The RIDICULOUS PRICES!!!

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Guest

I have a HUGE question...
Well, It is small, but its hugely confusing me!!!

Here's a quote from the Windows Vista Ultimate page
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/ultimate.mspx):
"Suggested retail price for full package product, $399.00 USD. Suggested
upgrade retail price, $259.00 USD."

Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the difference is between the "full package
product" and the "upgrade"!!!!! There is $140 difference and if I can save a
whole $140, I flaming will!
 
upgrade is when you have other OS (Windows) that qualifies you for an
upgrade

Full product is when you don't. and you need a complete OS without the check
for a previous version.
 
Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the difference is between the "full
package
product" and the "upgrade"!!!!! There is $140 difference and if I can save
a
whole $140, I flaming will!
Click to expand...

You have answered your own question, the difference (for you) is $140 :-)

Most software is sold nowadays as either a full package or an upgrade
package. If you have a qualifying version of Windows installed and
activated then you can save the $140 and upgrade. If not you need the full
package.

If you scroll up the group there are a lot of posts about how upgrading
works in Vista. In summary it is different to previous versions of Windows
- you *must* have a qualifying version of Windows installed and activated
and you run the update to Vista from within that OS, not by booting the
DVD and showing it a qualifying CD.
 
One other point: the full version is supported by Microsoft as compared to
the OEM version, not mentioned in the OP's question, that is supported by
the computer manufacturer.
 
So, which would i need in order to upgrade my Windows XP Home to Winows Vista
Ultimate?
 
my question exactly...i'm running a copy of a academic version of windows xp
pro, the full version...would mine qualify for upgrading? oh, i'm also runing
the RC2 evaluation copy build 5744...
 
One more question though,
(i know im probably getting quite annoying with my questions by now!)
Does anyone know ANY retail outlets that will be selling Visa Ultimate for
that price ($259)?
 
The end result it identical. Your options in getting there are what you
pay extra for.
 
I'm assuming most places will. Most places will probably sell Home Basic,
Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. (Probably both upgrade and full
editions.) It's kind of funny also because it only costs $10 less to get
the full version of Home Premium than to get the upgrade version of
Ultimate. I do think it is rediculous that Microsoft charges $100 to $140
more for the full version of an OS when the only thing different is you get
an extra right or two, but that's just my opinion. Think about it - you
could can an upgrade version of Vista Ultimate and Home Premium for the same
price that you can get one full version of Ultimate.
 
Could you lol define and parse "supported ***by MSFT*** because those of us
helping in the groups for years are the real quality "support" and we aren't
by MSFT. MSFT to date has published little of substance on their websites
on Vista. They have buried the Vista beta chats on blogs like Jill
Zoeller's selectively. Technet and MSDN have little of substance and the
product guide RTM is a chearleading manual that dismisses major components
in 2 sentences or so.

You mean Convergys of Ohio from Cinncinnaiti hiring minimum waged butts in
seats in India, most of whom are so poorly trained they know nothing about
Windows any flavor including Vista or Office and are doing well to find the
start button. Subenterprise you're not going to get "support by MSFT" and
isolated little emails like Jeff experienced with Jill aren't "support by
MSFT" ; they are just early on anxiety because MSFT knows what a pig they
put the lipstick on; that they ignored thousands of bug reports and shipped
the bugs because they believed anything they put in a box and slapped the
logo on would sell at exhoribtant prices that screw nuclear families.

No Mo Softie Fan Boys--they're spineless girls!
 
First off, ask this of yourself:

1. Do you plan on using your system in a domain?
2. Do you plan on using Windows Media Center?
3. Do you plan on backing up and restoring your whole PC as a drive image?
4. Do you plan on playing DirectX 10 games?
5. Do you plan on using EFS?
6. Do you plan on watching DVD movies with Windows Media Player?

If you answered yes to 1,3, 5, and no to 2,4,6 then you should look into
Business Edition. If you have no idea what 1,3,5 are and are focused on
2,4,6 then Home Premium will be fine for you.
 
I have a HUGE question...
Well, It is small, but its hugely confusing me!!!

Here's a quote from the Windows Vista Ultimate page
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/ultimate.mspx):
"Suggested retail price for full package product, $399.00 USD. Suggested
upgrade retail price, $259.00 USD."

Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the difference is between the "full package
product" and the "upgrade"!!!!! There is $140 difference and if I can save a
whole $140, I flaming will!
Click to expand...

Actually, most home users will never need Vista Ultimate.

They can easily purchase Vista Home Premium (upgrade) for only $159.
This is very much in line with the former OEM prices of XP
Professional. Additionally, it allows the owner to transfer his
license to other machines, if necessary, unlike the OEM licenses,
which required that the license remain with the original machine, and
which no longer allow for even a Motherboard upgrade or replacement.

Vista Home Premium has all the advanced media features of Vista
Ultimate, including the full Aero desktop, as well as Windows Media
Center, without the advanced business functions of Vista Business and
the advanced development and networking functions of Vista Ultimate.

Only hobbyists or enthusiasts would want to purchase Vista Ultimate,
because they are under the mistaken impression that Vista Ultimate is
like XP Pro. Vista Ultimate is very much a professional product, and
aimed at developers rather than home users, hobbyists, or enthusiasts.

Vista Home Premium Upgrade is an extremely good value for the majority
of non-business/non-technical/non-developer users.

I suspect that Microsoft will garner the largest share of sales of
Vista from Vista Home Premium.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
-----------------------------------------------------
 
You have answered your own question, the difference (for you) is $140 :-)

Most software is sold nowadays as either a full package or an upgrade
package. If you have a qualifying version of Windows installed and
activated then you can save the $140 and upgrade. If not you need the full
package.

If you scroll up the group there are a lot of posts about how upgrading
works in Vista. In summary it is different to previous versions of Windows
- you *must* have a qualifying version of Windows installed and activated
and you run the update to Vista from within that OS, not by booting the
DVD and showing it a qualifying CD.
Click to expand...

This is because the Vista upgrade disks are no longer bootable. This
is really unfortunate, and very unwieldy. But it is certainly not
necessary, since the upgrade disks can still do "clean" installations.

It also has its obvious advantages, such as being able to use an
upgrade disk to install Vista clean on an Apple Intel Macintosh.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
-----------------------------------------------------
 
Donald L McDaniel said:
This is because the Vista upgrade disks are no longer bootable. This
is really unfortunate, and very unwieldy. But it is certainly not
necessary, since the upgrade disks can still do "clean" installations.
Click to expand...

How can you call it a "clean" installation when the prior version of Windows
must be installed and activated before the upgrade disk can be used??? :-)
 
This may not be the best place to put this question but, I just bought a Core
2 laptop 2 weeks ago, and i can have the xp home to Vista home basic upgrade.
My questions are:
1) if use the upgrade coupon and install Vista home basic can I later
upgrade to Ultimate? How much would that cost?

2) can I pay a fee now with my upgrade coupon of home basic and get a
Ulitmate upgrade instead?
 
See:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/3af7e05f-4d2a-4af7-a168-9242f9093bb81033.mspx
and
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/37070041-1b90-4433-be0c-ab2855841b981033.mspx
Ed Bott gave some screen shots at http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=1269

The coupon is provided by the manufacturer and not by Microsoft directly and
whether or not you can pay the fee now to upgrade the coupon is something
you need to review at the manufacturer's website. It you can, I would.
Home Premium makes a lot more sense to me than Home Basic.
 
How can you call it a "clean" installation when the prior version of Windows
must be installed and activated before the upgrade disk can be used??? :-)
Click to expand...

Well, because before Vista is installed in that situation, the HD is
wiped "clean" (if you CHOOSE to do it).

What's the difference between wiping the HD BEFORE you start the Vista
Installer, or AFTER?

Some people never learn the simple lessons, I guess.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
-----------------------------------------------------
 
See:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/3af7e05f-4d2a-4af7-a168-9242f9093bb81033.mspx
and
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/37070041-1b90-4433-be0c-ab2855841b981033.mspx
Ed Bott gave some screen shots at http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=1269

The coupon is provided by the manufacturer and not by Microsoft directly and
whether or not you can pay the fee now to upgrade the coupon is something
you need to review at the manufacturer's website. It you can, I would.
Home Premium makes a lot more sense to me than Home Basic.
Click to expand...

It depends. Some Vista upgrades allow this, but some do not.

But you would be able to later change to Vista Ultimate, though you
would have to purchase a Full Retail edition of Vista Ultimate, and
install it "clean", since an upgrade to an upgrade is not a valid
upgrade path for Vista (or any version of Windows, for that matter).

Now, if the Upgrade coupon you receive is an "Anytime Upgrade", you
would be able to later upgrade to Vista Ultimate at a reduced price.

You would have to speak to your laptop manufacturer about that.

But Colin's advice is good advice: Talk to the manufacturer who sold
your computer to you. They would be able to inform you of the value
of your coupon much better than Microsoft would be able to.

They might even have a different coupon (for a higher price, of
course), which would allow you to upgrade XP Home to Vista Ultimate
rather than Vista Home Basic, if that is what you have your heart set
on. But you WILL have to pay a price premium for Vista Ultimate.

However, I advise home users to purchase Vista Home Premium, since the
greater majority of such users will never use the advanced backup,
business, networking, and software development features of Business or
Ultimate.

Most home users want to be able to run a basic home network, back up
their files from time to time, play games, use Office in Internet
mode, use their legacy apps, and use the Windows Media Center features
of Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate. And most want to have the
advanced graphics abilities of Vista. These functions are all in
Vista Home Premium, including the Aero Desktop (if their hardware is
good enough, of course). And an upgrade to Vista Home Premium (from
Windows XP Home Full Retail or Generic OEM or Vista Home Basic Full
Retail) is only $159, well in line with the older Generic OEM prices
for XP Professional (from $139 to $179), with the addition of being
able to transfer their licenses to another machine when necessary.

Personally, if I were you, I would just reject the coupon and go ahead
and spring for an upgrade of Vista Home Premium (IF your version of
Home is Full Retail or Generic OEM Full) at $159. You would save
money in the long run.

Depending, of course, on whether the coupon you get is for an Express
Upgrade, or an "Anytime" upgrade. The "Anytime" upgrade coupon is
more valuable, since you would be able to upgrade to Business or
Ultimate using the same coupon, if you should decide to, later on, for
a smaller premium than you would pay if you used an Express upgrade
(in the case of an Express Upgrade, you would have to pay the FULL
price to change to Business or Ultimate, since you are not able to
change to a higher version from Home Basic Upgrade without paying the
full price for a full version).

Is this confusing to you? It is to me. But that is what we have to
live with now that Vista has been released.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
-----------------------------------------------------
 
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