Microsoft Discounts Vista in China

Aiming to curb piracy, Microsoft said it had slashed prices on its Windows Vista as much as 67 percent to encourage consumers to purchase genuine copies of its software. As of Wednesday, the price of its Home Basic edition dropped from $201 to $66, and Home Premium was reduced to $118 from $238. The company hopes that the move will continue the downtrend in piracy in the country.

Piracy rates are still high: in 2006, about 82 percent of all software used in China was pirated according to IDC. However, this was down from 86 percent the previous year. Some of the reduction could be due to a new policy in China that requires manufacturers to ensure that legally-obtained operating system software is installed at factories.