Microsoft has finally revealed what its upgrade plans are for those customers who buy a Windows Vista-capable PC this holiday season.

The new initiative, known as the Express Upgrade to Windows Vista and Microsoft Office Technology Guarantee program, will be in effect from Oct. 26, 2006 to March 15, 2007.

For those customers who buy a PC with Windows XP installed, the software giant is leaving the details as to how the upgrade will work, and what it will cost, to its various OEM partners like Dell, Gateway, Lenovo, HP and Sony.

But, on the system builder front, most upgrades will be offered by Microsoft for just the cost of shipping and handling, except for upgrades from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista Home Basic, and from Windows XP Home to Windows Vista Home Premium, which will cost $49 and $79 respectively, before shipping and handling, which is estimated to cost about $10.

Microsoft is also going to let customers who buy PCs pre-installed with Microsoft Office 2003 upgrade to the comparable editions of the 2007 Microsoft Office release for the cost of shipping and handling.

Microsoft is also recommending that people who are considering buying Windows Vista-capable PCs during the holiday season consider those machines that that are designated Premium Ready and which come with Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 preinstalled.