The recent Microsoft announcement pertaining to pricing of Windows 7 may actually prove to be a hindrance in the company's endeavors both of moving users off the not-so-new Windows XP as well as wiping away their memories of a terrible Windows Vista experience!

Going by the Microsoft announcement, the company intends selling a full version of Windows 7 E at upgrade prices. On the Thursday-released list prices for Windows 7, the 'cheapest' upgrade - a version of Windows 7 Home Premium - will cost $119.99, which implies a price cut of less than 8 percent from an analogous Vista version.

Meanwhile, the price list puts the costs of the full copies of 7 Professional and 7 Ultimate respectively at $299.99 and $319.99, with their upgrades costing run $199.99 and $219.99.

An NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker has rebuked Microsoft for its Windows 7 upgrade price saying that the "expensive and painful" pricing will only stand in the way of migration to the new operating system - thereby deterring users from moving to a much superior platform with a better user experience.

Baker said: "I'm very disappointed in the upgrade pricing. I would have much rather seen Microsoft come out aggressive, and wipe the world clean of all the Vista problems. That $120 is a pretty big nut, especially when you can buy a new PC for around $300!"