Microsoft cuts Windows Vista prices

Microsoft decided to lower the prices of Windows Vista to boost the adoption of the one year old operating system. The software giant says it will cut prices for Windows Vista in 70 countries and that it will use different strategies to boost Vista sales.

In the US and Europe the firm will focus on making the upgrade versions cheaper while in emerging markets they will focus on making the full versions a lot cheaper.

"We anticipate these changed will provide greater opportunities ... to sell more stand-alone copies of Windows," said Brad Brooks, a Microsoft corporate vice president.

In the United States, Microsoft will reduce prices for Windows Vista Ultimate, the company's top-end operating system, to $319 from $399 for the full version and cut the price for an "upgrade" version to $219 from $259 for consumers who already run Windows XP or another edition of Vista.

It also cut prices for upgrade versions of Vista Home Premium, its mainstream product, to $129 from $159. The price cuts vary by country.

In emerging markets, Microsoft will stop selling "upgrade" versions of Vista, because, for many customers, it will be the first purchase of a genuine copy of Windows. The company will instead sell Vista Home Premium and Home Basic, a stripped-down version, at the upgrade prices.