I expected to see some lower Vista prices in this weekend's ads, but was surprised to see just how low the prices had fallen.
Officially the price cuts announced by Microsoft on Thursday don't take effect until later this year when Service Pack 1 hits retail shelves. However, the company had said that many retailers were offering promotions that bring the software to its lower price.
But the ad at OfficeMax took things a step further. In this week's circular, the office products chain is selling Windows Vista Home Premium for $99. That's $30 less than Microsoft's just-lowered price and the same as the suggested price for Windows Vista Home Basic--though perhaps just a hair more than the clearance prices a couple weeks back at closing CompUSA stores.
The question now is just how low will Vista go.
In looking at the reasons behind Thursday's price cut for Windows Vista, it's easy to blame the OS itself. After all, plenty of critics have panned it, users have grumbled and even Microsoft executives themselves were slinging arrows that the software wasn't ready for prime time when it launched last year.
But, it's important to note that this cut doesn't affect the bulk of the PC market, where folks get Vista as part of a new PC. Rather, the cut is limited to the comparatively small number of folks who buy a boxed copy of Vista to upgrade their machine.
NPD analyst Chris Swenson notes that the prices for boxed copies of Windows have remained fairly high while the cost of getting a new PC has fallen drastically since Windows XP made its debut in 2001. Prior to the price cut an upgrade to Vista Ultimate cost $299. Now, I've seen some ads where you get a whole Vista PC for that price or not much more.
One other interesting note, it appears that the price cuts are also designed to spur Vista-to-Vista upgrades. Has anyone out there paid to move to a higher priced version of Vista? If so, I'd be interested to hear when and why you made the move. Drop me a note below or e-mail me at Ina DOT Fried AT CNET DOT Com.
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