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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz24wjArmtmMicrosoft is set to charge British consumers £39.99 to upgrade to the latest version of its Windows software - despite the fact it will charge US customers $40.
Experts said the pricing was 'another depressing example' of British technology buyers being ripped off.
The company announced in July that users would be charged $39.99 to upgrade from any version of Windows since XP to Windows 8 Pro.
However, Microsoft's UK press office today told computer magazine PC Pro that the price will be set at £39.99 in the UK - a straight dollar to pound conversion - even though at current exchange rates, $39.99 equates to £25.30.
Microsoft did not respond to requests from MailOnline to explain the pricing difference.
The update will be downloaded, although Amazon UK was today offering a pre-order version on DVD for £49.
Experts slammed the decision.
'The £40 price tag is another depressing example of the British tech buyer being forced to pay an unjustifiable premium,' said Barry Collins, the editor of PC Pro.
'It’s even more galling when the software arrives in the form of a download, which has none of the extra shipping and distribution costs tech companies normally use as an excuse when they charge British buyers more than their American counterparts.'
Even if the US price doesn't include sales tax, British buyers are still around £10 worse off than their US counterparts.
Microsoft unable to comment on the price discrepancy at the time of publication.
Software companies routinely cite localisation costs and varying tax rates as one reason why prices vary from country to country.
Microsoft is providing a UK English version of Windows 8, as well as special versions that don't include Windows Media Player, to comply with a 2004 European Commission ruling.
Microsoft's EMEA download store is registered in Germany, which applies VAT at a rate of 19% - 1% lower than the current UK rate.
The move comes just days after Microsoft revealed it has updated its corporate logo for the first time in 25 years as it prepares for the Windows 8 launch.
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Good thing I don't plan on upgrading anyway.
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Typical MS.
Same with Xbox live shit. 1$ = £1.
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valve did this for a while too
it was sad
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Yeah, now it's just the euro who gets the short end of the stick.
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oh the glory days when steam was still in $ over here. oh i miss those days
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Pound still isn't converted to properly, but you still get the shortest end of the stick.
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Doesn't valve actually still do this?
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Does Microsoft even know the pound exists?
"Hey dude, our Brit customers use these things called pounds, not dollars."
"Oh we'll just charge them 40 pounds then, just to be fair."
"Sounds good."
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I think everything is 21% more expensive with euros on steam, right?
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This is why in the UK pirating is more common than any other country, everyone I know has a pirated copy of Windows7 using a loader :V
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19 right now, 21 starting on the 1st of october.
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If that's the logic, Valve is ripping us Europeans off as well - the pound is of course more than the euro, but it's really the concept overall. And I'm no expert on this, but isn't there costs related for Microsoft to push its product over here? I think it's more expensive, and while I would like the lower price, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable.
It's kinda funny that "Robber" finds this dumb.
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It's a download, so there are no shipping + distribution costs to charge. Hell, even if it was on disk, the disks are normally made in China, so it wouldn't be that much dearer, it'd probably be cheaper than shipping to the US.
Sure the VAT makes it more expensive, but nowhere near as dear as MS are trying to charge.
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One of the reasons I didn't buy the vita
companies need to start learning about exchange rates, or soon I'm just not going to buy anything they make.
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Pretty much the same with AU dollars. For some reason even our digital purchases are still more expensive than they should be.
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still 40 pounds is pretty cheap
i'd rather pay 40 pounds rather than 150 so quit your bitching
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nice job completely missing the point, 40 USD should only equal 40 pounds if you're retarded.
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Yeah but our entire market itself is like that.
"Whats that, the RRP in USA is $50 USD? Let's just sell it here for $150 AUD. No-one will notice"
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Yeah, it's 20$ more, but isn't this pretty much the standard fair for anything American? Computer components are much more expensive here in Europe as well, though I don't know the exact rules surrouding this stuff.
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i live somewhere different so I should pay more based only on the fact I use a different currency, completely unrelated to fees or costs that might be involved.
great
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Standard fare, yes, but surely we should take every opportunity to try to get decent conversions
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Come to Australia..
EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF SOFTWARE MEANS ANOTHER MORTGAGE!
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I agree, but it's just like people are bitching about it because it's Microsoft. Hell, they're selling an entire OS (okay, upgrade license, but still - most of you have Windows 7/Vista/XP) for the same price of a new COD game even after bumping up the price in the UK. I don't understand how people can really complain much about that, whether they're making it more expensive or not. Sure, I would like it for free, but come on - it's not that expensive at all.Standard fare, yes, but surely we should take every opportunity to try to get decent conversions
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Since when did COD cost £40?
Also we're bitching because we're paying $65 for an $40 item.
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This probably has nothing to do with the authors opinion of
It most likely because the EU fined Microsoft a shit ton of money for including internet explorer in their operating system (how dare they), and Microsoft is going to get their money back. It just easier for them to do the typical dollar = euro trade to make it look a bit less obvious.
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Why don't companies use a system that checks the exchange rate on purchase so its always correct compared to the base currency.
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At least CoD Black Ops 2 is €60 - I don't know UK price, but that's price on Steam here in Denmark. Seems like BOII will be £35 in the UK at lauch, that isn't too far from it. My point still stands, none the less.
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Valve didn't do shit, they aren't allowed to set the prices of other developers games, it's not Valve's fault that Ubisoft want's to charge 60 euros for their games.
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£40 for a single-use digital upgrade?
Fuck that. I'd be better off paying a bit more for a retail CD and installing it on 3+ computers.
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ahh this so funny, who cares bout the uk
(User was banned for this post ("Trolling" - verynicelady))
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Ehh, you can (officially) only install one license on one computer, you should be able to do the same trick with this, provided you have a Windows 7/Vista/XP license.
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I'm sure the European price will be great then.
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Probably a lot more than the amount of people that care about your posts.
(User was banned for this post ("Report, don't reply" - verynicelady))
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oh im sure, but next time try not to post the obvious
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Time to bother someone in the USA to buy me a activation key.
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Meh, I'll upgrade to Windows 8, mostly because I'm sick of Vista and I don't have the 100+ dollars for 7.
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HOLY SHIT how hard is it to get that it is NOT up to Microsoft nor Valve to decide the currency?
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Valve, not all the time, only on their games on Steam.
Microsoft yes it is up to them.
The difference is too much to justify it with taxes and such, and since it's a download there's no transportation or "retail store wanting more" excuse.
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It's not up to Microsoft to decide on the price of a product made by Microsoft published by Microsoft and sold by Microsoft? That explains so much!
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