MAPS Price Alignment

I've been asking Microsoft for years why we're paying so much (comparatively) for their software here in Australia. One area is MAPS, and as SBSC PAL last financial year, I had a number of SBSC Partners ask me to follow up with Microsoft and find out why, exactly, we're paying so much for MAPS, Certified fees and software in general.

Well, according to Sarah Arnold's blog, as of 24 August, 2009, Microsoft Australia has done the following:

1. MAPS (physical media) has had a whopping price reduction from $699 (inc) to $660 (inc)
2. MAPS (digital download) has had its price set at $396 (inc)

Now, as we're all getting better access to broadband with better bandwidth allowances(*), the digital download option is looking better and better for most Registered Partners. The almost total lack of movement on the physical media version means that this is obviously Microsoft's least preferred method. That makes sense (however the lack of real price alignment here is still a little disappointing).

I hope that this adjustment of Australian pricing starts to flow across the MAPS divide and into all other products so that our pricing here starts to become fair - right now we pay a heavy penalty compared to our US cousins for Microsoft software across the board.

(*) Apologies to the BigPond and Telstra subscribers. Get a real ISP. :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie