We’re beginning to get a glimpse of the OEM (own equipment manufacturers) pricing for Windows Vista.

Ars Technica has calculated the following prices from a quick survey of a number of sites :

Vista Home Basic $99 (full version retail: $199)
Vista Home Premium: $119 (full version retail: $239)
Vista Business: $149 (full version retail: $299)
Vista Ultimate $199 (full version retail: $399)

These sites will sell you Windows Vista in an OEM package meant to be sold with a new computer, CPUs, hard drives, or motherboards.

The Home versions are priced about the same as the upgrade so, if you have an older version of Windows to validate the upgrade, you won’t be saving much here.

“The Business and Ultimate editions are priced significantly better in their OEM forms, both a full $60 cheaper than the comparable upgrade (for instance, Vista Ultimate upgrade has a MSRP of $259).”

So, it’s mix and match and deciding whether a $60 saving is worth the hassle involved.

Thanks to Nima Dilmaghani, who is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft, we now know how you can get your self a free legal production version of Windows Vista installed your on PC.

Free Legal Production Version Windows Vista Offer source

Windows Anytime Upgrade for Vista sounds like a good idea. Its basically a single DVD that will have all the Vista versions on it. Users can upgrade between versions anytime by simply purchasing a new product key. Good stuff….Good work MS. I’m sure crackers would love to crack the product keys…

Users would only be installing the version of the operating system that they had purchased, as the product key would be version-specific. Versions range from Starter to Ultimate editions. Asked if this system meant upgrades would be cheaper, as production and retail costs for Microsoft will be lowered, the spokesperson said they could not give any details of pricing at the moment.

Halo 2, the game every small boy wants, will only be developed for Windows Vista. A press release at Xbox.com describes the product:

“Halo 2,” the award-winning sequel to the instant classic “Halo: Combat Evolved” to make its PC debut on the Windows Vista platform

“Halo 2,” the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs exclusively for Windows Vista. “Halo 2″ for Windows Vista will be developed by a dedicated Microsoft Game Studios team in partnership with Bungie Studios.

Only for Windows Vista, “Halo 2″ will offer gamers both the single-player campaign and multiplayer experience of the original, as well as the additional maps offered in the “Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack.” Gamers will also have the exciting opportunity to build, create and customize their own multiplayer levels.

Small boys will just have to save up their allowances for a Vista system as well as Halo 2. It’s just not fair!

Get 40 percent off the price of Halo 2 here.