Though this report concerning the estimated $450 price tag of Windows Vista Ultimate seems highly speculative, to me the issue isn't with price. Yes, $450 dollars for an OS, regardless of how "Ultimate" it may be, does seem a little expensive. But far more ridiculous is the Vista product line.

For a something launched with a slogan promising to bring "clarity to your world," having 5 product versions with differentiating factors that are hardly obvious, seems to be lacking in the clarity department. Actually, want to know the opposite of clarity and confidence? Ask my parents or grandparents to decide which operating system to buy based on their computing needs and give them the choices of: Home Basic, Home Premium, and Home Ultimate.

This product line reeks of one thing: The inability to make a tough decision. They are listening to what their customers tell them they think they want, instead of having the vision to give them what they need. Blame this on bureaucracy and the disease of middle management, blame it on scope creep, blame it on whatever. But the issue is still there. Try to please everyone and you have a watered down product that pleases no one.

I know, I know. Not so easy when your product's customer base is like 90% of personal computing market. But still, your product shouldn't bring clarity by offering 3 ambiguously different versions, especially in the consumer sphere. Have the guts to create clarity and bring simplicity to your products from the inside. Make the user experience scalable depending on the skill of the user. Make the product work across multiple arenas. Make tough decisions about what is needed. That is your job. Don't leave it to the customer to make your decisions for you. Most people don't want to have to think about OS versions, and feature comparison charts. They just want to look at pictures of their kids. Help them do that.