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On July 22, 2005 Microsoft announced its new line of operating systems and Windows Vista, codenamed 'Longhorn', made its first public appearance. While graphic effects and new user tools certainly looked respectively stunning and very useful, the very last five minutes of the presentation - price and system requirements - came as a surprise to many.

No Thanks, I'd Rather Spend My $399 Elsewhere!

Pricing is a major issue in Vista. There are six different versions of the operating system, roughly divided in two target markets, consumer and business, with increasing prices. Consumers can choose between a wealth of four different editions, with three available for developed countries. Windows Vista Starter edition is limited to emerging markets; the Home Basic is intended for budget users with low needs; Vista Home Premium covers the majority of the consumer market. For businesses, there are two versions: Windows Vista Business is designed for small business, while Windows Vista Enterprise, the premium business edition, is only available to customers participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program. Windows Vista Ultimate contains the complete feature-set and is aimed at enthusiasts.

Prices range between $199 and a 'suggested retail price' of $399, making Vista one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive OS of all times. When it first came out, the XP line included less options (avoiding consumers waste their time choosing their favorite version) and shipped at about 60% of the price Vista has now, almost 3 years after its launch.

1 GB Ram a MINIMUM Requirement?!

While Microsoft claimed that "nearly all PCs on the 2005 market will be able to run Windows Vista", the requirements of many of the 'premium' features, such as the Aero theme, are still a no fly zone for a high percentage of users today. Depending on the version, Vista hardware requirements for a successful installation and everyday use can go to up to 1 GB Ram / 10 GB Hard Drive, certainly a bold and unwanted step compared to XP's 32 MB Ram / 250 Hard Disk space. Malicious users soon started talking about lobbyism between Microsoft and main hardware producers, where Microsoft would have set minimum requirements much higher than is reasonable to somehow 'force' customers to upgrade their hardware.

Vista's high hardware requirements is a point on which software developers are currently working on and have tried to partially (but unsuccessfully) fix with the latest Service Pack release that would

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