Operating System

According to wikipedia the last couple of end-user Microsoft Windows versions were released on: Windows XP (October 2001), Windows Vista (January 2007) , Windows 7 (October 2009). There is a huge gap after Windows XP and now the marketing machine started to work again at full speed, since Windows 8 will probably appear in 2011. This means you will have buy an upgrade (the cheapest solution) for your operating system every 2 years nowadays. A fresh install is often recommended to an upgrade, but that is even more expensive. I checked out amazon.com to see how much a Microsoft Windows license (cheapest / most expensive) costs:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic with SP1 (upgrade) will cost you about $84
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (full version) is available for about $209
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (upgrade) costs about $110
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (full version) will be yours for about $273

I wonder how much Microsoft will make you pay for Windows 8…

Office suite

What is an Operating System without an Office suite? This is what makes a computer really useful for a lot of people. Let us look at the prices for Microsoft Office (again, from amazon):

Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003 (upgrade) will cost you about $119
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 (upgrade) will go for about $179
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 (full version) will only cost you about $366
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 (full version) will go for about $404

Wow, I was really amazed how expensive this Office Suite can be!

Note: Please do not use “Office” if you specifically mean “Microsoft Office”.

Final thoughts

I haven’t even looked at the prices for ‘normal’ security applications for anti-virus and firewalls, so you Microsoft Windows desktop is ‘ready for the internet’. Fortunately there are also free alternatives for all of the above (if you use Microsoft or not). Remember: you do NOT own a copy of Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office, they merely grant you the ability to use it.

Just imagine how much money you can save by using an alternative such as Ubuntu (which basically is Linux). You will get (but is not limited to) the following:

• A free and user-friendly Operating System (ultimate/full version)
• Free updates and bi-annually upgrades
• Office Suites included
• Free firewall and anti-virus software (although you probably will not need it, since Linux is quite secure)
• An “internet ready” desktop (browser, e-mail applications, chat and more!)
• Free community driven tech-support or paid professional tech-support
• and much, much more…