Microsoft Expands Vista Options

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Microsoft Expands Vista Options

Microsoft is increasing the ways that users can purchase Windows Vista, and upgrade to premium versions.

Upgrade Pricing, Discount Promotions

Tomorrow, the company is expected to announce pricing for a previously revealed consumer upgrade system for Vista called Windows Anytime Upgrade. Microsoft has said it will put all of the versions of Vista on one DVD in packaged form, or on a PC if the OS comes pre-installed. Users will get a product activation key that can activate whatever edition of Vista they purchase, and then can use that to install the OS.

However, if a user decides he or she wants to upgrade to a more feature-rich version of Vista than the one originally purchased--such as from Home Basic to Home Premium--Microsoft will allow a customer to pay $79 for a product activation key for that upgrade rather than requiring that customer to go out and purchase the edition at full price, which for Home Premium would be $159.

Thursday will also see Microsoft unveil a promotion through June 30 intended to inspire computer enthusiasts with more than one PC in the home to upgrade more than one computer to Vista.

Dubbed the Windows Vista Family Discount, it will allow a customer who buys the retail boxed version of Ultimate to purchase digital licenses for Home Premium for $49 each that can be installed on up to two other PCs in the home. As I've explained in the past, the suggested retail price for Windows Home Premium is $159.

Vista, Office to be Available as Downloads

Microsoft will also announce tomorrow that, for the first time, users will be able to purchase its Windows OS by downloading it over the Internet.

On Jan 30, various consumer versions of Windows Vista--such as Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate--will be available at the company's Windows Marketplace. Microsoft Office 2007 will also be available on the site, marking the first time customers can purchase the productivity suite by downloading it.

The company revamped the site in August, adding a new feature called Digital Locker, which keeps track of a customer's license key online so that software can be downloaded and securely purchased over the Internet. This feature is one of the reasons Microsoft now feels it is safe enough to distribute Windows Vista and Office over the Web.

Microsoft Offers Online Trial of Windows Vista OS

Microsoft Offers Online Trial of Windows Vista OS

Microsoft Virtual Labs launched a new Test Drive site to help give exposure to the Windows Vista operating system. The test drive site allows anyone to launch and try out various scenarios in a completely isolated, sandbox environment before they purchase and install the product on their own equipment.

In the past, many Microsoft applications have been made available on a test drive or trial basis by utilizing a Citrix client connection. The Vista OS trial is more of an "eat your own dog food" type demonstration as Microsoft is utilizing Microsoft Virtual Server to push out the trial.

In order to test drive this online trial, you must be using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, you must have JavaScript enabled, and you must install the ActiveX control "Virtual Server VRMC Advanced Control" from Microsoft. And don't forget about your popup blocking software. Mine complained numerous times as I tried to launch various scenarios within this test drive.

The Test Drive of the operating system is being powered by Microsoft Virtual Labs. In this particular test drive, Microsoft attempts to showcase four main areas of Windows Vista Business: Safe-Efficient-Connected-Collaborative. Each of these topics contains a number of videos and labs, which all-in-all total around 18.

While I personally found that the videos and step-by-step scenarios were all very helpful in learning about the product and how to use it, my experience with the actual hands-on Vista desktop interaction was quite slow. The video refresh and redraw of the graphics on this virtual machine was at times painful. But I expected that going into this demonstration, knowing how graphic intensive Windows Vista would be and combining that with the fact that I was using a remote connection over the Internet to run the test drive.

If you haven't installed or used Windows Vista yet, I invite you to try this product test drive. Visit the following Web site to begin your trial.