Microsoft is getting ready to roll Vista out, and now we are beginning to see the price range they will be aiming for. If you're looking to buy retail, be prepared for the most expensive version of Windows ever. Starting at $100 for a simple upgrade license to Vista Basic, the Vista “Ultimate” package is going to weigh in at a whopping $399. While the release is still many months away, a price like that isn't going to be easy to swallow no matter how much work they put into it. Other versions will fall in between those two ranges, so there will still be “Pro” versions that more or less compare to XP Professional retail pricing. Of course, it's still possible things may change:

Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos declined to comment on Amazon's pre-sale, saying the software maker is still finalizing its pricing model. It has not set a release date for the new version of Windows, which sits on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers.
Could you accept a price tag that high for an operating system? Maybe it's worth it. Personally, I find it hard to justify spending half as much as I did on hardware on just the OS.