A petition on Downing Street's e-petition website which called for fairer pricing of Microsoft's Vista operating system has been rejected.

The petition called on the PM to "bring pressure on Microsoft to stop them overcharging the UK for its Vista Operating System". The petition noted that a fully-fledged version of Vista costs £350 in the UK, but an identical product costs only £195 in the US.

The government's response was that, with few exceptions, there are no price controls in the UK - companies can charge what they like for products and services as long as they provide clear information on what those prices are.

It suggested that the Office of Fair Trading could investigate if it believed prices were anti-competitive.

The rejected petition is here.

The site also hosts another live petition calling on Blair to get Microsoft to increase the price of Vista which they see as a loss leader. It has five signatories so far. ®

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