Petition demands Vista price cuts in U.K.
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Why is the Microsoft OS so much more expensive in the United Kingdom than in the United States? More than 1,250 Brits are angry.
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European shoppers are petitioning Apple to bring EU pricing better in line with that of the United States.
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Software giant battles activation of unauthorized copies of its new Vista OS.
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Online retailer Amazon.com has begun to accept pre-orders for Windows Vista, which it says "will be released on January 30, 2007." The company is charging $399 USD for the Ultimate Edition of Vista, $239 USD for Home Premium and $199 USD for Home Basic. Vista Business is priced at $299 USD.
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Vista adoption in schools 'high risk' The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has signed a secrecy clause with Microsoft which prevents it from disclosing the prices schools are paying for software licences.â¦
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Falling DRAM prices combined with the need for more RAM to run Windows Vista are pushing users to buy more memory for their computers, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
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Microsoft  raised the  possibility on Thursday that it might delay the introduction of  its new Vista Windows operating system in Europe, depending on  antitrust requirements of the European Commission.
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InfoWorld - Two weeks ago, InfoWorld launched a petition campaign to save Windows XP.
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A European group says PCs and operating systems should be sold separately to boost competition.
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(InfoWorld) - A pro-business think tank in Europe has recommended unbundling Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system from sales of new PCs in order to give customers more choice when buying a new computer. A report from the Globalisation Institute in Brussels urges the European Commission to require that PCs and operating systems be sold separately in Europe to break Microsoft's monopoly in the desktop OS market. "Microsoft's dominant position is not in the public interest. It limits the market and has slowed technical development to the prejudice of consumers," said the report . The report is gaining attention partly because the Globalisation Institute usually advocates a hands-off approach to business regulation. It researches and develops policy options that are sometimes championed by politicians. Its report comes one week afterÂ Europe's second-highest court turned down Microsoft's appeal of the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling against it, which fined MicrosoftÂ around $600 million for abusing its OS monopoly. That investigation focused on how Microsoft bundles its Media Player software with Windows, which the Commission said harmed competitors such as RealNetworks Inc. It also required Microsoft to publish communications protocols so that its rivals can make their server software work better with Windows clients. The Globalization Institute said the Commission should take its thinking about Microsoft's OS to its "logical conclusion" and force PC makers to unbundle Windows from PCs as well. The report does not mentionÂ recent moves by vendors such as Dell Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Co.Â in Australia, to offer Linux as an option with PCs sold online. Globalisation Institute President Alex Singleton called those offers "a token gesture." "The fact is, when you go into a computer shop, the majority of consumers are not faced with a choice. Just because on the margins you are offered something else, I don't think those choices mean there is real competition." In addition, the report argued, offering a choice of OS is not a practical option for retail stores, where floor space is limited. Therefore PCs should be sold separately from the OS. "We do not believe this would add complexity for consumers. Consumers would simply be asked to insert an operating system DVD when they first turn on a new computer, which would then automatically configure itself," the report says. Such competition exists in hardware, the report argues, with microprocessors and hard drives available from a choice of vendors. But when consumers walk into a store they generally have only one choice for an OS: Windows. "The result is that consumers who, given the choice, would opt for a cheaper operating system, find themselves automatically buying the market leader." The group sent its report to the office of the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, Singleton said. Kroes led the Commission's antitrust case against Microsoft and has called the company's share of the desktop OS market "unacceptable." Microsoft representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. Â
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Linux 10 times more expensive? U.K. standards body says company's "Get the Facts" ad campaign may be misleading.
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The Consumer Association has today complained to the UKâs Office of Fair Trading that downloading tracks from Appleâs iTunes costs UK consumers more than their counterparts in France and Germany.
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People actually redeeming vouchers Europeans who bought a new PC in time for Christmas and were persuaded that they would get a Vista upgrade soon after the rollout by redeeming a voucher, are learning that demand for the upgrades far outstrips "supply".â¦
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BRITISH owners of pirated copies of Microsoft&#39;s Windows XP operating system can trade them in for the real thing as part of a bid by the software giant to fight counterfeiting.
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Days after a beaming Bill Gates  unveiled his much-vaunted Windows Vista software at a retail  price of $400 for the premium version, Latin American street  vendors are hawking pirate copies for under $10.
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Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system, goes on sale to business customers.
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Critics chide the software giant for missing its self-imposed deadline to provide promised extras for the most expensive version of Vista.