WinXP pricing leaks again? SA bids $286 for Pro

As reported here earlier, Amazon has pulled prices for Windows XP from its site; it has subsequently stopped taking pre-orders for XP - allegedly until Microsoft has set the prices for the product. Well, ahem. Are we expected to believe that Amazon had some kind of corporate brainstorm and just made up prices for XP?

If Amazon did make up prices for XP, this reckless behaviour would seem to be catching. Our sources tell us that South African distributor Rectron lists Windows XP Pro in its June catalogue at $US286, which puts the South African imagination just a tad more optimistic than the amazon.com one, which pegged it at $299.99.

Conspiracy theorists will be impressed by our inability to verify this. We checked out rectron.co.za to see if the price was online, but got no hits at all on a search for Microsoft or Windows, and found that Rectron's Microsoft section (so why no hits?) was "under construction." So the company's just getting into Microsoft software then?

Not exactly. On 19th May 2000 Rectron Holdings received the Microsoft Systems Builder of the Year award from MS senior VP and former Dark Lord of MS OEM Joachim Kempin himself. This was in recognition of its having boosted Microsoft product sales by more than 1000 per cent in the previous year. Try as we might, it's difficult not to conspiracy theorise.

Whatever, as is abundantly clear to anything from the slightly sentient mollusc upwards, Microsoft has set pricing for Windows XP already, and has briefed the relevant outlets. It is currently pretending it hasn't because it intends to use a pricing announcement as part of the market momentum-building exercise it will be engaging in as we get closer to the October launch date.

Given that we've got two leaks already, it should now be worth scanning the public prints for further outlets who have - oh woops - accidentally blabbed early, and will be catching the rough edge of Redmond's tongue. ®

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