Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft
Windows Vista Ultimate RED edition coming next week
by Brad Linder Dec 8th 2008 at 1:00PM
Microsoft is set to release the (PRODUCT) RED version of Windows Vista Ultimate on December 15th. Dell has been selling computers preloaded with this special version of the OS for a few months now, but starting next week you'll be able to to buy a standalone copy.So what makes Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED different from plain old Windows Vista Ultimate Edition? First, it comes in a red box and includes a few extra wallpapers, screensavers, sidebar gadgets, and a Dreamscene moving background. Second, a portion of the proceeds from sales will help buy and distribute AIDS medications to patients in Africa.
Amazon appears to be selling it for about $70 more than the price of the vanilla edition of Windows Vista Ultimate, which means either that those wallpapers (which you can probably find online for free) are really awesome, or Microsoft or Amazon are jacking up the price a bit in order to support the charity.
[via iStartedSomething]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
colca said 2:12PM on 12-08-2008
Does this mean I can write it off my taxes?
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Jamus said 2:12PM on 12-08-2008
This doesn't go on sale on April 1 by any chance does it?
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Peter said 4:57PM on 12-08-2008
You'd do more good by buying the regular version and sending $50 to your favorite AIDS charity.
These promotional tie-ins usually result in people paying more and the charity group getting less.
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WolvenSpectre said 6:19PM on 12-08-2008
does this mean when somebody cracks it it will be HaXo(RED)?
Wow, they will do anything to try and turn around the bad image Vista has got. Adding another skew always worked so well in the past.
And this one pays for administrators to figure out how to package, publicize, and display this version that will probably sit on store shelves because most (RED) products are more expensive, and are right next to better priced (and looking) products that are the same.
Oh yeah and they of course had to do it on what I understand to be the least popular skew of Vista.
The ironic thing is it is software, once they make the original product, the only costs they have is the packaging and burning of the software. It probably cost them less than 70 for the add-ons and they probably had in house package designers to redesign the package lining 20 different ways in a week. Instead of printing and putting in the original liners and media in the case, they just substituted the new ones at the same production cost. The big cost is what shut down many of the Red campaigns, the expensive management they required to stay above board.
It would not surprise me if 10 bucks were handed to the charity, and a quarter of that was lost in expenses on their end.
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Lucia said 7:56AM on 12-09-2008
This is just great. A (RED) product is more expensive than the regular version so the difference can be donated and the company can keep their full margin at the same time? Why the fuck should I have to buy a product in order to donate? I'd rather donate the $70 myself, cut the man in the middle and avoid buying crap from greedy companies.
Or is this a n-th iteration of soul-soothing donor-laziness.
Stoopid product.
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El Taco said 7:59AM on 12-09-2008
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the MSRP on this is the same as the regular Windows Vista Ultimate. Amazon just lowered the price on Vista Ultimate, which makes this look like Microsoft is selling it for more.
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Mike said 11:01AM on 12-09-2008
You're correct, from what I can gather. It seems they're just slashing Vista Ultimate for the holidays, but not the RED version (since it just came out, and you don't slash something that just comes out EVER).