Microsoft Lowers Prices for Vista Home Premium and Ultimate

In a move that no one saw coming, Microsoft has made the decision to lower the price of a few select versions of Windows Vista. The affected versions will include both Home Premium and Ultimate, with the latter dropping to $219 from $299 and Home Premium to $129 from the original $159.

Although I’m sure adoption of Vista had more to do with the OS itself more so than the price, these drops are fantastic for those looking to jump onto the Vista bandwagon. VP of Windows Marketing, Brad Brooks, noted that in tests done, lowering the price of Vista was more efficient overall. Though they were earning less per copy, the sheer volume went up, overshadowing the downsides.

I will admit though… I made the decision to upgrade the Windows machine to Vista 64-Bit in order to experience using the OS full-time and so far have not run into major issues, like I have in the past. For some reason, I seem to have less problem with the 64-Bit version than I do with the 32-Bit, despite the weaker software support. How long this trouble-free run will last, I’m unsure.

“I guess at the end of the day anything that makes Vista a little bit more accessible is probably a good thing,” he said, but added that a cut in the price computer makers pay would have a far bigger impact, given new PC licenses account for 80 percent of Vista sales. “The whole notion of upgrading PCs has sort of fallen by the wayside.”

Source: News.com