compelling need for Vista. And if you have no compelling need for Vista and are content with XP, WHAT THE HECK IS YOUR REAL PROBLEM!?

You have just said that XP will suit your needs. Discussion over. Crisis solved! You DON'T NEED to move to Vista!

If I don't need something, I don't worry about its price!

The irony is that if the folks here were as involved as so many claim to be, they would be MS Partners and Action Pack subscribers and receive everything MS publishes 4 times a year for less than the cost of one copy of Vista!

The net effect of this on the marketplace will be to cause more to look around for options and it will result in still greater sales of Macs loaded with VMWare or Parallel running OSX and XP and/or Linux. Then you can take your pick of whatever you need.

Score: 0

By Crand3

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 9:23 AM

Less than Ultimate anyway. Action pack is THE way to go. That is, if you really do this for a living, which I'm sure we're the only two.

Score: 0

By Skyfrog

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 10:46 PM

Looks like the Microsoft Bashing Orgy is going well.

Score: 0

By Cyklone

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 10:02 PM

Jeez!!! No wonder pirating is rampant!

What the crap?!?!?! Why do we have to buy those greedy MS incompetents their lamborghinis and summer mansions in Fiji?!?!

To make that much of a profit is criminal... transparency needs to be enforced in the U.S. as a lot of other countries are doing.

Score: 0

By dwaterman

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 10:37 AM

Your statements make you look really foolish. Do you have any idea if MS profits margins are disproportioned to the average major corp? Didn't think so...

Score: 0

By Joe Dirt

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 9:55 PM

Hmm....last I looked I could get Linux for free, Pirate Windows XP, or buy MacOS X for $120 (for the full version).

Windows has had it's day. That day is no more.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 5:04 PM

damn reply bugs...

Score: 0

By mjmarshall

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 6:43 PM

$200-$400 for just an operating system. Right.
Given the lack of a compelling reason (any reason?) to upgrade from XP or 2000, I am curious to know how Microsoft will get people to buy Vista...

Score: 0

By The Man

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 12:06 PM

"I am curious to know how Microsoft will get people to buy Vista... "

same reason MS could sell xp home or millennium

OEM

nobody really wants a crippled version of an OS, but no one wants to pay $500 for the complete OS either.

be fun to see how it goes for MS after launch.
:-)

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 2:45 PM

How is an OEM version crippled?

Score: 0

By The Man

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 5:24 PM

didn't mean OEM versions in particular, i mean pro vs home, or ultimate vs business vs basic etc...

should be able to choose your required options on install. not have the price point decide what options you will get.

and to hear that the discs might be full versions that are crippled depending on which user key you input is just ridiculous.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 9:46 AM

If I can get a better price by buying one withoput the features I'll never use, I'll go for it.

Yes, MS could sell one version. But do you think they'd price it at $199, or $399.

I'd much rather buy the $199 version (For $180 along with a free hard drive) and not have some features I'll never use than pay $399 for *just* the OS and a whole bunch of features I'll never use.

If MS ever went back to a single version, you can bet it'd be pricey as hell. With the cheaper versions, we can run the OS without braking the bank and still have all of the features we need.

I understand what you're saying. It would be nice, but it's just not realistic. They aren't the only one's doing it which makes it that much more unlikely that this kind of pricing and versioning will end any time soon.

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 9:13 PM

That is for a Full not an upgrade, upgrade is between 100-250

Score: 0

By Bobbitchin

edited Aug 29, 2006 - 6:07 PM

$300!!!! OMFG

Well they just priced me right out of the market.

Thanks Micro$oft now I will have to learn Linux or be stuck running (pirated) XP from here on.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 2:44 PM

Dude, do you often buy Operating Systems from Amazon?

Anyone else?

If ya do, here's a neat trick:

Buy a hard drive for $50. From that *same* company, on the *same* order, buy the OEM Edition of the OS (whatever 'version' you want) at a discount often *much* greater than the $50 you spent on the drive.

Example:

XP Pro retails for what, $299 now?

You can get it for $130 with the purchase of a $50 hard drive.

See how easy that is? You pay $180 for a $300 OS and get a free hard drive to boot.

Ain't it grand?

You'll be able to do the same with Vista.

Score: 0

By csamaha

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 5:53 PM

Does anyone know if the windows vista that is listed on amazon is the 32-bit or the 64-bit version? I can't find anything on their site that indicates either way. Thanks in advance.
Cory

Score: 0

By psibersoma

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 5:19 PM

and you wonder why people pirate software??? I wonder how much of the Vista code is being written in third world India at a few rupees a day... and M$ just rakes in the cash from the dolts that believe they are justified for charging such high prices for their software..

Score: 0

By zridling

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 5:03 PM

So I get the opportunity to pay $200-$400 to make my current system run slower and with much greater aggravation? As if I don't have enough. What boniggy said: Wait until it's proven good, not marketed as such.

Score: 0

By boniggy

edited Aug 29, 2006 - 3:40 PM

Plus not to mention... what person in their right mind would get the First Gen copy of an OS. Just like any MicroShaft product it'll be riddled with problems. Give it a good 4-6mos (or more) and THEN get it.

Score: 0

By Crand3

posted Aug 30, 2006 - 9:26 AM

In 4-6 months it will be the same product in the box.

Score: 0

By se7en11

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:41 PM

@zee7

You're absolutly right. I work for a publishing company and pub dates mean almost nothing.

Score: 0

By zee7

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:26 PM

January 30, 2007? Yeah, right.

I pre-ordered a certain Photoshop CS2 book from Amazon in December 2005. Guess what? I'm still waiting. The publication date has been entended over nine times! By the time the book finally comes out, a new version of the software will probably have been released.

Good luck waiting for Vista. Pre-ordering it from Amazon ain't gonna help Microsoft get their collective sh*t together any sooner.

Score: 0

By Austin814

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:20 PM

Yeah, I never understood the Pre-order thing...as if there arent going to be enough for everyone when its released.

Score: 0

By WeezulDK

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:12 PM

Talk about "predatory pricing"...

Score: 0

By tankist

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:12 PM

give them your money now so they can make some interest on it until january and not share a piece of it with you.

Score: 0

By Crand3

edited Aug 30, 2006 - 9:27 AM

vs making interest on it after January?

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Aug 29, 2006 - 3:46 PM

Amazon doesn't charge until the product has been shipped.

Score: 0

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