Looks like someone at Microsoft Canada screwed up and inadvertently posted retail prices for Windows Vista on a publicly accessible website. The list is no longer available, but I managed to look up the prices of all Vista versions – full and upgrade – before it disappeared.
You’ll probably fall off your chair when you see the prices. (I’m guessing that a full version of Windows Vista Ultimate will cost $349 and an upgrade will run $199.) Just remember, these are undiscounted retail prices. Since 90% of all Windows copies are sold preinstalled on new computers, the actual price tag will be much smaller. In fact, some people will pay less, based on this list. Windows Vista Business Edition is slated to cost less than XP Professional, for example.
Details over at ZDNet: Vista prices revealed!
PS: I notice some folks discussing this over at Neowin and Bink.nu are making a common mistake and simply converting the Canadian prices into U.S. dollars at current exchange rates. The two markets don’t work that way. You’ll get a much more accurate picture of current prices by doing what I’ve done, which is to compare the relative prices of the new Vista versions to current XP versions and then make similar adjustments to the U.S. price list.
The prices for additional lisences are quite insane. You stand to save a grand total of $7 off original!