At this point, with the drastically reduced feature set, I can’t see why I’d want it at all, especially with all the DRM.
How Much Is Windows Vista Really Worth?
Much has been said about how ungodly expensive Windows Vista is going to be, but what is it really worth? While software is rarely priced based on what it actually does, I figured I’d take a unique approach toward figuring out the real value of Vista, with a feature-by-feature analysis of how much the upgrades are worth to the user. Are there other ways to get the same features? How much do alternatives cost? Here’s my blow by blow analysis of Vista’s new features and what they’re really worth:
* Windows Aero – $20 – The new interface is pretty and all, but what’s a bunch of fancy windows and 3-D effects really worth? Well, about 20 bucks, based on existing software like WindowBlinds, which lets you snazz up your GUI with eye candy. Though Aero doesn’t actually do anything, it’s still the most anticipated part of Vista and 20 bucks sounds about right for it. I’m also including the new version of DirectX in here.
But,
If we average the pricing,
You are only getting $20 worth of Anything.
I will wait to buy Vista till the last moment when I’m forced to upgrade. In the meantime, I look forward to someone figuring out how to run all Windows software on Linux.
I also agree with #1. Apple represents corporate greed at its worst. Apple is more interested in exorbitant prices than in respectable market share and in benefiting the largest number of humans possible.
#30 Trust me, when a dual-core 3Ghz 2gig RAM and a 100g HD only costs 499$ with Vista included, you will get a new PC, never upgrade an existing PC.
If all of that only costs $499 its because its outdated. Not to mention that when dual 3Ghz and 2 gigs is standard, 100GB will be useless. Further, Vista will run quite well on existing hardware, and it will perform beautifully on my current rig which is two years old but is custom built, like all good PCs are.
And saying something blanket like “never upgrade and existing PC” just doesn’t make any sense at all. Why not? You always win when you increase your RAM. No one ever got hurt by a larger hard drive. Granted, if you bought a pre-fab box off the shelf at Best Buy, your path is limited… But buying Dell, HP, Compac, Sony, eMachine, Gateway, I know I’m missing some one, is just like buying the stripped down flavor of a Ford Escort. You never should expect much out of that type of purchase anyway.
Upgrading a PC to VISTA makes absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. You do a FORMAT C: and start over from scratch. And waste 5 hours of your life.
5 hours that could be spent watching the second season of The OC on DVD? I doubt I’ll need five hours and a properly configured PC is one in which you can format the C drive any time you feel like without losing any data. That’s why partitions exist.
Further, buying an OEM disk of the OS always make more sense than the typical pre-loaded no-disk scam.
Note to John C. Dvorak: “Please use your bully pulpit to rail against the diskless OEM windows scams”
Instead you WILL buy a new whizz-bang PC with Vista pre-loaded and ready to rock.
Why? A whizz-bang PC with Vista pre-loaded is only ready to rock if you think Kenny G is rock. Hell, I don’t even think Kenny G is jazz.
I may be an elitist about my hardware, but I’m practical too. You you are grandma and email and recipe.com is all you need, buy a cheap pre-fab at [insert big box behemoth here].
If you read this blog, custom build… or if you aren’t interested in doing it yourself, have a PC custom built to your specs buy a quality local PC shop. Then you’ll have a real upgrade path that makes sense, quality brand name componets with proper driver support, and an upgrade to a new OS will be a breeze.
Yeah i’s not worth much. That’s step one. Step two is blaming MS for the high price as the reason for pirating the OS.