Forgery or not, I cannot answer; however, the Microsoft reply gives
legitimate marketing/operating reasons which are true in most regions and
countries.



--
Gene K



"Gerry Cornell" wrote in message
...
It would seem to me that the question one has to ask is whether the
letter is a forgery or written by a simpleton?



~~~~

Gerry

~~~~~~~~
Enquire, plan and execute.
Stourport, England
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enigmatic wrote:

- Show quoted text -

I contacted Microsoft about this and the reply was as follows:

"Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your email concerning price differences for
Windows Vistaâ,,¢ between the US and the UK.
In response to your query, I can
confirm that the U.S will usually be cheaper owing to the
following
reasons:

U.S resellers, particularly online ones may be able to sell the
product at a
lower price owing to them taking a reduction in their margins.
They
can normally
do this more than resellers in smaller countries due to the
economies
of scale
of selling to a larger customer base. I should point out at this
stage, that as
a result of EU regulations we cannot set prices ourselves.
Taxation, which can
be substantially lower in the U.S than the U.K.
Operation costs such as
distribution and manufacturing can be significantly lower in the
U.S
owing to
the same economies of scale as mentioned above.
Different Microsoft regional
offices can offer promotions and discounts to resellers and
consumers
that are
specific to their own region. Microsoft UK and Microsoft Europe
will
quite often
offer such promotions that are not applicable to our U.S
customers.
Finally,
the differences in price can also vary with the currency exchange
rate
between
the U.S and the U.K.
I hope this information has answered your query, but if
you have any more questions please give us a call on 0870 60 10
100.
Our lines
are open from 8.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. Telephone
traffic is
at its
lowest early in the morning. Of course if you prefer please send
me an
email.

Many thanks for contacting us.
Kind Regards,
MAMATHA DALEER
Customer Service
Professional
Microsoft Customer Services"



There you go, folks.

Robin