Windows Vista Ultimate: $450 US?

We have absolutely no way of confirming the information ourselves, but according to iTWire, we can expect to really pay out the nose for the most ultimate version of Windows ever conceived, Windows Vista Ultimate. Like, say, something to the tune of $450 US. Yeah, we know that's a lot, but we're assuming that's for the single-license full install retail MSRP; and when you consider the fact that the single-license full install retail MSRP of XP Pro is still $300 US, it's not too drastically unrealistic. Don't get us wrong, we're not exactly endorsing snapping up operating systems that cost more than the machines they run on but, you know, it is Ultimate freaking Vista, dude. Oh, and apparently Office 2007 Ultimate will set you back $679 US, too. Don't get dizzy now, just get your company to pick 'em up for you and you'll be well on your way to the Ultimate Microsoft suite which might have otherwise been used to put a nice down payment on a private jet.

[Karl Entwistle @ May 30th 2006 11:25AM]

Well there not giving it away!

[dzieci @ May 30th 2006 11:25AM]

$450 for 450 bugs ;)

[tekdroid @ May 30th 2006 11:26AM]

someone's gotta pay for the DRM.

[kerunt @ May 30th 2006 11:28AM]

Didn't buy the last one, not gonna buy this one. But in this case, I won't download it either.

[Chris @ May 30th 2006 11:29AM]

Nothing like jumping on these unconfirmed stories and giving your 2c.

[Dolphgb @ May 30th 2006 11:32AM]

I'll be saving my money for the game and BluRay playing, Internet connected PS3 - heaps more fun for the money and a lot more bang for your buck.

After all, Vista will just slow your machine down to a crawl, eat all your hard drive and for what? I already have an operating system that works...

[Steph @ May 30th 2006 11:35AM]

Linux and Openoffice are still free ;)

[iDZ @ May 30th 2006 11:35AM]

the release is so far away, they had to figure in the cost of inflation. ;)

[Korey @ May 30th 2006 11:40AM]

Ubuntu and Openoffice shutting down Microsoft one User at a time!

[Tush @ May 30th 2006 11:40AM]

torrents.

Oh yeah, and to Dolphgb. You do realize that they'll make it so that you HAVE to buy/download it at some point. You can't play all the newest games and have the latest software unless you have Vista!

[peter @ May 30th 2006 11:41AM]

will be more like $225 at newegg(OEM version). and probably cheaper with a dell.

[Brandon @ May 30th 2006 11:42AM]

Holy Crap! $450 to load the "Ultimate" Windows on my Mac! I don't think so...

[David Courtney @ May 30th 2006 11:43AM]

And people were saying 600 is bad for the PS3. I mean keep working on the familiar Office 2003 (if you are so certain microsoft is the way, I say OpenOffice is much better) and with the cash you save get the PS3 ... I really don't want to hear one more bash on the PS3 until Office has had its due. I mean at least for the 600 your giving to Sony your getting the equivilent of a top of the line media computer, with blu-ray and the cell. This new Office won't be even close to worth 600, especially when OpenOffice is right behind to offer the same product for free. (And I won't even start on the hell that will start because of Vista)

[Kevin @ May 30th 2006 11:43AM]

OS X 10.5 Leopard will be cheaper :)

[Ben Hobbs @ May 30th 2006 11:44AM]

#6

Goodluck doing your business presentation, taxes, spreadsheets on your PS3, You gonna use the joypad to write PS3 word documents.

Thats an outrageous price for an OS, The problem with Microsoft is that they dont seem to realise that PC's have come down in price so much, seriously I could buy two computers for the price of that $650. An OS should represent no more than 5-10% of the purchase price of a computer. Microsoft had a case for charging $200 for an OS when computers were $2k+ for a very basic system.

[diulei @ May 30th 2006 11:45AM]

By the time Vista comes out, inflation will have taken its toll and $450 will be nothing.

[junyo @ May 30th 2006 11:45AM]

I'm not a MS hater, and run Windows on most of my desktops... Nonetheless, Windows XP was ridiculous, trying to make me pay better than a C-note to update each machine. But half a G for a nonserver OS? Not unless it gives head and makes pie.

[nevrozel @ May 30th 2006 11:49AM]

Go get a Mac guys. At 129$ every new OSX, it's a real deal. Plus that OSX Leopard will see daylight sooner than Vista and will leave Windows in the dust, just as Tiger did with XP. :)

[diulei @ May 30th 2006 11:55AM]

19: Not really. It may cost only around $130 for each "new" OS, but they come out every year (almost), and you basically need to update or lots of things won't work/install. What is OS X on now, 10.4? That's 4 times $129 for each update.

[bob @ May 30th 2006 12:05PM]

thats nonsense no 20, i know people still using os9 and everything works fine, plus tiger really was a major update (giving us everything vista promises) and leopard is gonna be bigger still, remember no registering either so share a copy bought with friends, plus, no ULTIMATE windows viruses, thats priceless

[Matt M @ May 30th 2006 12:05PM]

diulei, it may be $130 every 15 to 18 months to actually have the latest, updated OS, but at least it's not $399 one time to get something today that was made 4 years ago. Like the price of most things, the price for XP should be competitive to OSX at least by now.

Also, the only way I will ever buy another Microsoft operating system is bundled with a computer.

If Microsoft was smart they would offer a vista/360 bundle that you can get both for a reduced price. Since many XBOX freaks are also windows users it makes sense.

[iDZ @ May 30th 2006 12:07PM]

i agree with diulei that mac osx is not cheap, given how often they upgrade.

but i'd gladly pay $130 a year for true upgrades, as opposed to windows releasing nothing but security patches in the past five years.

[Druidika @ May 30th 2006 12:07PM]

Yeah you have to pay for service packs on the Mac :/

[Bryan @ May 30th 2006 12:08PM]

I'm hoping to get it through the MSNDN academic alliance for free. One nice thing about MS is that they treat their academic customers well.

[tim @ May 30th 2006 12:14PM]

#19
you dont seem to understand how osx works. these are COMPLETELY new versions. full of new features that windows users only dream of and linux users read man pages for. and #19, jaguar was the competition to xp, you might even say that cheetah was. tiger features all the hot items (now removed) from vista, and leopard will just cause ms to realize they need to push back more to add more osx-like features.

back to #20...apple fully supports back to 10.1 for most things, sure they want you to buy the new one every time, but if you dont, you can still do virtually anything that isnt extreme cutting edge.

and for people who say windows is better because mac os9 users had to buy all new software, too bad! thats how it goes! its 7+ years old! get with the now! a new mac comes FULLY loaded with software, and besides getting stuck in the elevator after buying it, itll be a painless experience getting home and getting online with it and working.

wow, ive never 'ranted' on a blog before, where are my blood pressure pills?

[cz440 @ May 30th 2006 12:22PM]

Ooh, Ultimate Sh*t for only $450.00? I can't believe it!

[d @ May 30th 2006 12:23PM]

you guys do realize that "diulei" is a curseword in cantonese right?

[kerunt @ May 30th 2006 12:24PM]

#14,

You are missing one important difference between the PS3 and MS Office. PS3 can't be grabbed from BitTorrent ;).

[Phi @ May 30th 2006 12:32PM]

and besides getting stuck in the elevator after buying it, itll be a painless experience getting home and getting online with it and working.

Haha! That was the funniest comment ever!

[Kent Pribbernow @ May 30th 2006 12:46PM]

>> Linux and Openoffice are still free ;)

And Worth every penny...

[diulei @ May 30th 2006 12:49PM]

I'm not saying you _have_to_ upgrade OS X each time an update comes out, it's just in my experience (using my old G4 PowerBook, running 10.2.9) lots of new apps won't work unless I upgrade to 10.4, and this has never been the case with my XP box. Anything that is "XP compatible" has worked on my old, non-updated XP box, while lots of things "OS X compatible" really mean "latest version of OS X compatible".

For example, I was trying to watch some Quicktime videos the other day on Apple's movie trailer site, and realized I needed to upgrade. I downloaded the new version, and guess what, I couldn't install it since I didn't have Tiger. So now, when I want to watch videos encoded in the latest version of QT, I have to use my Windows box. Ironic, eh?

Basically - I'm saying that although each revision of OS X is "only" $129, you may end up having to upgrade and spend more, so for lots of users, it ends up being multiple times the $129 price tag.

[SideSwipe @ May 30th 2006 12:51PM]

Y'know, if they sold the OS for $50, EVERYONE would buy a legal copy, which is more than we could say for every other OS they've released... and they'd turn a tidy profit from the sheer number of sales.

[Kent Pribbernow @ May 30th 2006 12:52PM]

And to add further to my sarcastic comment above, let me say that Linux is the white trash of desktop client operating systems; cheap, ugly, and crude. Comparing it, which is a fantastic server OS, to OSX is just comical. Vista I could care less for, but I'll give MS props for trying to catch up with Apple, even if the results fall short.

[Scott @ May 30th 2006 1:13PM]

holy fuck.

[tito @ May 30th 2006 1:17PM]

#35: haha

[Joe Allen @ May 30th 2006 1:19PM]

So, a $299 Dell PC will come with a $450 OS, and you don't even own the OS? Something is wrong with this picture. Isn't this akin to a $15,000 Chevy with a $40,000 engine (one that hopefully runs and does not require restarting periodically)?

Evidently, Vista was coined to mean "view of large piles of hopeful cash for those willing to part with it". I think not.

I suggest MS offer the following: Buy 20 shares of MS stock at $20 a share in exchange for 1 copy of Vista Ultimate. They will still get the cash, but at least have to pay users with a dividend.

[John Doe @ May 30th 2006 1:20PM]

Can we get a PS3 Vista OMG Edition bundle pack going?

[i.e @ May 30th 2006 1:26PM]

funny how people are ranting and making out openoffice to be something it's not. Open office sucks. That crap has got so many memory leaks. In my experience Openoffice crashes more than MS Office. Till today I do my word processing on my windowsXp machine instead of my gentoo machine. People just love to hate sometimes instead of looking at things clearly and rationally. I'd rather pay to use MS Office than use openoffice for free.

[RGP @ May 30th 2006 1:28PM]

Thank God I have an MSDN Subscription which I don't pay for.

http://djrickp.com

[Cuw @ May 30th 2006 1:33PM]

Do you think big business cares how much Office costs? Office Ultimate isn't made for you or I most likely. Its made for people who need every friggen option available and it allows an IT department to buy jus tone version of Office and install it on every computer in the office, instead of getting one that includes frontpage one that includes PPT SUPER XTREME EDITION. It makes maintence and backups easier to have every comp on the same exact setup so that is why Office Ultimate can cost $600+ and will still sell like crazy.
And comparing Windows Vista Ultimate to Mac OS X is stupid. If you included 20+ aftermarket programs that will be in Ultimate into OS X then you would be able to compare the functionality of the two, and then the cost's would be equal. Vista Ultimate won't be like XP Pro it will include tons of goodies that are probably not worth paying for but will make computing easier.

[Rasio @ May 30th 2006 1:38PM]

That's rediculous.

meh, looks like I'm saving up for a Mac then, I can't afford it any more than I can a windows at this point, jesus.

[michael robertson @ May 30th 2006 1:49PM]

There are many very capable Linux operating systems out there right now some even rivaling what i have seen of Vista.Open Office is a great replacement for MS Office there is also Abiword which though not has sophisticated is very capable, i think a lot of people just don't know they have a choice.

[Kent Pribbernow @ May 30th 2006 1:54PM]

>> "So, a $299 Dell PC will come with a $450 OS, and you don't even own the OS?"

Uh..no. a $299 Dell PC will come with a $50-80 OS called Vista Basic. And what exactly do you mean by not owning the OS? Surely you're not one of those nutball GPL zealots who believes that all code should be free and we should all write code for free as well. I wish your employers treated you that same logic..."What? You expect me to pay you for your work? "

[shirizaki @ May 30th 2006 2:03PM]

I like my XP.

Of course I just recently came from ME. If you gave me a monitor with a picture of Xp on it, I would have had more stability.

While that $450 for Ultimate is a chunk, that's for ultimate. Most of everyone will want the Professional or some other consumer equivalent. I can imagine the 5 DVD install discs Ultimate must come with.

Of course what irks me is that none of these will stream video to a 360, making everyone wonder if the 360 wasn't some half baked attempt to increase MCE sales.

[Dest Kraid @ May 30th 2006 2:27PM]

Thank God for pirates.

[Russ @ May 30th 2006 2:28PM]

It is the 'ultimate' version after. I think all the bitchers need to go back and look at the distinguishing characteristics between all 57 versions of Vista and realize it is most likely going to cost them a lot less.

I know the idea of everyone in the office sharing one big ass Vista Tivo sounds cool, but most likely there is a cheaper, less feature wasteful version out there for you.

and to #34, SLED10 and Looking Glass are (2) *nix UI's that kick OSX ass, douchebag.

[Matt @ May 30th 2006 2:33PM]

"Like the price of most things, the price for XP should be competitive to OSX at least by now. "

OSX doesn't really compete with Windows though. And you still need to pay more for a Mac.

[matt @ May 30th 2006 2:38PM]

"If you included 20+ aftermarket programs that will be in Ultimate into OS X then you would be able to compare the functionality of the two, and then the cost's would be equal"

you mean like, iPhoto, Garageband, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, PhotoBooth, XCode? ya if they included that stuff with OSX it'd be really ... expensive... oh, wait. well i'm sure all of that software is included with ULTIMATE VISTA ... oh, wait.

the software bundled with OSX is so good that paul thurrott wished microsoft could bundle such good software with windows.
http://www.connectedhomemag.com/HomeOffice/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=49259


so to recap:

i can get OSX which comes bundled with software MS wishes it could create, with all the features Vista promised (but dropped), for $129. oh but wait, Leopard is almost out. in three months, for $129, i can get all the features microsoft will be promising 4+ years from now in addition to great bundled software microsoft can't seem to copy.

[chris @ May 30th 2006 2:43PM]

I wouldn't care if they gave it away, no thanks. -Not Linus

[George Crawford @ May 30th 2006 3:03PM]

I am sorry to post so late in the chain, but I believe that the real bugbear is not the price of Windows but rather the steep decline in the US Dollar value.

The pricing reflects inflation not M$ taking advantage of a monopoly position.

600 USD for a gaming console and 450 USD for a operating system. Robber baron times and inflation to match!
:) George