Microsoft Lowers Price for Windows Vista

February 29, 2008

(Long Island, N.Y.) In a press release, Microsoft Inc. announced Thursday that it would impose a price reduction for its latest software package; the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system by a range of 20-48% depending on the boxed version a consumer buys at retail outlets. The version with the biggest drop-off is the Vista Ultimate edition as store price was chopped to $219 from its original box-retail price of $299, while the Home Premium version falls to $129 from its first Standard Retail Price of $159.

Microsoft Windows Vista was released worldwide on January 30th, 2007 after multiple delays due to technical and advertising concerns by Microsoft. This new operating system incorporates many changes over the older XP version such as improved graphical user interface, a new visual style for its GUI which was dubbed “Windows Aero”, although this feature is not available to lower end versions of Microsoft Vista such as the Home Basic edition, more equipped searching system, introduction of a better multimedia creation tool called Windows DVD Maker and the newly redesigned sub-systems which affects audio, printing and displaying capabilities. Since its initial release, the Windows Vista operating system has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.

Computer analyst and industry experts were quick to criticize this surprising maneuver by industry giant Microsoft Inc. as the price cut-off only affects products to standalone versions sold at retail stores across the nation but has a limited following as opposed to the high-end versions which the company decided not to lower.

Gartner analyst Michael Silver said, “It’s sort of an odd move, the market for such upgrades is fairly limited. I guess at the end of the day anything that makes Vista a little bit more accessible is probably a good thing; the whole notion of upgrading PCs has sort of fallen by the wayside.” He also voiced his pessimistic views of this latest Microsoft move in saying, “To the extent this ends up damaging Vista’s reputation instead of broadening its appeal, I think that’s a danger.”

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Technology