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Part I: Surviving Setup
Choosing Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate combines all of the features available in all of the other Vista
versions, and does so at a premium price. The only compelling reason to pay extra to get
Vista Ultimate is if you absolutely must have two features, one of which exists only in
Home Premium (such as Windows Media Center) and the other of which can be obtained
only in Business or Enterprise (such as domain login).
Windows Vista Ultimate also includes a few unique features of its own, the most promi-
nent of which is Windows Ultimate Extras, a series of Windows Update–based downloads
that add new features and expand on existing Vista technologies. To date, Microsoft has
made games, animated desktops, and various enterprise-related features available only
via Ultimate Extras.
Of course, if cost is no object, you might purchase Vista Ultimate just because you want
everything Microsoft has to offer. If so—enjoy!
Purchasing Windows Vista
There are almost as many ways to purchase Windows Vista as there are Vista product
editions. This can make acquiring Windows Vista somewhat complex, especially if you
want to purchase a Setup disk and install the operating system on your own PC. Here are
the ways in which you can acquire Microsoft’s latest operating system.
With a New PC
The single best way to acquire Windows Vista is with a new PC from a major PC maker
such as Dell, HP, or Lenovo. That’s because PC makers spend huge amounts of time test-
ing every hardware device that they sell in order to ensure that customers have the best
possible experience.
One thing that has sullied this market, of course, is crapware, an industry practice
whereby PC makers include useless or unwanted preinstalled applications on their pre-
configured PCs. The good news is that this practice is slowly going away: Dell and other
PC makers now offer new PCs without crapware, either free or for a small fee.
The cost of Windows on a new PC varies from PC maker to PC maker and from machine to
machine. Generally speaking, a copy of some version of Windows Vista will be included
in the price of virtually every PC sold today, and the actual cost to you will range from
roughly $30 to $80. The cost of upgrading to more expensive Vista versions varies as
well. My informal research (read: browsing the sites of PC makers online) reveals that
you can typically move from Windows Vista Home Basic to Home Premium for less than
$30, which is an excellent deal. The upgrade to Vista Business will typically set you back
Windows Vista Enterprise was originally going to include a unique feature called
Virtual PC Express. However, before Windows Vista was fi nalized, Microsoft
decided to make its entire Virtual PC product line, which lets you run operating
systems and applications in virtualized environments under a host OS, available
free. Therefore, now you can download Virtual PC without cost, regardless of
which version of Windows Vista you have. There are even separate versions for
Vista 32-bit and 64-bit (x64) products. See
www.microsoft.com/virtualpc.
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