Windows Vista too expensive says users

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 30 August 2006 14:43

Your IT - Home IT

An overwhelming majority of users say the prices of the various editions of Windows Vista as posted on a Microsoft website yesterday make the product too expensive, according to a new poll.

Microsoft Canada caused a stir throughout the global Windows user community when it posted a price list in Canadian Dollars of the upcoming Windows Vista operating system on its website.

The prices, when converted to US dollars put a range of US$233 for the basic home edition up to US$449 for the full bells and whistles Ultimate version.

Analysts at the time pointed out that the prices were likely to be slightly cheaper in the US. Their views appeared to be validated a few hours later when online retailer Amazon.com published a pre-order price range of US$199 for a Vista Home Basic DVD to US$399 for a Vista Ultimate DVD.

An iTWire poll posted not long after the Canadian prices came to light asked the question: Does a price range of US$233 to $449 make Vista too expensive? Of 655 respondents over 24 hours, 591 (90.2%) answered yes and 64 (9.8%) answered no.

To be fair to Microsoft, the US prices listed on Amazon are about 10% cheaper than the prices listed on the Microsoft Canada site. However, the majority of Windows users happen to live outside the US.