Microsoft chops Vista retail prices

In what may be an unprecedented decision, Microsoft said Thursday that it plans to lower the retail prices for several flavors of Windows Vista.

For those in the U.S., Microsoft is cutting prices only on the higher-end versions of Vista, and only for the upgrade version used to move from XP or another copy of Vista. The suggested price for Vista Ultimate drops to $219 from $299, while Home Premium falls to $129, from $159.

Other developed markets will also see price cuts, while in emerging markets, Microsoft is eliminating the distinction between full and upgrade versions of Home Basic and Home Premium as it attempts to convince more users there to use genuine software.

[From Microsoft chops Vista retail prices | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com]

I would love to know where those numbers come from. The $129 is obvious, it has been the retail price for Mac OS X for at least half a decade. The rest of the numbers look like they were pulled out of a hat. I would also love to know the statistical breakdown of people that can, with a straight face, list the names of each version of Vista out for sale, and can tell them apart.