Only around 10% of PCs to be shipped in the fourth quarter of this year are equipped with MCE (Windows XP Media Center Edition) and consumers who buy the remaining 90% of PCs will need to purchase MCE to be able to upgrade to the upcoming Vista operating system (OS) for free next year, according to PC makers quoted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily.
Microsoft has informed PC makers that free upgrades to Vista will only be available for MCE users, the paper said. For Windows XP users, upgrading to the entry-level version of Vista will cost US$116, wile upgrading to the premium version will cost US$269, noted the paper. The cost may affect PC demand through the first quarter of next year, PC makers were quoted by the paper as saying.
News source: DigiTimes
