If you watched the above video you will recall that bill gates said that british consumers will not be paying more than US customers, and that any price difference is merely due to differences in exchange rate. Well digital punks went to amazon.com and then .co.uk to see if his claims held up.

US Amazon


When US Dollars are converted to pounds it equals £192.93 according to xe.com

UK Amazon


As you can see there is a massive price difference for windows vista full ultimate edition, from £331.99 UK price to £192.93 price the US have, in fact it is a 58% difference, that surely cannot be just be because of currency differences. The differences between all versions looks like this:

Name:	US Price Converted to £	Uk Price	Percentage: Cheaper in US
Vista Ultimate Full	£192.93	£311.99	52%
Vista Ultimate Upgrade	£126.81	£210.99	48%
Vista Home Premium Full	£115.67	£210.99	45%
Vista Home Premium Upgrade	£78.12	£134.99	42%
Vista Home Basic Full	£101.06	£168.99	40%
Vista Home Basic Upgrade	£50.21	86.99	42%
Vista Business Full	£144.56	£239.99	40%
Vista Business Upgrade	£97.39	£165.99	41%

By the looks of it Bill Gates doesn't even know what his company is upto, or is it that he knows that Microsoft is charging more to UK consumers and simply doesn't want to admit it? It would be unfair to single out Microsoft in charging more for products in the uk, all companies do it. What annoys me is that the head of the Microsoft blatantly lies about it, would Steve Jobs of apple do the same? i don't know, but he hasn't yet, Bill Gates has.