I was having trouble installing some updates on my copy of Vista Beta 2 (which I never managed to solve, by the way... if anyone know what error code 8024AFFF means, I’d love to hear it!) when I was distracted by a conversation in one of the Microsoft Support newsgroups.
Basically, someone was complaining that Microsoft was intentionally “crippling” Vista in order to maximize profits. Well, duh!
Someone likened the move to the way Ford charges so much more for an Aston Martin than they do for a Pinto. Which is actually a good comparison, for a number of reasons. First of all, when you get right down to it, a car is a car. Right? Just like Windows Vista is Windows Vista. While it may cost Microsoft the same amount of money to actually build Vista Ultimate as it does to build Vista Basic, when built in similar quantities, an Aston Martin would not be a whole lot more to produce than a Pinto (there would probably still be a difference, but it wouldn’t be as much as it is when the two cars are produced in their current quantities).
Releasing different “flavours” of Windows (and charging different amounts for each) is called “market segmentation” and it’s just like how you can get vouchers for cheaper petrol from your supermarket. The Oil company is selling exactly the same product for two different prices. When you calculate the actual value of saving your docket, 4 cents a litre is maybe $2.50 for a tank of petrol. Some people are willing to spend the extra time and effort required to save that docket, while others simply say “hang it” and pay the extra $2.50.
Maybe Microsoft are ripping off people who buy the Ultimate version of Vista, but so is your Petrol Station, and so is that restaurant that prints buy-one-meal-get-one-meal free vouchers on the back of your shop-a-docket, so are the movie theatres who charge less on tight-arse-Tuesday (as we call it in Australia), and so are the airlines who charge vastly different amounts to basically everyone on the flight.