Courtesy of OSWeekly.com

Continued...

I can sort of grasp the concept behind having a Home and Professional version, but five different versions? Crikey! Sometimes I just wish Microsoft would give us all of the goodies in one tidy package like Apple does. When you buy OS X, you get all of OS X - no questions asked. They do sell a Family Pack, but it's the same OS with extra licenses. Every OS X user essentially has the same experience, and they aren't left wondering if their version can support a certain feature. You know, I may be a Basic or Premium user, but I might like to have access to some of the Ultimate features of Windows on occasion. By following through on this strategy, Microsoft is fostering the expansion of the digital divide.

In terms of pricing, the Home Basic Upgrade may be rather affordable, but the expanded versions are reaching for the stratosphere. If you rely on your computer for business, then you can reason that an OS upgrade is an investment, and the price may not seem that ridiculous when you think about the fact that new versions of Windows are released several years apart from each other.

Even with that said, sticker shock may still be an issue for Microsoft, and it probably wouldn't have hurt them to at least consider the idea of progressively improving the OS year after year and charging a reasonable fee to upgrade to the latest version. This is what Apple has done with OS X, and it's allowed them to be more profitable on their OS sales. OS X may appear to be cheaper, but if you upgrade to each subsequent release, then you're actually paying more for Apple's OS then you would for Vista. The upgrade approach makes the cost more palatable, and you avoid the sharp sour taste that is left in your mouth when you have to consider whether you're going to drop a lump sum of money on the whole kit and caboodle.

January 30th may be the day that Vista is released, but it could also be the day that hordes of Windows users make the move over to Linux.