FULL WINDOWS VISTA PRICING

Microsoft's New Zealand pricing for Vista has been released and is outlined below. It's pretty much what was widely expected. Windows won't be cheap but here's th ething - how many people will actually be buying a new copy off the shelf?

Most people will be either upgrading, buying discounted copies, getting it bundled with a new machine or taking advantage of various discounts that are available to students and the like. Anyway, an upgrade to Home Premium seems to be about the best value ($349). Vista Home Basic doesn't have Media Center bundled into it, so if you're planning on using your computer to run media through your TV, you'll probably want to stump up for the Premium version.

All prices are Recommended Retail Prices including GST. It is possible that retailers may offer discounts or special prices.

VISTA version RRP incl gst
Home Basic Full $499
Home Basic Upgrade $259
Home Prem Full $589
Home Prem Upgrade $349
Home Prem Academic Upgrade $199
Business Full $729
Business Upgrade $499
Ultimate Full $979
Ultimate Upgrade $649

Microsoft says:
By way of comparison, here are the historical prices for similar Windows XP packages. Vista Home Basic ($499) compares with XP Home (formerly $539). Vista Business ($729) lines up with XP Pro (formerly $799). When Vista and 2007 Office system are launched on 30 January, the prices of these XP packages will drop to match the comparable Windows Vista packages. So: Vista is actually slightly cheaper than XP was retailing for.

Windows XP SP2 Home Full $539
Windows XP SP2 Home Upgrade $279
Windows XP SP2 Pro Full $799
Windows XP SP2 Pro Upgrade $539
Windows XP SP2 Pro Upgrade Academic $219