Windows Vista Price, Do you think it is ok?
It was one day afternoon, I had no work to do in my
office, I was feeling bored. I took up a PC magazine
and started reading it. There was a topic on Windows
Vista, which was very good. I was excited about it.
In the article I could not find any information about
pricing. So, I decided to go online my self in search
of pricing information on Windows Vista… OK…
Fine. Now let us start our discussion by talking about
what is meant by pricing.
Pricing utility ratio
Products developed are sold to the customers. The customers
will give something on purchasing the goods. The seller
will charge some amount to the customer depending on
the time, resources and energy he spent to develop the
product. This is called as pricing. Pricing is one of
the deciding factors in purchasing a product. There
may be other factors that decides sale of the product.
But, ultimately it is the pricing, utility ratio that
decides whether to purchase the product or not. Now
let us divert our discussion on Windows Vista pricing.
The new product from Microsoft, the operating system
Windows Vista which was released during Jan 2007 has
five major editions. They are Starter, Home, Business,
Enterprise, and Ultimate. The Home Edition comes in
two sub versions called Home Basic and Home Premium.
Therefore, it is better to study their features and
also their prices separately.
Starter 2007 edition
The starter 2007 edition is for users who are new to
the computing world. It is a subset of Home Basic edition,
which will be available only for 32 bit computers. Starter
will not support 64-bit, as well as x64 bit computers.
This edition allows only three applications to run
simultaneously. This means there cannot be more than
three windows opened. The Vista starter edition provides
internet connectivity, but, will not provide fast user
switching, incoming communication facility.
The starter edition of Windows Vista is almost similar
to starter edition of Windows XP. This edition of Windows
Vista lacks in features like, aero user interface, support
for castle based networking, DVD Authoring, Gaming support
and image editing.
This edition will be only suited for new users who
are just introduced themselves to the computer world.
The pricing of this edition will be less when compared
to the other editions of Windows Vista.
Home Basic edition
The next improved edition of Windows Vista is Home Basic
edition. Being a subset of Home edition, it focuses
on home users. It is the baseline version of Windows
Vista. It includes all features that will protect the
PC from being hacked.
This includes security features such as Windows Firewall,
Secure Wireless networking, Windows Security center,
Parental Control, Anti Spam, Anti Virus, Anti spy ware
functionality. It also provides advanced features like
network map, Windows Search, Movie Maker, Photo Library,
Windows Media Player 11, outlook express with RSS support,
Peer to peer messenger and many more.
This edition is similar to Windows XP’s Home
edition and is aimed at general consumers, Windows 9x/XP
starter edition upgraders, price sensitive customers
and first time buyers. Same as starter 2007, it will
not support aero user interface.
The price of this edition will be slight higher than
starter edition but, less than all remaining editions.
This edition will give user more secured by default,
reliable, faster performances.
Home Premium
The next higher edition will be the Home Premium. This
edition gives home entertainment features and features
that enhance personal productivity among home users.
Being a superset of home basic, the edition will include
everything from home basic, and adds features like Windows
Media Center and Media Center Extender which includes
support for cable card, HDTV support, DVD Video authoring,
Tablet PC functionality, Mobility Center and so on.
It also includes features such as Wi-Fi auto-configuring,
parental controls that work on multiple PC’s,
Backup in Network, Internet File sharing, offline folders,
PC-to-PC synchronization, Synchronization Manager etc.
Home premium is similar to XP’s media center edition
except that premium adds more features and functionality
that are not present in the media center edition of
XP.
The version is mainly aimed at persons who have craze
towards PC’s, multiple PC homes, home with more
number of kids, and notebook users. This edition focuses
on rich entertainment features, allows stay connected.
The pricing will be higher than Home Basic and lower
than other editions.
Business edition
Business edition will be the next edition to be talked
about. This is the edition that will help the business
people. It is the operating system which keeps confidential
business data more secured. It includes features which
includes domain join, management functionality, compatibility
with non-Microsoft networking protocols, Web server,
Encrypted file system (EFS), and remote desktop.
It also includes features which permits access to Tablet
PC functionalities. Windows Vista Business is similar
to XP Pro. This edition is aimed at IT managers, journalists,
business tycoons, and various small scale business developers.
Vista Small Business
A superset of windows Vista Business called as Vista
Small Business comes with features including Backup
and Shadow copy support, Castle and server join support
and PC Fax and scanning support. It is said that, Microsoft
will offer a feature in which one can get upgrade to
Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate at a reduced price.
This special edition aimed at small scale business owners
and their managers.
Windows Vista Enterprise edition
Windows Vista Enterprise edition suited for Enterprises
and contains features of business edition and includes
some advance features. The features include Virtual
PC, Secure full encryption of data, Multi user Interface.
This is the version which does not find similar product
in XP. The edition is best suited for business users.
The price for this edition will be set in between price
of Business edition and Ultimate edition.
Windows Ultimate
The next and the last edition to be discussed is Windows
Ultimate. As the name itself indicates what type of
edition it is, this edition enjoys all the features
that come with Windows Vista. This is the top level
edition that has got features of all the editions discussed
above. Additionally, this edition adds Game Performance
Tweaker for great gaming experiences.
Microsoft is still planning on the edition features.
Some more great tools may be added to this edition of
Windows Vista. This version is aimed at high end users,
programmers, students. The price is hoped to be slightly
higher than Enterprise edition. This edition of operating
system will be that best one that the PC world seen
so far.
Close watch on genuineness of the product
We have seen the editions and what prices will the editions
carry. From Windows XP onwards, Microsoft has put a
close watch on genuineness of the product. It achieves
this by taking in and storing the information about
computer, such as processor id, hard disk id, and any
other devices ids.
Suppose if the product is installed on different system,
then, while trying to register, it compares the system
ids information to the already stored information. No
two processors will have the same id. Now, if a match
is not found an error will be returned and a message
will be displayed. This is of course, good and intelligent
idea.
But, this certainly brings down the popularity of Windows
operating system among intelligent users, because, of
heavy pricing for the product. An average computer user
sees that he gets maximum benefit for lesser prices.
From above discussion about editions we have seen and
hopes that Ultimate is the only edition which carries
all features.
But, Microsoft will not give the ultimate edition for
lesser prices. This of course, forcefully makes the
user to switch over to non-Microsoft operating systems
such as free operating systems such as Linux. It also
greatly influences the users, to install the copied
software i.e. pirated copy of the software, which Microsoft
is thinking of curbing. On the other hand, it is keeping
the price high. By this way, it is very easy to loose
popularity but, difficult to get so again. So, Microsoft
has to think when the prices are set.
We can generally categorize the users, into two groups.
They are home users, and enterprise users. For home
users, Microsoft should charge to Ultimate edition of
Windows Vista by keeping the price within the reach
of the individual users. Individual users can pay only
in terms of 100’s or in terms of 1000’s.
Microsoft has to keep this in mind and set the price
of ultimate edition within Dollars 45 to 50 (Even 45
is too much, considering millions of individual users).
Otherwise, the purchase of the operating system will
put additional burden on individual users who already
invested their money in purchasing the computer or in
upgrading the computer.
Microsoft may say that, home users will go for Home
editions of Windows Vista. I.e. Home Basic or Home Premium.
Imagine, if home basic is installed in the computer,
which is of lowest cost. It will not support aero user
interface. This is the main feature which an individual
user will look into and it makes no sense for them to
purchase the operating system which has no latest features
bundled in it. So, such individuals will go for free
and feature rich operating systems, than spending so
much for nothing!
Request to Microsoft
As an individual user and a fond admirer of Mr. Gates,
I in this article, request the Microsoft to try giving
the product in terms of Indian rupees in case of India,
Yen in case of Japan, etc, not in terms of dollars.
There may be many reasons for giving the product in
dollars.
But, for Anti-piracy program launched by Microsoft to
work successfully, first it has to see that the prices
are reduced and charge the prices in their respective
currencies only. Otherwise, people will look for other
operating systems in the days to come. |
