Why Aren't Retailers Crying Foul Over Vista?

One feature of the "upcoming" Windows Vista that has been getting a fair amount of the virtual ink is "Anytime Upgrade". Regardless of the version of Vista that you buy, you can upgrade directly through Microsoft to any higher version. On top of that, Microsoft has announced that you can now buy and download Vista online, and that Ultimate edition buys can buy up to two lower-cost Home Premium licenses for only $49 each.

Here's what I don't understand ... why aren't retailers super-pissed about this? Microsoft is essentially going direct to the consumer, and had built that into the OS itself. For the Anytime Upgrade feature, you don't even have to get another disc at the store ... every version of Vista is on every disc. You're literally just buying a new key.

Microsoft has thought about this a little I'm sure, since the upgrade prices aren't significantly different from the in-store prices, but that means far higher margins for Microsoft as a result. Still, I'm pretty surprised that I haven't heard much about the retailers grousing, so the wholesale prices must be fairly decent. Also, I'm sure the retailers are taking a bit of a "loss leader" perspective on it, knowing that Vista is likely to drive additional hardware and software purchases. And yet ... a ball has been set in motion to make retail irrelevant.

Would you buy your Microsoft software directly through them if given the option, or would you prefer to have a boxed copy? What if there was a price premium for buying the box?