Microsoft on Tuesday announced retail pricing for Vista, its long-delayed Windows update, and said it will broaden testing to more than 5 million people. Last week, pricing information had been briefly posted on Microsoft's Canadian Web site.

Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, also reconfirmed its plan to target a general launch of the product in January after making it available to large-volume business customers in November.

Windows Vista, already five years in the making, has been postponed by Microsoft several times.

The software maker set the retail price for Vista at between $199 to $399, ranging from the basic version to the top-end "ultimate" edition. For customers upgrading from Windows XP, Vista will cost between $100 and $259.

Microsoft released on Friday a test version of Windows, dubbed Release Candidate 1, and made it available to more than 5 million customers worldwide.