OT - price of Vista in UK

[Gordon]

This page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6309651.stm on the BBC news
website tells me that (yet again) we in UK are going to be ripped off by the
cost of software.
It tells me that in USA the cost will be $100 (about £52 at current exchange
rate) for an Upgrade Vista Basic. In the UK this will be £100 - you cannot
tell me that it costs *£50* to fly a DVD across the Atlantic.

Is there anything we can do to stop this scandalous profiteering, other than
by boycotting all MS products?

 

[smartie]

order a "Systembuilder" DVD of Vista Ultimate german via german ebay or
onlinetraders.

This is a full version with no limitation in actiavation etc.Price for
Ultimate is around 170 Euro for Systembuilder Full Version German. In some
countries those Disks are called OEM.
Shipping a DVD from Germany within the EU is under 10 Euro.

After setup go to built in Windows Update, download english ( or whatever
else you need) languagepack, set it up to use english as language and you
are done.

Beware : only Ultimate has support for more than one language, so the
initial language for setup is not important in this Edition as you can
download all possible other languages after.

Languagepacks turn the complete Interface, Dialogboxes, even the Videos and
Helpcenter into the new installed Language, as if it was all the time that
way, don't worry - it works perfectly, I have tested this and turned a US
copy of Ultimate into a german one.

smartie

 

[Mike Brannigan]

This page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6309651.stm on the
BBC news website tells me that (yet again) we in UK are going to be
ripped off by the cost of software.
It tells me that in USA the cost will be $100 (about #52 at current
exchange rate) for an Upgrade Vista Basic. In the UK this will be
#100 - you cannot tell me that it costs *#50* to fly a DVD across
the Atlantic.

Is there anything we can do to stop this scandalous profiteering,
other than by boycotting all MS products?

As a consumer you always have, and now more then ever, the choice to
purchase your products from anywhere you like on the planet.
You have Internet access - so use it to shop around and find a better
deal.

 

[Paul-B]

order a "Systembuilder" DVD of Vista Ultimate german via german ebay
or onlinetraders.

This is a full version with no limitation in actiavation etc.Price
for Ultimate is around 170 Euro for Systembuilder Full Version
German. In some countries those Disks are called OEM. Shipping a DVD
from Germany within the EU is under 10 Euro.

After setup go to built in Windows Update, download english ( or
whatever else you need) languagepack, set it up to use english as
language and you are done.

Beware : only Ultimate has support for more than one language, so the
initial language for setup is not important in this Edition as you
can download all possible other languages after.

Languagepacks turn the complete Interface, Dialogboxes, even the
Videos and Helpcenter into the new installed Language, as if it was
all the time that way, don't worry - it works perfectly, I have
tested this and turned a US copy of Ultimate into a german one.

smartie

Vista Ultimate OEM is £120.00 + VAT in the UK, from Aria. That way you
won't need the language pack.

 

[ChrisM]

170 Euro ~ £112 + Postage at about £5 = £117...

That'll finish up costing him more than the hundred quid he was talking
about!

Anyway, I think his point was more about the fact that it is nearly twice as
much to buy Vista in the UK as it does in the US.

OP: Maybe you could buy it from somewhere in the States and get them to mail
it to you...?

Chris.

In message (e-mail address removed),

 

[Gordon]

As a consumer you always have, and now more then ever, the choice to
purchase your products from anywhere you like on the planet.
You have Internet access - so use it to shop around and find a better
deal.

And be charged import duty and VAT when it arrives......

 

[ChrisM]

In message (e-mail address removed),

And be charged import duty and VAT when it arrives......

Still probably be cheaper...

 

[Gordon]

In message (e-mail address removed),


Still probably be cheaper...

It may well be, but that's not the point, is it? Why should the cost be
almost DOUBLE for the same product when the only additional cost to the
producer is flying it accross the Atlantic?

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Gordon

The advertised US prices do NOT include taxes, either state or Federal..
after the addition of these, the price differential does not look so good..

 

[ChrisM]

In message (e-mail address removed),

It may well be, but that's not the point, is it? Why should the cost
be almost DOUBLE for the same product when the only additional cost
to the producer is flying it accross the Atlantic?

NO, that is exactly the point!
How can it be that buying the product from the US, having it shipped all the
way to England, paying Import Duty and VAT is STILL cheaper than buying it
here???!!

 

[ChrisM]

In message %[email protected],
Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User <[email protected]> Proclaimed from
the tallest tower:

Gordon

The advertised US prices do NOT include taxes, either state or
Federal.. after the addition of these, the price differential does
not look so good..

It's still pretty big though, and the prices quoted over here probably don't
include VAT in some cases.

 

[Alias]

Gordon

The advertised US prices do NOT include taxes, either state or Federal..
after the addition of these, the price differential does not look so good..

Retail Business is going for 607 USD here in Spain. Did you fail
arithmetic in school, Mike?

Alias

 

[Mike Brannigan]

And be charged import duty and VAT when it arrives......

Only if they bother , and it will still be cheaper and of course if
you buy in country with a poor exchange rate (e.g. US, Canada,
Australia) then any duty is still substantially less then the UK
retail prices.

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Prices are set as per market conditions - it has very little to do
with the cost of the product in one country and freight charges.
(For your own information the DVDs and packaging do not air freight to
the UK as they are not manufactured in the US)

This discussion has been done to death. The pricing issues are more
complex then just a conversion of price from one market to another.
Just think about the other factors such as the average salary for a
job in the UK vs. the same job in the US etc.

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Alias

The OP was discussing Vista Basic, not Business, and I live in Canada. Why
and how would I get to know the price in Alicante or Sevilla?

Did you fail Geography?

 

[ChrisM]

In message (e-mail address removed),

Prices are set as per market conditions - it has very little to do
with the cost of the product in one country and freight charges.
(For your own information the DVDs and packaging do not air freight to
the UK as they are not manufactured in the US)

This discussion has been done to death. The pricing issues are more
complex then just a conversion of price from one market to another.
Just think about the other factors such as the average salary for a
job in the UK vs. the same job in the US etc.

I do understand the principles of market forces etc. and I realise that the
prices charged have little to nothing to do with any actual costs, much more
to do with how much the supplier thinks they can get away with charging in a
particular region.

(The DVD and packaging would probably be shipped from the US if that is
where you bought it from though which is what I meant).

Regardless of the explanations and justifications, on the face of it, it
stills seems daft to me that I can buy a product from Americia and bring it
here paying all the relevant shipping, taxes and charges, and still pay less
than if I'd popped down the road and bought it from my local supplier...

 

[Alias]

Alias

The OP was discussing Vista Basic, not Business,

I used it as an example. Business is the only flavor offered here in a
retail version.

and I live in Canada.

Why and how would I get to know the price in Alicante or Sevilla?

I just told you.

Did you fail Geography?

The Internet is international. You don't need to live in Spain to know
the prices.

Alias

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Look at it this way - it is the same for pretty much everything else
because of those economic forces.
You can get a pair of jeans in the US for a fraction of the UK price
you could name thousands of products that this applies too. It really
is just not worth getting heated up about and thinking it is just
software where the UK is rip off Britain.
Look to the EU and you will see similar nonsense happening. Buy a car
in the UK and look at the same model in mainland Europe and you can
even go to there and order a right hand drive one, buy it , drive it
back to the UK, pay some import duties and tax it and it is still
potentially thousands of pounds cheap then getting one from your local
dealer.
It's just economics at work. :-(

(Look at it another way - your higher UK salary and great exchange
rate makes buying internationally a superb option to get great
products some not available in the UK at knock down rates. for
example a family member of mine in the UK gets their DVD movies from
Canada, practically half price, never caught for import duty and you
get them sometime months before the UK release)

 

[ChrisM]

Hmmm, I suppose that IS one way of thinking about it...

'Glass is half full' and all that...



In message %[email protected],

 

[ChrisM]

Hey! I thought that MVPs were supposed to be super-human!
Surely they should able to rise above this sort of petty sniping...

:-D

Chris.

In message (e-mail address removed),