In 1991, when Microsoft was still a fairly small company and many businesses were scaling back their research efforts, Microsoft made a strong commitment to basic research in computer science by establishing the first research lab by a software company. It recognized that the age of the microprocessor had only just begun and that improvements in silicon, storage, and communications technology combined with the right software would continue to dramatically transform every aspect of our lives. Over the past ten years the lab has grown substantially and has contributed to almost every major product at Microsoft. We now have over 600 researchers working on a wide range of projects: artificial intelligence, multimedia, quantum computing, operating systems, programming languages and tools, signal processing, speech recognition, image processing, user interfaces, and more.
View: Full story and plans for the future
View: Full story and plans for the future
We can't compare across countries and continents," said Neil Laver, Microsoft Windows product marketing manager. "Outside the US margins have to be higher for economies of scale."
Apparently there is little difference between the European and US versions of the XP operating system - apart from the language used, obviously. So maybe the cheapest option would be for Brits to combine a US holiday with an IT shopping trip?
"There's nothing to stop you buying it (Windows XP) in the US and bringing it over," admitted Laver. That is, presumably, as long as Her Majesty's Customs & Excise doesn't hear about it
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