News New Vista and Office have ultimate pricepoint

Windows: $300 <==> Linux: FREE...

So monopoly? don't think so... How can a company have a monopoly if there are plenty of free alternatives? People choose to buy Windows, not because there's no other, just because they are to lazy or to uninformed to get the alternative.

And what do you think pays for the huge Developement / bugfix cost? People's nice eyes?

 

I think I'll stick with Windows XP... or simply switch to Ubuntu linux... it runs faster and looks shinier.

Seriously though, I don't care for the snazzy effects there's gonna be in windows vista, I doubt it'll be easier to navigate than previous OSes.

DirectX 10 will do nothing for me... I have an ATI X800GTO 128mb, 'nuff said? I'll most likely be running everything in DirectX 9 still...

 

This is the beauty of all the open source solutions that have begun to circle about. If you don't need Vista, don't use it! Rather than pirate, put your money where your mouth is and use something within what you WANT to pay for an os.

This isn't like the music industry, guys. There's a lot of actual CHOICE in this one. Need cheaper? Don't do ultimate. Need cheaper than that? Become a penguin head.

All in all, I think the funniest thing of all this is the signature specs of some of the whingers' machines. If you're running 7800's in SLI, I don't really want to hear that you won't cough up for something that will last you a lot longer than that $900 of graphical space heaters will provide.

 

Good points as ever Da Dego. However, we all know 7800's in SLI deliver, you buy them, you get kick ass graphics. We're all used to windows now too, and we're all used to the problems it comes with. It doesn't deliver, and when something doesn't do what it should be doing for a regular sum of money, a large sum of money does seem rather rediculous.

I don't care about ultimate though, MythTV will do a PVR better then anything else, all I need windows for is gaming, and thats changing at a moderate pace.

 

Cut the **** with the "Windows is an investment" Guys. If that's going to be your standpoint, then i'll charge you $550 for a piece of **** tin case. Oh? What do you mean you don't use that either, every day.

I paid $220 for an OEM copy of XP-Pro back in the day, and while i don't regret it, i'm sure as hell not paying just under $500 for some bells, whistles, and a pair of testicles that do a dangly doo in place of your fuzzy dice. There's a point of "Investment" and a point of idiocy. Not to mention the fact that, does anyone else find it curious that the price of EVERYTHING is falling in the PC world, yet Microsoft is wanting to be there, to help it rise?

 

Can't think of another top of the line product I can get for my PC that costs that much. Can't think of another piece of my PC except the case that'll last five years. Can't think of another piece of my PC that'll get free upgrades and bugfixes over it's life time. Can't think of anything on my PC that'll return the same usage/dollar ratio. Can't see any reason why it's not worth $450. Linux, free if your time is cheap.

 

Well, i know most hardware gets driver updates and bug fixes fairly regularly, and i know quite a few people that have been running $500 rigs for 5 years, soo...

 

Yup. In all its glitchy, half-arsed over-priced glory. People buy XP Home/Pro now. Just like they buy graphics cards and other components. Its because they're a necissity for that person's machine, not because they agree that the price is right. I think $500 for a graphics card is insane. I have to run one generation behind. I'll be starting Doom III / Quake 4 at the end of summer when most others will have played it to death by then. People by Windows either cause they want to game, or because they don't know any better, or because that's what most "standard files" come on. Personaly, I love Macs. But they can't do **** for gaming because guess who has Direct X? And I wouldn't even bother to pirate Vista except that it'll have Direct X 10, and guess where all the games will be? Exactly.

Screw Microsoft. Capitalism is one thing, a monopoly is another.

(And don't you argue that Windows is as good as OSX. Windows Movie Maker vs iMovie (or iLife?). I'll bet you Movie Maker crashes 4 times in the progress of making something.)

 

But, most people DO use it every day...

 

So? I bet you use that nice monitor of yours every day too, and i bet it's cheaper than the one you bought before it...

 

Speaking of monitors...

Martox Triple Head to Go -- $300
17" LCD Monitor x3 -- $600
---
Total -- $900

Bet with that remaining $200, i could pick up a nice stand too.

 

**** that! Total rip off yet again

I'll be sticking with WinXP.

 

Actually no,... And I'll make the analogy... If you go from a 15" CRT to a 24"TFT you expect to pay less? You seem to forget that this is the "Ultimate" version of Vista, with all the bells and whistles... Like XP pro and MCE combined, with lots more... So your logic is quite flawed...

 

I'm not talking about that piece of **** you picked up from grandma's garage sale last saturday. I'm talking about the fact that you probably spent upward of $200 on your last monitor, and to hop over to a 19" LCD from, say a 19" CRT, you'd pay the same, if not less now a days.

As to the "Ultimate" Version, it has MCE integrated, so what? I get a pretty little menu that i can get with any media program, plus a few little things? It's a joke, come on. Honestly, how many features of the U do you think you'll actually use, especially considering they'll leave some critically needed feature for us out up to this rev?

 

windows XP pro, when it came out was £120

i believe it has come down in price

I do a fair bit of stuff with networking, so i really need to run Pro

i hate how Home edition makes everything dumber for you

and also cuts out some important features

 

Tell that to anyone who's shopped at any store other than an Apple store (ie Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, Costco, UK/EU equivalents). Windows is the ONLY choice. If you don't build your own computer, you WILL pay for a license of windows, whether or not you want it.

Now as for Office, well, I can get by fine with Wordpad but I tend to use OpenOffice most of the time. It's mail merge feature is horrible, but aside from that it does everything I want to do perfectly (and I'm using mail merge to catalog and label my DVD collection plus barcoding for kicks, not sending out letters; it works sorta-well enough for normal letters). I do all of my writing in OOo, and use open source software for everything where it's an option. I use Windows for gaming and... that's about it. So paying out the wazoo for a piece of software that allows me to use my other software is a bit unreasonable to me, especially considering how bad that first piece of software really is.

OTOH, my new MBP included a copy of OSX, which aside from not having a draconian activation system, tends to work pretty darn well and includes just about everything that I need (once there's a proper OSX version of OOo I'll be using that, for now it's Office for Mac 2004 which ironically is about ten times better than any version of Office I've used for Windows). For $100 which includes not only a functional OS but a ton of other genuinely useful stuff, I'm not that bothered to pay (especially seeing that a five-license pack is only $130 or something); $200 for a retail copy of a limited-functionality version of Windows (XP Home) that's as secure as [bad metaphor] and as stable as a stoned alcoholic that includes lots of useless junk but not stuff that you actually need seems just a little bit insane.

I'll be with XP for as long as I can stick it out when I need to use Windows, and I have no intent to pay Microsoft more than $35 for Vista once it becomes a requirement. If they have a version with that pricepoint that'll let me do my new dx10-requiring games, then I'll cough up; if not, I've got a certain one-eyed Swedish website that never lets me down. Yarr!

 

I definitely wont be upgrading at those sort of prices when XP MCE which I have is pretty much perfect for my needs.

Just pushes me more towards my position of using the PC for the net and media centre stuff, and consoles for all my gaming - which is a heck of a lot cheaper anyway.

 

1: XP home came out here at about 500€ in our past courency, sold like hotcakes, people bought crapy computers that had a licence of it and used it on their main rig, i have one of those copies, XP home without any SP, now i can buy a OEM for 100€ here.

2: $450 for a OS.......its the ultimate version and it will get its price cut a short time after, anyway my plans are to wait and see the evoltution of this.

3: maybe buy the basic version for DX10 games and use linux for everyting else.

4: $500 graphic cards are f***ing insane, and i would not buy one even if i had the cash.

5: $679 for office is on the inclined side of the BS, i hope they choke on the cash.

666: M$ IS EVIL!!!!!!!!! they want to force you to buy it with DX10 and halo2 and with the suspension of the suport for XP.

7: i bet vista will get a SP 4 months after it launches.

 

Windows monopoly? On What? Linux, OSX...

No hardware I've had gets driver updates and big fixes for 5 years. Longest running so far would be the IC7-G, that had about 2-1/2 years of support which was nice... but so it should for the price. I know heaps of people running $500 PCs for 5 years... the fact that they can't play games, and live in eternal frustration doesn't bother me. I wonder if those people are the people that this full on version of Vista is aimed at.... You're grasping at straws.

My 19" LCD cost me $500 (well actually $1000 cause I brought two, a year ago). My previous 19" CRT cost me $260. Not only that, I've my heart set on the ~$1500 30" Dell LCD... oh dear, more expensive yet again.

I don't have to upgrade straight away, so I'm expecting to run out a full 5-6 years on my initial $400 investment in XP Pro. I spend more on soft drink a year. Hell I spent more on memory last year. Not only that, I can buy an OEM version with my next motherboard, and that'll cut the price in half.

If you think that's overpriced, you'd probably blub like a baby at $35k for SQL Server Enterprise Edition. I suspect you have no concept as to what effort is expended to produce professional software.

(all prices in $USD)

 

lmao like microsoft dont already have enough money. Charging a premium for such softwares im glad piracy exists. Go to hell microsoft.