Homer wrote:
...why does Vista cost double the USA price in the UK ?
It's the same here... most US companies seem to over-charge anyone outside the US or Canada...
Prices for Vista Home Basic upgrade DVD (e.g. pretty much the cheapest nastiest version with the fugly "scrap metal" UI):
USA (Amazon) US$98.99
UK (Amazon) £99.99
New Zealand (Ascent) NZ$229.43
Australia (Digital Home) AU$188
Using
current exchange rates, US$98.99 should work out as:
UK - £50.51 (£49.48 overcharged)
New Zealand - NZ$142.41 (NZ$87.02 overcharged)
Australia - AU$128.16 (AU$59.84 overcharged)
This doesn't take into consideration the cost of living in each of these countries... New Zealand, for instance, has lower wages and higher costs of living, so the
real cost of Vista here is even higher.
IMHO, "upgrading" from XP to Vista Home Basic would be a complete waste of time and I wouldn't bother with it... The "better" versions of Vista are even more stupidly expensive though...
"Upgrading" from
any version of XP to Vista is pretty much a waste of time though - considering the cost, extra hardware requirements, and the lack of any real new features...
- Ali
