Vista released

[SteveSxx]

So the latest Microsoft rip off has been released .....
The cheapest Vista (home) retails at over �100 whereas in the US this is available at half this sum (�52)
Similar price hikes have been imposed throught the range - the most expensive ultimate edition costs a ridiculous �350
This is a "mere" �175 in the US - Why the price differential ?

[vehelpfulguy]

The price of many goods in the shops are not what they are worth, but what the company think people are willing to pay.

For example CRT TVs are now old hat, so you can pick up a 26" CRT TV for about �200.

But flat screen TVs are the big new thing, so a 26" flat screen TV is about �500 or �600.

I know there is a certain extra costs because they are new technology, but all flat screen TVs are WAY over priced.

But people are buying them, so the price will stay high (but it is dropping).

If the TV industry found people were NOT buying flat screen TVs then all of a sudden the price would tumble.

Obviously Microsoft think people are willing to pay that price so have set it high.

If it does not sell then you will start to see special offers, like a free mouse, or discount vouchers or something like that.

[vehelpfulguy]

An example about overpricing.

Toshiba released a TV last September, 26WLT66. it was �680 when it came out (only 4 months ago).

In fact it is still at that price on the Toshiba site
http://www.gottatoshiba.com/catalog/lcdplasma/ regza/26WLT66

A friend of mine was looking for this around Xmas (when all the shops were competing for business) and he found it at �500 in Currys.

I went into Comet over the weekend and it was �599.

Here it is online at �490.

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products /details/index~modelcode~TOS-26WLT66.htm

So in just 4 months the "price" has dropped from over �650 to under �500.

This is mainly because the market is now saturated with flat screen TVs so they can no longer charge a premium.

So most things are priced at what they hope to sell it for, not what they cost to build, or how much they are worth.

[SteveSxx]

If MS produced Cars

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

[rojash]

From the average user's point of view, here are the differences you will find if you purchase a copy of Vista:
1) Some of your existing programs won't work
2) The borders of the windows will be translucent if you have a good enough video card
3) Every time you try to do something, Windows will pop up a message asking you if you wish to continue
4) Any programs you have that use the Microsoft Desktop Engine for SQL Server will not run
4) There is now a little button on the quicklaunch bar that will show you a "3D" representation of all the windows you have open.

Personally, I would say that this is a rip-off at �5.20, never mind �52 or �100.

Still, I'm sure there are plenty of suckers out there who simply MUST have it, because it's the NEXT BIG THING!

[fo3nix]

If you want a better OS you should get Mac OS X.

Note that 'home' version is crippled in certain ways, read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista#Edi tions_and_pricing

[rojash]

I have to say fo3nix, that I can't think of a better time for anyone to consider a switch to Mac. After all, if you are about to change to an operating operating system which will almost certainly necessitate a change to your hardware, why not consider all the options?

In any case, even MS have to admit that there is little in Vista that doesn't already exist in Mac OS X.

Unfortunately, as a vertical market software developer, I'm stuck with Windows until (a) Apple increase their market share considerably, and (b) the Mac gets a development environment on a par with Borland Delphi.

[SteveSxx]

How much does the MAC OS cost ?

[OBonio]

Set yourself free :

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[fo3nix]

rojash: xcode, their developer tools, are excellent. But as you say, for a developer the Apple option isn't all that appealing given the lack of users right now compared to Windows.

And I wish GNU/Linux distributions like Ubuntu were great, but they just aren't yet. They all have the specific problem that they're designed by programmers, (I mean UI design etc.), plus they all have a habit of trying to recreate Windows to make switching easier for people, when they really should be trying to replicate Mac OS X's interface.

[sarah_louise]

If I am paying English UK prices rather than English US then I expect
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