Pissed about Anytime Upgrade Prices

[Barry Watzman]

I'm really pissed about the prices on the Vista "Anytime" upgrade.

Vista Ultimate [Upgrade] sells for $259, Vista Business sells for $199
(prices per today's CompUSA flyer, of course it doesn't go on sale until
Tuesday).

The upgrade from Business to Ultimate should be in the neighborhood of
$60, one would have thought.

But in fact, the "Anytime Upgrade" price for a Business to Ultimate
upgrade is a pretty staggering $139. More than twice what I was expecting.

(reference: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=273392)

This makes the "Anytime Upgrade" feature pretty much useless and I'd go
so far as to say a real Ripoff.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Barry,

Microsoft made it pretty clear early on with the Anytime Upgrade program
that purchasing the desired version initially would be cheaper. There's no
surprise here that the pricing is what it is. I don't disagree with you, but
the business model is already set and the pricing isn't likely to change.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Roscoe]

You may be making the mistake that MS gives a sh*t about its customers.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

As has been pointed out in the newsgroup repeatedly, Microsoft has always
said that buying Business plus an Anytime Upgrade certificate for Ultimate
always costs more than just buying Ultimate in the first place.

 

[Dale]

If the Anytime upgrade was sold at exactly the difference in price, then
what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate originally? That makes no
sense at all from a marketing standpoint. I think the upgrade price is
completely fair.

Dale

 

[Barry Watzman]

No one said that it should be or would be sold at the price difference.
But the price difference is $60 and they are charging $140 for it.
Something more like $80 to $100 would be a lot more reasonable.

[and, as to your question, "what incentive would there be to buy
Ultimate originally?", it's not clear that MS should really care HOW I
end up with ultimate, as long as I do and I've paid for it. What they
have done now give me a reason to "live with" Business and NOT upgrade
to ultimate. At all. Ever. They lose.]

[The situation is that I'm getting Business free as the upgrade with the
laptop I bought in November that came with XP Pro. For $60, $80, MAYBE
$100, I was going to upgrade to ultimate ... but now I'll probably just
stay with Business and never upgrade. They got greedy, and they lost
everything.]

If the Anytime upgrade was sold at exactly the difference in price, then
what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate originally? That makes no
sense at all from a marketing standpoint. I think the upgrade price is
completely fair.

Dale

I'm really pissed about the prices on the Vista "Anytime" upgrade.

Vista Ultimate [Upgrade] sells for $259, Vista Business sells for $199
(prices per today's CompUSA flyer, of course it doesn't go on sale
until Tuesday).

The upgrade from Business to Ultimate should be in the neighborhood of
$60, one would have thought.

But in fact, the "Anytime Upgrade" price for a Business to Ultimate
upgrade is a pretty staggering $139. More than twice what I was
expecting.

(reference: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=273392)

This makes the "Anytime Upgrade" feature pretty much useless and I'd
go so far as to say a real Ripoff.

 

[Daniel E Jameson]

Since MS has its OEM versions of the OS that are limited to one hardware
configuration, they should have an OEM Anytime Upgrade that is $80ish and
works only with OEM Vista so that those who did not have a choice about the
original Vista edition can stomach giving their money to MS, and reserve the
the $140 Anytime Upgrade for users of retail copies of Vista. But like Rick
mentioned above, MS already has its stake in the sand, and it is unlikely to
change its position

--
Daniel Jameson
·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·
If the man tells you to hate another,
It's not so you can benefit at the expense of the other...
It's so he can benefit at the expense of you!

No one said that it should be or would be sold at the price difference.
But the price difference is $60 and they are charging $140 for it.
Something more like $80 to $100 would be a lot more reasonable.

[and, as to your question, "what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate
originally?", it's not clear that MS should really care HOW I end up with
ultimate, as long as I do and I've paid for it. What they have done now
give me a reason to "live with" Business and NOT upgrade to ultimate. At
all. Ever. They lose.]

[The situation is that I'm getting Business free as the upgrade with the
laptop I bought in November that came with XP Pro. For $60, $80, MAYBE
$100, I was going to upgrade to ultimate ... but now I'll probably just
stay with Business and never upgrade. They got greedy, and they lost
everything.]

If the Anytime upgrade was sold at exactly the difference in price, then
what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate originally? That makes no
sense at all from a marketing standpoint. I think the upgrade price is
completely fair.

Dale

I'm really pissed about the prices on the Vista "Anytime" upgrade.

Vista Ultimate [Upgrade] sells for $259, Vista Business sells for $199
(prices per today's CompUSA flyer, of course it doesn't go on sale until
Tuesday).

The upgrade from Business to Ultimate should be in the neighborhood of
$60, one would have thought.

But in fact, the "Anytime Upgrade" price for a Business to Ultimate
upgrade is a pretty staggering $139. More than twice what I was
expecting.

(reference: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=273392)

This makes the "Anytime Upgrade" feature pretty much useless and I'd go
so far as to say a real Ripoff.

 

[Dale]

It seems to me that your complaint there should be with the computer vendor
that doesn't offer a full range of choices and not with Microsoft. First,
OEM is OEM - talk to the OEM. Second, why buy from an OEM that doesn't give
you the options you want? Because the price is lower? So you want to buy a
bargain shop PC and then want Microsoft to eat the costs for you to get full
service shop options.

Dale

Since MS has its OEM versions of the OS that are limited to one hardware
configuration, they should have an OEM Anytime Upgrade that is $80ish and
works only with OEM Vista so that those who did not have a choice about
the original Vista edition can stomach giving their money to MS, and
reserve the the $140 Anytime Upgrade for users of retail copies of Vista.
But like Rick mentioned above, MS already has its stake in the sand, and
it is unlikely to change its position

--
Daniel Jameson
·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·
If the man tells you to hate another,
It's not so you can benefit at the expense of the other...
It's so he can benefit at the expense of you!

No one said that it should be or would be sold at the price difference.
But the price difference is $60 and they are charging $140 for it.
Something more like $80 to $100 would be a lot more reasonable.

[and, as to your question, "what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate
originally?", it's not clear that MS should really care HOW I end up with
ultimate, as long as I do and I've paid for it. What they have done now
give me a reason to "live with" Business and NOT upgrade to ultimate. At
all. Ever. They lose.]

[The situation is that I'm getting Business free as the upgrade with the
laptop I bought in November that came with XP Pro. For $60, $80, MAYBE
$100, I was going to upgrade to ultimate ... but now I'll probably just
stay with Business and never upgrade. They got greedy, and they lost
everything.]

If the Anytime upgrade was sold at exactly the difference in price, then
what incentive would there be to buy Ultimate originally? That makes no
sense at all from a marketing standpoint. I think the upgrade price is
completely fair.

Dale

I'm really pissed about the prices on the Vista "Anytime" upgrade.

Vista Ultimate [Upgrade] sells for $259, Vista Business sells for $199
(prices per today's CompUSA flyer, of course it doesn't go on sale
until Tuesday).

The upgrade from Business to Ultimate should be in the neighborhood of
$60, one would have thought.

But in fact, the "Anytime Upgrade" price for a Business to Ultimate
upgrade is a pretty staggering $139. More than twice what I was
expecting.

(reference: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=273392)

This makes the "Anytime Upgrade" feature pretty much useless and I'd go
so far as to say a real Ripoff.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

The Anytime Upgrade package was never, IMNSHO, never intended for someone to
use to upgrade a retail version. That's wasteful of both time and money,
since you can always get the version you want cheaper than the combination
of a retail copy plus an upgrade ... not to mention that once you get the
new key you need to reinstall Windows.

I believe the intent of the Anytime Upgrade program was for people who are
getting Windows Vista preinstalled on their computers and wish to upgrade
.... or for folks who are getting the "free" upgrade from their OEM and want
to upgrade that version.

In that context it makes a GREAT deal of sense.

You take a copy of Vista that you got for "free" (yeah, you paid for it when
you bought your computer, but still ...) and then for a minimal fee upgrade
the "free" copy to the version that you would rather have. Compare that
deal to having to buy the version of Windows you want at retail and you can
see where the value is intended to be.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Barry Watzman]

$139 to upgrade from Vista Business to Vista Ultimate is not a "minimal
fee upgrade".

And my situation is the one that you described (upgrading the "express
upgrade" copy that I got when buying a new PC with XP Pro on it).

The likely outcome is that I will not upgrade from Business to ultimate,
and Microsoft won't get ANYTHING. They would have been better off, in
my case, had they priced it at $60 to $100. And I suspect that a lot of
people will behave exactly as I will.

[In fact, the going price for an OEM copy of Vista Ultimate is $199
(Newegg and just about everywhere else right now), and it's likely to
fall a bit and/or be on sale (not dramatically, but $10 to $30) over the
next 6 to 12 months. So $139 just to upgrade from the second-highest to
the highest of the 4 consumer versions of Vista really sucks.]