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- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -18/+88compared to $0 for ubuntu and openoffice? ha!
- Steaminx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47I REFUSE to pay that much for that type of software. I agree that MS:Office is amazing, but that is entirely too much money for that suite.
In the words of Dave Chapelle: "That's crack prices!" - Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -17/+55"Ultimate Vista" The worst product name ever!! Who's with me?
- Vertabreaker, on 10/12/2007, -10/+47When did Microsoft jump on the PS3 wagon?
- mog0, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24This price is for the Ultimate edition of Office 2007 and as such is aimed purely at those who will be pushing office to it's limits. As such any comparison to OpenOffice is pointless as it can't compete at that level. It is only worthwhile comparing OpenOffice with the basic editions of Office 2007, which are MUCH cheaper. OpenOffice is only a viable replacement for those who aren't using all of the fancy server collaboration features and other such advanced stuff.
- CSflim, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24This article is about the *most expensive* edition out of seven available editions of Vista and the *most expensive* edition out of eight available editions of Microsoft Office.
For people who don't require all of the functionality provided, there are plenty of other cheaper alternatives. Most home users, are likely to go for Vista Home Basic + Office Home or Vista Home Premium + Office Standard or something along those lines.
That the two most expensive editions of Microsoft's flagship products don't come cheap should be a bit of a no-brainer. But no one is forcing you to go for the *Ultimate* editions of either. - shakin, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24@dimalife
I don't think you've ever used OpenOffice Calc if you say it can't handle large files. I specifically use it over MS Office 2003 because it deals with large files much better, although that damn 64,000 row limit kills me with both MS and OO (I edited the Gnumeric source to remove that limit, but Gnumeric doesn't do everything I need).
OpenOffice Calc also works much better with CSV and space-delimited files than MS Excel. Considering the row limit, working with CSV makes sense for me where possible because it's easy to join and split CSV when I have 200,000 rows. I have also found OO Calc's function set to be much richer than Excel's.
One major bonus with Calc is that with space-delimited files I can edit them and then re-save them without losing the formatting.
Personally, I think Excel has a long way to go before it's at all viable for what I do. I just can't have my spreadsheet app screwing up the formatting on me (man... don't even get me started on how it fails to properly quote CSV fields). - hchaudh1, on 10/12/2007, -21/+36Hmmm...
Ubuntu Office suite Web server IDE's graphing tools Image software .... = $0
Vista Ultimate Office hardware upgrades = $679 $450 $800 TAX = $2000 (approx.)
Knowing that I could keep using Ubuntu and buy an Xbox Xbox 360 PS2 PS3 Wii PSP an iPod for the same amount = PRICELESS! - JakeMcMahon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find the 'Ultimate Bittorrent'
- Mr.White, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Well, with Microsoft trying to stop pirating and open source, you'd think the last thing they would do is give a huge reason to go with either of those options. At $679, I think I will just bittorrent it.
- shakebabies, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17I hear Pirate Bay is going to offer discounted prices on these.
- radison2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Price tags don't seem to faze corporate america
- ModernTenshi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Vista Ultimate: $450
Single license copy of OS X: $129.99
5-license copy of OS X: $199.99
Decent Linux distro: $0
Hmmm . . . . - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17Wow. If you upgrde to Vista you might as well get a new car.
- joelito, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9It's a lot of work to design a decent program that fits in a floppy.
- Jangles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10And then they wonder why people pirate their software.
- computerdude33, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12A. It's Mac mini. Not iMac mini.
B. The version of OO.o that runs natively is NeoOffice/J. - Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Exactly it's a joke! That's why Bill Gates is the richest man in the world.
Leopard will be $129 when it comes out too. - noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13When I see an OS that is put together like a Mercedes and not a Pinto I'll let you know what I expect. So far your joking if you think Vista is going to be a Mercedes and retarded if your going to pay thatmuch for the pleasure.
It amazes me how an OS, that is going to require the PC world to double their basic specs just to adequately support, can be considered good. But you'll all just run off and buy a new compute just so you can make Bill gates happy. - dimalife, on 10/12/2007, -21/+29and yet time is money. OpenOffice isn't a viable substitute for Office for somebody who uses office for more than just writing essays for school - OpenOffice's spreadsheet tool can't handle large files, OpenOffice's Base isn't half baked yet, etc... Most importantly, if somebody is sufficinetly profficient with MSOffice, the time it would cost him to make a switch and become equally profficient with OO will long negate any financial gain from not paying the extra buck. Same applies to Windows - especially for gamers... I wanna see the next gamer that debates windows vs ubuntu...
Common sense guys, common sense - ronintetsuro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Let's face it. Of course Microsoft doesn't expect the average consumer to pay those prices. Microsoft has long made the home market a second priority. This price is for the companies who buy licenses in bulk because they've been convinced that they MUST HAVE the latest version of Windows or their *copious support* will disappear!
Microsoft milking the business set that can afford to be milked. Nothing to see here. People who freak out aren't reading the article, and most likely have never bought an off the shelf copy of Windows in their life. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Actually buddy, the "money" isn't in windows development. From network administrators, to web and software developers,... Microsoft guys are a dime a dozen. Being such, your market value as an assett drops.
Why don't you compare your salary to someone who does something similar for another OS? It's a bit more rare to find , but they're out there.. and i'd lay money down, they're making more than you.
And i'm not talking someone who just makes FOSS, working on a platform and making FOSS are 2 different things. - KilgoreCarp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Are these prices official? Office has always been insanely expensive unless you go for the education version, so I can believe its crazy ultimate edition would cost that much, but "$450 or so" doesn't sound like an official price for vista ultimate. Any sources?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Meanwhile, Ubuntu Dapper ships for free:
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
Is it just me or is there a media blackout about Linux on almost every news channel? Whenever Windows is touted, please contact your local news network and tell them about Linux. - 2gunnZ, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Guess I will be using XP for awhile longer.
- floejoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6How much do you think you should pay for something that has taken 5 years to develop? People do get paid at Microsoft for their work.
$700 seems reasonable, considering how much time and money has gone into making the product, and the company still has to make a profit, so there is probably a significant markup there.
I'm sure Microsoft could push it all out at only $20, if they didn't have to pay any of their engineers, any distribution, any support, advertising and other financial hurdles that come with successfully releasing a product into the market.
I will not likely pay $700, but I still don't think it is exhurberant, considering what all goes into it. - Pokelicious, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9I don't think the price tag will switch current users of Office 2003 to OpenOffice, they'll stick with what they know and won't bother upgrading. No new software costs, no new training costs.
- raccettura, on 10/12/2007, -9/+13Just sad how much they abuse their market position.
Don't tell me they need to charge that to make up for development costs... almost every computer in the world has it installed. - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4How will Windows Vista and Office 2007 increase productivity when all they'll be doing is wasting precious resources for their worthless new interfaces? Corporate America would be wise to just stick with Windows XP and Office 2003 if they *need* to use Windows.
- JasonPrini, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11I'd get an iMac mini and OpenOffice {or other open-source office} for the same price.
Plus you don't need to spend $450 for Vista Ultimate, you get OS 10.4 with the iMac mini. - nato64, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Why? Because Linux isn't for the average computer user. I honestly think people are joking when they're trying to argue this. I feel like a broken record, but what the hell are people thinking when they say that Linux will replace Windows? I actually agree that it's far better than Windows. But it won't go further than servers and computer-lovers. Mainstream? Ya, you keep thinking that way...
- qpid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Sigh...
These are the prices for the most EXPENSIVE versions of office and windows.
I'm sure when this is released you can get a cheapy emachine at Best Buy with Vista Basic pre-installed for ~$300 like you currently can with xp home, and you can still download openoffice onto it. - noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I've got Windows XP, OSX Tiger and SuSE Linux (older version). OSX has better looks, XP is for school and Office (and because I can't currently spare the money for a new photoshop license on the Mac) and Linux is just there as an attempt to get experience in somthing that is frequently gracing my job searches.
As for upping your specs looking through Microsofts own crud (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/evaluate/hardware/vistahardware.mspx) seems to suggest that what is considered a decent system now (most of the cheaper pre-built systems) aren't going to be enough. Yes you will be able to run it but what is the point of paying a small fortune to upgrade to an OS that is going to benefit you with a decrease in performance while allowing you to run half of what you payed for?
Vista is bloated every way you look at it. OSX runs splendidly on a dual-core Intel and 512mb of ram. Load Vista (Microsofts supposed answer to Vista) with the same features running and you will be looking at a basic gui with sluggish performance. - jamin86, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7"reports have already been flooding in about how good the new Windows Vista is"
From where? The microsoft marketing department? - evangelion01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Just get the damn OEM version from emule when it comes out, free. I really dont pirate stuff, but come on, 600bucks? tahts just over doing it, the max i'll ever pay for an os would be 200bucks and it better be complete and not just a cut down versiont hat wont let me do crap.
- dolphumous, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6How does this guy know it's going to be "$450 or so"? Sounds like an educated guess to me.
What OS do you/your business/employer use right now? Probably XP Pro and that's STILL $300 for the full version...
I agree it's a steep price but how much do you think an OEM copy will be? $200? $250?
If DX10 is all that it's cracked up to be...I'd buy it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5and the ultimate virus that accompinies it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4In the UK, the story is even more extreme
Mac OS X (single) £80 ($148)
Windows XP home edition (full, non upgrade) £170 ($315)
Windows XP pro edition (full, non upgrade) £260 ($482!!)
(upgrade versions do not compare as OS X always comes as a full product) - nato64, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Because... you know, Linux is SO ready for the consumer market...
Let me in on what the hell you're smoking, I want some. - twertyto, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Thanks but I'll wait for the 'super ultimate' version of Vista to come before I lay my money down.
- noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -11/+14Yes you can buy Linux... however you are paying for support and packaging, not the software itself.
@zatrix: Idiots who constantly use the term "fanboy" in place of "user" make me laugh. - dtfinch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Microsoft did away with most errors in XP, with the advent of automatic reboots. Windows is almost error-free now, unless you reenable them.
- Gills, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I don't know too many ppl who have a legal copy of Office on their computer. and of those not many actually need office since most just use word and only about 10% of the features of word.
furthermore, who says u need to upgrade to the latest version, i'm trying to think what major advances has been added to the last few versions of office. - NinelivesGrey, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8As one of the 'kiddies' the demand for an operating system at that time was minimal, the 2400 baud modem was the equivalent of T1/3 hardware now for what it got you, and the mouse was only useful if you were in Xerox. So, from that perspective, you were getting those (DOS,modem,mouse) at a fairly cheap price.
Inflation makes this about the same for Windows as it was for DOS then, with Vista coming out as barely more affordable. The problem is that instead of actually being worth the money, or the company having to recuperate costs based on a small user group, this comes close to price gouging. - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"Most importantly, if somebody is sufficinetly profficient with MSOffice, the time it would cost him to make a switch and become equally profficient with OO will long negate any financial gain from not paying the extra buck."
Have you seen the Office 2007 interface? OpenOffice looks more like MS Office than Office 2007 does. There's more of a learning curve with switching to Office 2007 than with OpenOffice. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+12FUD? How is it FUD?
Awww.. someone's MCSE certified and is getting butthurt... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9It's not exactly FUD to say, save yourself 700 bucks and stick with XP/2003 or to go to some thing free (Linux) or something cheaper (OS X).
I don't see this as a mainly FOSS promoting FUD. Hell stay with Microsoft, but if you want to go the legal route.. i see no reason to upgrade. If you go the illegal route, i couldn't possibly justify purchasing this. Increase Pirate Bay's bandwidth usage for all i care. - ratbear, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5The vast majority of end users aren't going to be getting a retail license copy of Vista Ultimate. They will get an OEM copy preinstalled by the hardware manufacturer, which is much, much cheaper.
- trollenlord, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5DigDuality, no one forces you to buy the 700 dollar edition that was meant to be sold only for some light skimming tactic. If you ignore the fact that there are also cheaper editions (that actually are for you aok) you're nothing but slinging FUD yourself.
- CSflim, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6@Ireland
I don't see what's so confusing about it:
Two versions for home users (Home Basic and Home Premium)
Two versions for office users (Business and Enterprise)
and an edition that combines both the Home and Office extras (Ultimate)
(The Starter edition is for emerging markets and so won't be available in the US and most "western" countries). -
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