
“That’s why it may be such a costly error for Microsoft to make the Vista upgrade such a confusing mess,” Elgan writes.
Elgan writes, “Until today, even experts couldn’t tell you off the top of their heads the differences between each of the many Vista versions — or even how many versions there are — or what the basic requirements are for the Upgrade versions. Ordinary consumers are baffled to the point of paralysis.”
“Windows Vista launched with 10 — count ’em, 10 — versions. Instead of giving us a simple new upgrade path to the future, they instead gave us a homework assignment,” Elgan writes.
Elgan writes, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t buy Vista yet. But if you really must, consider only two of the 10 versions: Nontechnical consumers should buy the full version of Windows Vista Home Premium, and power users should buy the full version of Windows Vista Ultimate.”
MacDailyNews Take: $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac).
Elgan writes, “It’s obvious that Microsoft decided to extract maximum cash from consumers by micro-segmenting the market and trying to provide a different version for each. But they may end up with the opposite result. All this confusion over versions and upgrade policies will motivate unknown millions of consumers to simply stick with Windows XP or move to a Mac.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Macaday” for the heads up.]
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