Windows Vista Ultimate customers get the shaft – again

1 CommentMicrosoft, Software development, Windows 7

A lot has been written about how Windows Vista Ultimate was a major disappointment. First it was billed as the version that would “keep on giving” in the form of Ultimate Extras – cool new features that would be exclusive to Ultimate customers. When those extras finally materialized most people were underwhelmed. The extras were mostly Language Packs, DreamScene (with a few content packs) and a game or two. And for that, people paid a hefty premium over the Home Premium edition.

Now Microsoft has published special early upgrade pricing to entice people to rush out and get Windows 7 “while supplies last”. And they’re at it again. Guess what the upgrade price for Windows 7 Ultimate is:

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Yup.

$219.99!

Sorry to shout there. At least this time there’s no promise of “Extras”. Only BitLocker and Language Packs (in addition to the Professional features). Not sure that’s worth $120 over the Professional Upgrade or $170 over Home Premium (even considering XP mode.)

Oh, and you can’t do an edition “downgrade” from Vista to 7. You can buy the upgrade package, but you’ll have to use it to do a “custom install” (i.e. clean install) and then reinstall all your programs and data. Despite that inconvenience, I’ll go for the Home Premium upgrade, thank you very much. I’m done being an Ultimate customer. Or is that Ultimate fool?

(And just for the record, Windows 7 is a fantastic product in my opinion. I hope Paul Thurrott is right when he says it may be the next Windows NT. Unfortunately he also seems to be right about how Microsoft can mess things up with their pricing)

1 Comments

  1. Jeff

    As a Vista Ultimate User, I’ve been disapointed twice. I need the language packs and went with Vista Ultimate despite the premium pricing 2 years back. The so called “ultimate extras” turned out to be a buch of screensavers and other useless junk and then in the middle of the night, MSFT left town. It seems the Ultiamate team disbanded, website was gone, and there were in fact no “ultimate extras.” Talk about bait and switch and decpetive marketing. So fast toward two years later, Vista Ultimate users — the people who got shafted the most– in the Vista debacle are being asked to pay over $200 for an upgrade to something less bogged down than Vista. Why is it that Vista Ultimate uers have to subsidize the discounts to the lower tier Windows 7 versions? Effectively, that is what is happening. MSFT doesnt know anything about rewarding loyalty, making good on something done bad to its customers, and continues to engage in deceptice practices. Are there any class action lawyers in the house that want to take MSFT to task? I would like the punishment to be chaining Ballmer and Gates to a Vista PC until they leave the industry or until Apple takes leading market share.

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