Yeah... I know... I'm a dork, nerd, geek. Whatever you wanna call it. I don't care.

I'm at the mall waiting for the Leopard release to happen. We'll see what happens. The WiFi over by the Apple Store my not be of the greatest quality (as in no access period). I'm currently over in the pavillion area at the mall waiting for the store to close so I can get in life. Ahh... sweet, sweet, geekdom.

[4:12 pm Central Time] In front of the Apple Store. Just under two hours left.

[4:32 pm Central Time] Boredom sets in! DS time!

[4:49 pm Central Time] FLIP! Switched sides in which the line is positioned. Store installing Leopard all all Macs. People keep asking what we're in line for. Should tell people we're waiting in line for RAT or Winger.

[4:55 pm Central Time] 5 more minutes! If we were on the east coast. But we're not. Oh well. At least the employees offered water. Too bad we already drank Steve Job's Kool-Aid.

[5:17 pm Central Time] Launched Windows Vista on my MacBook cus I'm a rebel like that! Gonna close up the Mac here in about 20 minutes to get read.  Hate being unprepared for things. People still asking questions as they walk by. Some prissy people are being a little bitchy about the store being closed.

[5:20pm Central Time] Shirts are in the store right behind me.  Rock.

[5:23pm Central Time] Did I mention I was first in line? Ha!

[5:28pm Central Time] ACK!  Picture taken!  The glare!  The evil!  ZARGHG!

[5:30pm Central Time] Time to close up the lappy. It's gonna be a great day. Gonna walk outta the mall with Leopard, iLife '08, and Taco Bell. Could this day rock any more?  Ooooo... could be home in time for Perfect Strangers! Yes!

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Friday evening, Apple is going to release the latest version of the operating system, Mac OS X 10.5, code-name Leopard. It's been a little while since I've geeked out for anything, so I figured I'd go wait in line for the release at the closest Apple Store (which is thankfully around the corner from where my mom works). Since I'm going to be in line for a good four hours, I'm wondering if I should take my laptop with me. I probably will since I'm a total dork like that. Geeks unite!

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For those that are Tech Heads like myself, a lot of us are looking forward to the release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I could go on and on about the technology in Leopard that will make it great, but I have a bigger issue to worry about: money.

As most know, when it comes to technology, it's costly. There's always going to be the need to upgrade this and install that. Be it hardware or software, it costs money. I've mentioned previously ways I take to try and save money by finding the best bargain, but there are certain things that won't change in price. One of those things are Operating Systems, the layer of software that runs your computer.

I currently have three Apple Macintosh computers that run Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and are capable of running Windows XP and Windows Vista. I also own one Dell computer, which is currently running Windows XP. If I wanted to upgrade all my Macs to Mac OS X Leopard, I could either purchase three seperate copies for US$129 each or purchase the Family Pack, which allows me to install Leopard on five computers, for US$199. Obviously, doing the first method would cost me US$387 (Keep that number in mind as I'll come back to it), whereas buying the Family Pack would result in each license only costing ~US$40 each. That's not a bad deal, in my opinion.

Now, let's say I wanted to install Windows Vista on all four of my computers. First, I have to figure out which version of Windows Vista to install on my computers. In the store, I could buy Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, and Vista Ultimate. If I bought online, I then also have to figure out if I would need the 32-bit versions of the software or the 64-bit versions. Let's say I decide to go with the 32-bit version of Vista Home Premium. Seems safe being in the middle there. My Dell currently already has Windows XP installed, so I can purchase the Upgrade version of Vista Home Premium. My Macs, on the other hand, don't have Windows installed at all, so I would have to purchase the full versions of the software.

Lost yet? It's okay. I don't blame you. Let's make this more confusing, though.

I walk into a retail store knowing my purchasing decisions. I would need one copy of Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade Edition at US$145 and then three copies of Windows Vista Home Premium (Full Edition) at US$220 each. The combined total of all this software: US$805, averaging to just over US$200 for each license. Repeating: An average of $200 for a single license of Windows Vista Home Premium. That $200 just bought me five licenses of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

If I wanted to cheat just a little bit, I could instead purchase what is known as the OEM Edition of Windows Vista. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. This type of sofware is meant to be purchased by computer builders and installed only on the computers the manufacturer builds. Thanks to a loophole in Microsoft's OEM Software Agreement, you can purchase an piece of hardware (such as US$0.99 thumb screws) and still qualify to use the software. Using this loophole, we can purchase Windows Vista for a little cheaper than the Retail price. You won't get the fancy packaging that comes in the retail version, but that isn't really a concern here.

With OEM software, there's no such thing as an Upgrade Edition, so we won't have to worry about that. All I need is to purchase four copies of the 32-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. A three-user pack of Vista Home Premium costs US$330, which amounts to US$110 each. I would still need to purchase one additional license, which costs ... US$112... Basic mathematics would tell me I'm only saving US$2 per license. Although I would save $363 as compared to buying retail, I'm still paying approximately US$70 per license of Windows when compared to Mac OS X.

Sadly, the same situation occurs when going into the ream of Office Suites (Apple's iWork '08 is US$79 for a single license whereas Microsoft's Office Student and Home Edition 2007, the closest comparable product, is US$125 for a single license). I won't go into too much detail, but Microsoft is more than willing to screw you over there as well.

Microsoft really needs to take a hard look at its pricing scheme. Currently, when compared to Apple, Microsoft has priced themselves out of competition. Hopefully Microsoft will rethink their pricing scheme as well as their product matrix when the new version of Windows is released. A person with a limited budget cannot keep up with them. It's not possible.

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