Something Windows this way comes

(Cue dramatic foreshadowing music…)

Just when you thought you knew your Windows operating system…

A new force is entering the market…

Familiar, yet different…

A cause for celebration, a cause for anticipation, a cause for…

Horror!

(The stringed strains from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”)

Well, okay, maybe not, but an update to the Windows operating system is indeed a big deal in the Hollywood epic mode, a sequel to the world’s most common software scheduled for general release more than five years after we saw the last upgrade.

Tales of the “near-final” version of Windows Vista were over the news by Monday morning (in fact, Google news listed as many items on this story as on a potentially huge hurricane forming off America’s eastern seaboard), with “a select group of technical experts” to test the latest beta version.

The product has been a bit of a thorn in the side of software giant Microsoft, having seen numerous delays since first promised last year. Prior to the Friday release of “Release Candidate 1” (or “RC1”), the last major version of Microsoft Vista (known as “Beta 2”) had been issued to testers in May. A version similar to RC1 was released to a limited number of businesses in an early adopter program and some tech enthusiasts.

And adding to the excitement was the leaking of Vista’s prices by Microsoft Canada’s website. Microsoft has since pulled the numbers from the site, but they naturally proliferated online in the interim. Those prices, as reported, are Windows Vista Ultimate at Canadian $499 (approximately US $450); Vista Home Premium at Can. $299 (approximately US $270); a Vista Ultimate upgrade at Can. $299 (approximately US $270); and a Vista Home Premium upgrade at Can. $199 (approximately US $180).

Microsoft officials have stated that the official prices will be released sometime this month. Windows Vista Ultimate is a new edition of Windows that will include the multimedia capabilities of Windows XP Media Center Edition, a new 3D user interface called Aero, and security features. Windows Vista Home Premium will include Windows XP Media Center Edition multimedia capabilities and Aero.