Snow Leopard

To put this in context – Apple is releasing their new OS Snow Leopard for $29. There are no other versions – just the OS for $29. Okay.

Now you’d think Microsoft would have learned from the marketing debacle that was Vista. Here’s the pricing info for Windows 7, announced today.

win7

These estimated retail prices for upgrade packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

And the estimated retail prices for full packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

Confused yet? So am I.

I have a MacBook and a PC. I’ll definitely be upgrading to Snow Leopard. But there is no way I am $220 to upgrade my Vista Ultimate machine to Windows 7 Ultimate – if that’s even the right upgrade path. But if you want to – it will be available on October 22!

Oh Microsoft haven’t you figured out that less is more? Why so many choices? At least the case is easy to open.