Microsoft has announced the US prices of its forthcoming Windows
Vista operating system, as it makes available Release Candidate 1
(RC1) of the OS to around five million users.
RC1 was first made available to a small selection of testers
last Friday but the company now wants to rapidly extend testing to
a wider audience in the coming days.
The US price of Windows Vista Business will be $299
(£165). The price for Windows Vista Enterprise, which has a wider
range of features has not been released.
The RC1 Vista code will be distributed to current Windows Vista
Customer Preview Program (CPP) participants this week.
In addition, Microsoft will re-open the CPP to new enrolments in
coming days. In total, Microsoft plans to make Windows Vista RC1
available to more than five million customers worldwide, said the
company.
Mike Sievert, corporate vice president for Windows client
marketing, said, “The expansion of the CPP program really sends a
strong message to the industry and our customers: the time to
prepare for Windows Vista has arrived.”
Large companies will be able to get Vista from November, and the
OS will have a general release to all companies and consumers from
January next year, confirmed Microsoft.
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