Vista prices officially go down, but will consumer interest go up?
By Ryan Block 
posted February 29th 2008 2:23AM
posted February 29th 2008 2:23AM
What's that? You didn't take the risk and upgrade your PC to some crappy Intel-based machine Microsoft may or may not have known wouldn't run Vista as promised? Well, at least now you can get in on the latest version of Windows a little cheaper than yesterday: Ultimate full looks to be officially headed down to $320 from $400, and the upgrade is down to $220 from $260; Home Premium is now at $130 from $160. Will the dip be enough to entice plenty of new OS upgraders? Perhaps, but we think most of those that haven't already upgraded will probably just wait until their next PC so they can get Vista "free". But if you're looking to buy it boxed though, give it a bit for the new prices to propagate through the retail network -- not even Microsoft's site reflects the new Vista price points.
I agree people should test for themselves to see what they think. I tested it on many machines and it sucked on all of them - even using all the tweaks on the web, updating all the drivers, using SP1, updating all the post SP patches. Some people say you just need to use it on better equipment. If a Core2 3GHz processor and 2 gigs of ram isn't enough - what does it require to run well on a network? My point of comparison is the same machine running XP (linux is probably faster for some things but I didn't compare since linux doesn't run all the apps we use).
For people that don't have the time to test for themselves I'd recommend just googling Vista XP benchmarks (you can even put in SP1) if you like although SP1 didn't improve speeds as much as MS said it would.
Putting Vista on a super speedy new computer with plenty of memory, a fast hard drive, a fast network card, a fast video card and a very fast processor is like throwing an anchor overboard on your speed boat or deploying a parachute on your race car.
Would I like to see Vista as a viable alternative - that would be great but in my opinion anything that slows down the clients that much isn't a good thing.
For those that think it is super secure, I think (just my opinion) security is probably related to market percentage - I think if Vista had 50% or even 25% of the market hackers would spend more of their evil time working on hacks for Vista - but it is like a grafiti tagger writing on a park bench - do they tag the underside of the seat that no one sees or the back - the most visible part? I think OSX would be "less secure" if it owned more market share - I'm not saying OSX is not secure, I'm saying the number of hacks would go up if it had more market share.
I'm not sure I'd have Vista without MSDN-AA (that is, free), but I am really glad I have it. It works without problems and I do believe it to be an improvement.
It figures they would drop the price a week after I bought it.
apple can kill the sale of vista by selling os x leopard through all PC/notebook manufacturers...i am no apple fan boy, in fact I have been a windows admin for 9 years...but after trying Leopard on a Dell I think MS is in trouble if apple is willing to sell Leopard that will run on PC
if you give a mouse a cookie
your browser wouldnt have quit if you were using a mac.
but seriously that is a windows problem not an apple software problem, apple did not make the browser close, a windows protocol did
I've been trying Vista a few times here and there over the past year. In all honesty, I'm just not that impressed. The only version that seemed stable and took everything I threw at it was Vista Ultimate x64. Quad-core CPU, 8GB DDR2, 750GB HDx2, 3X HD3850 Crossfire.
I just the x32 version of Vista Ultimate (with 4GB DDR2) and it would crash and choke and drive me nuts.
No, unless they cut down the OEM price, which is still the same. Also vista still failed to even compare to xp, because vista still suff 20% slowdown over xp major setback for many xp user. Of course for those that buy brand pc had no choice but stick with vista. Vista need to release patch to fix the slowdown! also make more file backward compatible. and added some free feature that should also help.
Quit your whining about Vista's price.
I paid AT LEAST $200 for my full version of XP Home edition when it came out, and its not nearly as shiny as Vista.
Not to mention, everyone is so critical of Vista being stable, leave it alone. Did you use XP in the early days? It wasnt exactly stable either, it was just an improvement of '95/'98/2000/ME.
We are all used to an established OS. There are an unlimited number of drivers for XP, only because its had time to build.
My point is further proven as I see more and more people choose to switch because its getting better. All Vista needs is a market share, and the driver problems will work themselves out, because the manufacturers will have a reason to begin making drivers for the new OS.
Ive had Vista for almost a month and have had no problems, and it runs great. You cant tell me that its the worst OS ever. In fact, I used a .Mac for a few weeks while working on a project and had 3 BSoD equivalents. I have been using Vista about the same amount of time and havent had one yet!
*sigh* this reminds me of the good old days when Windows XP came out.Pretty soon you guys will get used to Vista and then when the next version of windows "Windows 7" comes out, the same thing is gonna happen again.
It's like a never ending circle!
I don't know about you all, but I see windows Vista having about the same significance as Windows ME. Doesn't really do much, except demand more hardware to run the same shit. The fact that they released it with 4 different levels is even more of an insult. They should just release Windows Vista, and Windows Server! Period. Its like they hired someone from General Motors and decided to make 4 cars that have the same engine, same chassis, but different name plates. I also don't like the name "vista". I would rather they call it windows OS 9 or something numeric. Once Windows 2009 comes out I will make the upgrade, Vista isn't even worth my time to download it for free off bittorrent. I would rather Bill Gates take over for the marketing, as we all know he doesn't have the creative talent to think up the name vista. He would have called it Windows 5.1 or something similar. Which would have been just fine.
Well I don't know about the price drop but vista home premium is on sale this week at Best Buy for $99
If they slashed the price in half, I might consider it. Nope, not even then. It's still Vista.
I've been running vista ultimate on my laptop now for a little bit and it runs perfectly, no issues and runs much smoother than XP.
People just tend to piggy back on other people's thoughts instead of going out and trying things for themselves. Sure it requires much better/faster hardware then XP so it all depends on what you have. People need to call down and realize that this is a NEW OS for NEWER hardware, of course it's gonna run like crap on your single core processor :)
I acually run it on my SC x64 3000 and have no problems what so ever. Although I do agree that most of the complaints are probably coming from ppl who upgrade from older P4's.
Of course Microsoft has ties with hardware makers, you know it and I know it. Now imagine that you simply could not afford:
- to replace all your programs
and
- a Dual proc system...
Just hand the money to Microsoft, they'll treat you right, is that the best way? Bah. To think I have a brain cell and I know how to use it.
I own and use XP64, and have used Vistabomonation, I suffer with the incompatibilities of Vistabomination, so, Marc, you are the rare bird.
If you can't afford to replace all your programs and hardware as you're saying, then don't upgrade, it's as simple as that. I'm sure you can still do everything you want to do with your XP64 system.
I'd love to upgrade my car to a ferrari, but i can't afford it. That doesn't mean I won't be able to get to work everyday or go wherever I want to go.
".....but will consumer interest go up?"
Answer: No
Ummm you could give it to me and I wouldn't take it.
When you shrink the footprint of the OS, increase speed and include usable new features, we will talk. Until then making me upgrade my hardware to run your OS..
Not ever.
As recommended by the Vista Upgrade Advisor software, I just upgraded from Windows Media Center 2005 (a slightly modified version of Win XP) over the weekend. During the install and configuration I actually got 2 Blue Screens -- on a new dual core CPU with 4GB ram.
So, from my perspective, even the software advisory as well as the stickers are misleading. XP is fine for now. As a software developer I can't even recommend upgrading to Vista. It provides few improvements and more frustration.
Fail.
OEM
Tried it. Lots of maintenance. During Beta testing, Beta2 was much better. About the Market and Laws of Demand... lower prices increasing demand only works if the demanded ... is a viable product. VISTA... takes no responsibility for compatibility. "Contact your manufacturer for driver updates" this after a minute or so for searching MS database.
Still, I'm not trading my VISTA anytime soon. Already I'm reaping rewards for resolving VISTA issues in my work environment. XP will eventually lose its support as has '98.
For votes sake...
"Wow"
Ooops that was meant to be...
OEM, all the way, baby.
I'd install Vista only when I have more than 2 PCs...
Ah, another price reduction, AFTER I buy something...
Story of my life
I am a 3D software developer and I will tell you first hand that developing for Vista is damn nearly impossible.
There are so many OS and driver bugs that you just cannot get your software to reliably work on it.
Perfectly bug free code that runs on XP and all hardware will just cause Vista to hard lock up.
The only thing you can do to even have a go at it is to turn Aero off and turn "XP" compatibility on. WTF is "XP" compatibility. We are writing to the Win32 API and DirectX. Why would that not be compatible?
This is not going to be enough. I have used Vista and it is so far off from being "done". Also, I'm really sick of all the different versions. Why can't they make one version with pretty much everything for one low price, like OS X (by the way, I don't use a Mac). I love XP, and am sticking with it for a while.
With all the negative press around the entire Vista launch, I really doubt even giving it away at this point.
For me, I really want to upgrade just to see it live and troubleshot it, but my laptops only a 1.6 with 2GB RAM and I think that wouldn't cut it.
I just launched a new site offering how to videos and could use some suggestions, it would be awesome if some of you could stop by and check it out.
www.beyourownit.com
the simple answer to that question is no. I bought a macbook pro in spite of hating everything about apple just not to have to use windows. I only use the vista partition to play games and when I can't figure how to do something on the apple crap and I don't have time to learn. Apple needs to ad a damn right mouse button and I'd be happier. But OSX (and I am a lifelong pc user I swear my desktop is still on xp) is better than vista
$30 for us college students.
but i still won't buy it.
Personally, only if the price dropped to about 20 bucks would i actually consider buying an os. I used to use xp, upgraded to a vista beta, tried the full ultimate vista, and then i had a computer crash for some reason. Anyway, long story short i now run ubuntu linux, and i would say for the casual user there is nothing better. You get better built in security (strength in low numbers is a plus), automatic updates for all software for free, adn let me emphasize again SOFTWARE FOR FREE. And most of it doesn't do a half bad job. Obviously your photoshops and such will do a better job then the free alternatives. One other thing, my computer actually runs quicker in linux then either xp or vista, i think because all the bloated unnecessary processes have been deleted.
Lee-nucks works for me. Why submit my wallet to such abuse? Microsoft releases a new OS which forces getting a new PC, just because some company trumped up some release schedule? Just hurry up and die, Microsoft, so we can gain market share without your FUD, ok?
Oh wait... this is a fanboy forum...
In short, NO
Vista offers so little in upgrade from XP, and provides you with a higher system requirement to slow you down and a bunch of silly things like changing the system interface around and endless popup "are you sure you want to change this settings?" messages. The deceiving marketing campaign aside, there is a heft price tag for this Vista "upgrade". I really don't hate Microsoft, but this whole Vista just doesn't make any sense to us consumers, and I think I speak for most businesses too.
Yay, now it's cheaper to completely F%&* my computer in ths A$$ !
Looks like Microsoft itself missed some news.
> Order from Microsoft
> Full Version
> Microsoft® Windows® Vista Ultimate English North America DVD
> $399.95
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=220d451e-930f-4a37-8256-a9ce067690ba&crumb=catpage&catid=ea710cad-37b0-4975-bcd6-abfee19961df#HowToBuy
I upgraded (yes, UPgraded) my lenovo/IBM laptop to Vista, and for the most part, it's worked out well. I have a bunch of computers - 4 surrounding me at my desk right now, and more lying around the house/office - and mostly I run XP Pro, XP Media Center, and/or XP Tablet Edition. It's nice that Vista Ultimate includes all these features, but truthfully, my day-to-day experience with each of these systems is not much different, one from another.
It was a pain upgrading my Lenovo, but once I got all the right drivers, it's really worked out quite well, though it doesn't really seem to run significantly better than XP. I do enjoy the newer look, though. I still have to reboot every few days, almost as often as I had to reboot XP.
To be fair, though, I run A LOT of different software packages in a given week - Quickbooks, CorelDraw, Illustrator, Parallels (so I can run XP and/or Linux within Vista), MapPoint, Office, a couple of professional embroidery/digitizing packages, a couple of industry-specific databases, ACT (contact management), FlexiSign (professional sign design/cutting/printing application), Picasa, Photoshop Express, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The O/S is bound to get a little mucked up with all this stuff coming and going.
I'd LOVE to switch to Linux - really, I would - but many of the programs I need are simply unavailable (industry-specific stuff, mostly) for Linux, and since I have to send files to other people, I'm pretty much locked into the MS Office/Adobe stuff, whether I like it or not.
I bought a new MacBook, and kinda liked it. In the end, I couldn't justify buying all new software for the different platform. Not to mention, I need portable internet access, and I didn't want to buy a new cell card (my lenovo has a verizon card built in). It just didn't make financial sense.
On top of that, I didn't feel cool or hip enough to use a Mac. There's some really fun stuff built into the O/S, and lots of it is really useful, I'm sure. With mine, it seemed I was spending more time playing than working. I'd love to sit around making imovies all day, or editing loops in garage band, or making funny, distorted pictures using the camera, but I'm too busy cranking out designs, editing graphics, creating spreadsheets, answering emails, keeping the books for my businesses.
Like it or not, I think I'm stuck with MS.