The $6 (read'em SIX) billion dollars that Microsoft spent on the development of Windows Vista are the best $6 billion Bill Gates has ever spent. At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft has officially kicked off the countdown to the general availability of Windows Vista, with the operating system's consumer release date scheduled for January 30, 2007.

But January 30, 2007 will also be synonymous with Microsoft cutting the costs associated with the development of Windows Vista. Present at CES 2007, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates revealed - during an informal talk with a group of reporters that followed his kick-off keynote address - that the Redmond Company has spent in excess of $6 billion dollars on Windows Vista.

"Best $6 billion I ever spent. You don't need to feel bad for us in terms of the profitability of the Windows business. Did we learn? Yes. … It's pretty exciting to see how the things we learned will let us do even better," commented Gates on the time and financial aspects that went into building Vista.

Now, if Bill Gates says that the money poured into Windows Vista are the best billions he ever spent, what choice do we have but to believe him. Just because he knows a thing or two about spending billions of dollars. I don't need to check my balance account to see on what I spent my best billions, do you?

And if you think that $6 billion dollars is an immense investment, please allow me this little observation. A full license of Windows Vista Ultimate comes with a price tag of $399. This means that Microsoft only needs to sell about 15 million copies of Vista Ultimate to cover the $6 billion development costs. Now you have to consider the fact that the Redmond Company plans to sell over 850 million copies of Vista worldwide. You do the math!