you were to buy the Home Basic edition of Windows Vista in North America, it would cost your ~$200. The price for the same software is $250 in Canada, $200 in India, $350 in UK and Europe but in China, Microsoft is selling Windows Vista Home Basic DVDs for $66 only.
The price cut in China is introduced to lure buyers away from pirated versions of the software.
But will this latest move to cut prices help Microsoft China win new customers? Probably not because even at $66, the Vista DVD from Microsoft costs $65 more than the prevailing Vista rate in Chinese software market which is a mere $1.00 (cost of media).
And this Microsoft tactic to slash prices is sure to attract strong reactions from customers in other countries where piracy is virtually non-existent and Vista sales are good but the prices are high.
This follows previous reports that Bill Gates was not too worried about the widespread software piracy in China since that ensured the customers won't more to other alternatives like Linux.