Vista...genuine or pirate?

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feo

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So I've been looking around the net trying to find good prices on Vista Ultimate and see that you get Retail and OEM/System Builders versions of it. Retail only having the added advantage of support from MS and the ability transfer the OS if you upgrade.

But have you seen the prices on the OS?? :eek: It's like R1500 for the OEM version of Home Premium and don't even get me started on Ultimate's ridiculous prices. How many of you guys actually fork out that much for an OS? I'm talking about home users here, not businesses. I can understand why so many people pirate the stuff, the prices are just ludicrous. /i think I'll stick with my XP Pro a little longer.

If we're not allowed to discuss stuff of this nature on the forums then mods, feel free to delete this thread.
 
I'd never pay for it! If I didn't get it for free from work, and I couldn't get it elsewhere, I'd switch to Ubuntu... my money is better spent on books and internet access.
 
I bought a Retail Home Premium @ R2200
When Win98 came out the upgrade I bought then cost R2500 so R2200 for a full version is not bad, but that is my just my opinion
 
feo said:
Whatever it is, it's still overpriced for an OS.
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well, xp cost about that much too...

and we dont really have anything to compare it too

fact is, enough people are willing to pay that price, so there's no reason for ms to bring the price down
 
For retail versions you can get both 32 bit and 64 bit for R100 extra. Thats what I did. I got home premium retail then ordered the 64 bit disc from MS for R100 extra.

You will be using this os probaly longer than your current hardware. With that being the case I really don't see R2400 that I paid as being excessive still it would have been cheaper had I lived in the USA,R1800 compared to here.

Besides Vista had x10 so it's needed for me.:D
 
well think about it this way

i bought xp home 3 years ago for 1k

1k devided by 36 = nothing

i spend that amount on 2 weekends of boozing
 
It's a Windows Vista Business 32bit dvd. I haven't installed it yet, but if its like the XP corporate one, it won't need activation.
 
R2400. It is simply too much. Hope the excessive price sinks them.
 
edc said:
R2400. It is simply too much. Hope the excessive price sinks them.
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How is it excessive?? I will use it for atleast 3 years probally 5. That means R2400/3 =R800 per year or R480 per year. Thats hardly allot for something you will use everyday when using your pc.
 
nGAGEd55 said:
well, xp cost about that much too...
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Vista is actually about 20% more then XP was. Just an excuse for MS to up the price.

BTW: Anyone who actually thinks that IE and all of these MS goodies are free should take into account the increase in price of Vista as opposed to XP and the fact that it costs MS 25% of the retail price to build and market it's products. Thats not a bad profit margin if ever I saw one. You are also now not allowed to run certain versions of Vista in a VM.
 
stefan9 said:
How is it excessive?? I will use it for atleast 3 years probally 5. That means R2400/3 =R800 per year or R480 per year. Thats hardly allot for something you will use everyday when using your pc.
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I don't see how you can use it for 3 years. You are not allowed to transfer it to a new machine and certain upgrades such as motherboard upgrades are deemed to be a "new machine".

R2400 is an unacceptable cost for an OS. Because MS has a monopoly, they are able to charge what they want for it. Their profit margin is something like 300% on the OS. When MS first started getting involved with OS's, the OS made up less then 10% of the price of the PC. Today, that portion can be as high as 40%.
 
Abe said:
I don't see how you can use it for 3 years. You are not allowed to transfer it to a new machine and certain upgrades such as motherboard upgrades are deemed to be a "new machine".
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From what i've read, microsoft isnt enforcing this yet, and they never did with xp. I moved my copy of XP about four times, and only once didnt it want to activate over the internet, but then i just did it over the phone.

Abe said:
Today, that portion can be as high as 40%.
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R1100 / 40 * 100 = R2750

I dont see many pc's going for R2750... :rolleyes:
 
Abe said:
I don't see how you can use it for 3 years. You are not allowed to transfer it to a new machine and certain upgrades such as motherboard upgrades are deemed to be a "new machine".

R2400 is an unacceptable cost for an OS. Because MS has a monopoly, they are able to charge what they want for it. Their profit margin is something like 300% on the OS. When MS first started getting involved with OS's, the OS made up less then 10% of the price of the PC. Today, that portion can be as high as 40%.
Click to expand...

Retail copy you can transfer to a new machine. As long as you only have it installed on one machine at a time.;) Thats why I bought a retail copy.
 
nGAGEd55 said:
From what i've read, microsoft isnt enforcing this yet, and they never did with xp. I moved my copy of XP about four times, and only once didnt it want to activate over the internet, but then i just did it over the phone.
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It was not in the XP terms and conditions. Also, to make matters worse, you are only allowed to use certain Vista versions (Business and Ultimate) in a VM which is not good.
I dont see many pc's going for R2750...
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Actually, dealer cost on an entry level PC is around R3K (including monitor). It can be even cheaper. Vista makes up over 35% of those. If you want to cut out the DVD/CD and stiffy, it's over 40%. Not everyone buys a powerhouse. Most small businesses just need a box as they already have a monitor and for them, anything will do. Integrated graphics etc all play a part. Hell, you can even get a mini-itx board with an integrated CPU for R700 and in that case, you would be looking at close to 45% of the PC price in the OS. That is why I said "as high as". 10 years ago, it was a different story. Windows 95 made up about 10-15% of the price of an entry level PC, with DOS it was even less. PC's have come down in price and MS OS's have gone up.
 
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