According to Amazon, Vista Home Basic will retail for $199 with an upgrade price of $99.95; Vista Premium retails for $239 with an upgrade price of $159; Vista Ultimate retails for $399 with a $259 upgrade; and Vista Business will go for $299 with a $199 upgrade.
Amazon also is telling visitors to its site that Vista will be made available by January 2007, despite rumors of yet another delayed release.
Pre-orders began several weeks ago, although Amazon has not revealed how many orders have been placed. Amazon also is offering upgrades for Windows XP.
Windows Business is most similar to Windows XP out of all the different versions, according to Microsoft, and comes with the Aero interface, a new search engine and scanning and faxing capabilities. Aero is Vista’s graphical interface that features many of the flashier aspects of the new operating system, although it only will run if computers are equipped with enough bandwidth and memory to properly display all the bells and whistles the feature has to offer.
Microsoft expects the cost of development and marketing for Vista to reach more than $1 billion, including hundreds of millions spent on sales and marketing initiatives once the operating system makes its worldwide debut.
Vista is the first update to Microsoft’s operating system in five years and was originally scheduled for release in early 2006. But after numerous delays, Vista’s debut is now set for the 1st quarter of 2007, although Microsoft has hinted at the possibility of additional delays if more improvements are needed.