Microsoft hits Europeans with hefty Anytime Upgrade prices

- Microsoft may have denied that it's gouging European customers with its Windows 7 pricing, but an analysis by Computerworld shows that EU buyers will be paying as much as 163% more for some of the company's in-place Anytime Upgrades.

In late June, Bill Veghte, the senior vice president for the Windows business group, rejected claims by a British financial newspaper that European consumers would pay more for Windows 7 because of a move it made -- since retracted -- to dump Internet Explorer (IE) from the new OS.

[RememberThe357]

I'll stick with Vista.

[KingKionic]

You missed the 50 dollars to upgrade DEAL ?

[Mo0eY]

BUH BUH BUH BUT M$ is the perfect company and they can do no wrong.

[FamilyGuy]

Are M$s OSs region locked? Why not just download a U.S. version and pay for that? (if you choose to pay at all)

I'm getting Windows 7 free, as soon as i upgrade mah pc or buy a better one.

[zag]

That offer would have only been for the US.

Australia hasn't had any offers, and probably cost the highest.

I think Ultra is around $900 for a full copy.

[Dreamworker]

I guess Microsoft wants their money back from europe.

[gamesR4fun]

either way id b pissed if i lived in europe

[DJ Chick]

I couldn't spot it anywhere, but is it possible to upgrade from XP Home to Win7? Or do I just need an Anytime Upgrade?

[forgot my password]

people in the U.K seem to get ass rammed when comes to hardware/software. feel sorry for you guys. as for me i'll stick to wV

[Jrome]

Because they spend too much time complaining that Internet Explorer is included with Windows without worrying about the real issues...like pricing xD.

[zag]

It's because the Pound (tripple) and Euro (double) have a higher value over the US dollar, so MS isn't pricing the Euro Win7 copies properly which should be cheaper than the US version.

Forget about the IE suite it doesn't really mean much because people release Vista without IE and just have the parts that are really needed in Vista so it can be done.

The other problem with IE is that it self brands to bing all the time and you have to manual alter it to google or what ever.

[Jrome]

rofl...2 people didn't get that I was just kidding :/.

You guys need to chill.

[user858621]

its kewl ive got rapidshare :)

[Marty8370]

Pirate

[mrv321]

I have nothing against people pirating if they feel they've been ripped off

Imagine buying Vista... paying quite a lot too and to suffer loads of problem only for Microsoft to announce they will allmost completely drop Vista in favour for a new thing which will cost him even more.

I will not buy Win7, nor pirate it. I will simply use Vista and re-install it every six or so months to keep it working at it's best.

[somekindofmike]

I get completely confused by MS pricing structure for Windows 7! admittedly I have no intention to buy it so I haven't read much into it, but it does seem like the most complex and ridiculous pricing structure in the world, there seems to be a million different prices for an upgrade!

Why not a simple one price fits all solution? and what's the difference between the starter edition and home premiums etc? they say something like a net-book user might decide they want to do more than just surf the web and check email so they will need to upgrade to home premium? Is the starter edition really that crippled? I just thought it was a less fancy looking one? kind like not the cool one to have, but I really don't know!

In reality the only stage where I'm going to get Windows 7 is when I buy a PC with it pre-installed on, i'm not going to go out of my way to get it, I just don't see the need.

[PLAYINB3YOND]

Microsoft are just pissed becuase the European Union won't let them get away with anything anymore, so M$ can fcuk off i'll stick with XP

[Eiffel]

Yeah using a Microsoft product as if you're not supporting them is a better alternative. that will show em!

/sarcasm.

[KingKionic]

ROFL!

[LeShin]

... using old Microsoft products bought long ago will not give MS any new revenue. If everyone stuck to XP and didn't buy Vista or 7, MS would be f'd!

Me? I'm sticking to my Ubuntu thank you very much.

Here in the UK, I think the only people who are going to rush to buy this would be hardcore PC gamers. In this economy, everyone else will stick to their old PC's as long as it still does it's job. I know the company I work for have NO intention of upgrading their systems......they didn't even need Vista lol

[PLAYINB3YOND]

M$ have never had any of my money, I got an XP disc off a friend at work for free.

[Raf1k1]

some people don't seem to know there are ways of getting things for free.

I got two copies of XP for free through my Uni. One was an actual disk with certificate and serial key. The other was a download of XP with legitimate serial key.

[AstroZombie1]

I'll be getting the RTM legally for free on August 6th anyway so no problem for me.

[Baka-akaB]

So where are the usual koolaid drinkers , with their eternal "EU anti monopoly laws are stupid" ??

[Odion]

They are dumb, the EU abuses its position as a governing body more then any other organization in the world.

Instead of people having to create a better product to get ahead they can just cry foul to the EU to gimp their competition

[Serg]

I don't know why I even reply to this...

Since this is a gaming website let's use the consoles as an example: A lot of people are screaming competition is good "without Sony there would be no... without MS there would be no..." etc etc, yet the same people usually hate on the EU for executing the LAW that assures the existance of competiton, without it every big company would have a clear path to crush every small company that is in their way, if the EU would stop reminding the big players of that law they would simply take the freedom of choice away from us, no choice if there is only one product on the market.

Is this so hard to understand? Besides what kind of sick and twisted sympathy do you feel for these companies anyway? Do you lose even a cent out of your pocket because they lost a few billions in court? I just don't get it.