
Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price - nreece
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49303374,00.htm
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dtf
Makes a change from yesterday's PS3 pricing:

    
    
      $299 in US
      €299 in Europe ($422)
      £249 in UK     ($408)

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pmjoyce
UK users can save another £5 if you buy Vista Home Premium from Amazon before
Windows 7 comes out as you get a free upgrade and Vista is cheaper.
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000321063>

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petercooper
I'm not sure why this keeps getting voted down. That's not an affiliate link
and from what I can tell, pmjoyce is right.

The Amazon page states that Windows 7 in the UK is only available in a full,
non-upgrade form BUT you can get a free copy even if you only buy a Vista
_upgrade_ which you can get for £60.75. Admittedly this isn't a great savings
over buying Windows 7 direct but if you really want to save a fiver, it might
be worth a try.

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pmjoyce
Apologies if it wasn't clear. What I meant was UK users can get Vista HP
(Upgrade) for £60.75, if you buy this now they'll give you Windows 7 for free
when it comes out. As only complete versions (not upgrades) of Win 7 will be
ship in the UK you could therefore save yourself a fiver on the full version.

As petercooper mentioned, it's not an earth-shattering saving but in these
times it doesn't hurt to point it out. Plus it's definitely not an affiliate
link. I ensured it was stripped of all the usual Amazon tracking data and only
contained the URL parameters need to read that article, before posting.

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danw
That makes for a change. In the UK Adobe CS3 sells for £1000 more than the US.
It's possible to fly to New York from London for £230-280.

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nailer
Macs are similarly much more expensive in the UK. Perhaps the difference is
the UK has a greater percentage of the population involved in the creative
industries (particularly ad agencies and visual effects companies) than the
US?

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jodrellblank
It's often because $1 ~= £0.65, but prices transfer at $1 -> £1, so prices end
up 50% higher than a currency exchange would lead you to expect.

Dell monitors do this too - a good 24" LCD is $550 (=£357) in the USA but £550
here (=$846).

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nailer
Sure, but the question I'm wondering about is why they transfer at $1 -> £1,
when this isn't the exchange rate.

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adw
It's not _quite_ so simple: don't US prices exclude sales tax? VAT in the UK's
17.5%.

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danw
VAT is currently 15%, will rise to 17.5% again in January 2010

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adw
Doh, yeah, right you are. Forgot about that cut.

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abalashov
Arbitrage opportunity, here I come!

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pbhjpbhj
Assuming this to be true it showing that MS believe the buying power in the UK
to have shrunk considerably, isn't it. I expect the price in Kenya, say, to be
lower still.

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dotcoma
is it because people in the UK are half as dumb? ;-))

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dotcoma
"only" half as dumb, I meant.

