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Vista availability: Make that 'late January'

Martin LaMonica Former Staff writer, CNET News

Martin LaMonica is a senior writer covering green tech and cutting-edge technologies. He joined CNET in 2002 to cover enterprise IT and Web development and was previously executive editor of IT publication InfoWorld.

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Martin LaMonica

Aug. 29, 2006 12:17 p.m. PT

People pining for Microsoft's Windows Vista should circle the date January 30, 2007 on their calendars.

A listing on Amazon.com for Windows Vista says that the item will be available near the end of January next year.

Added below since the original post are a breakdown of individual prices posted on Amazon.com

Prices for the various editions of Microsoft's next desktop operating system were leaked and covered on Monday. Later in the day, industrious bloggers uncovered more details, namely the ship date.

Until now, Microsoft has said that the oft-delayed Windows Vista will ship in January, 2007.

Eager customers can pre-order now from Amazon.com.

Full-copy prices are:

Windows Vista Ultimate for $399; Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade for $259; Windows Vista Business for $299; Windows Vista Home Basic for $199.

Upgrade products (from Windows XP) and prices are:

Windows Vista Home Premium for $239; Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade $159; Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade for $99.95; Windows Vista Home Business Upgrade for $199.

Amazon is also listing a slightly-lower-than-upgrade price for "additional license packs." Those would appear to be for a second or third PC, but Microsoft would not comment on them, or Amazon's prices

Microsoft said that it will announce official US pricing when it issues the Release Candidate version of Vista, sometime next month.

With additional reporting from CNET News.com's Ina Fried.