Microsoft to Give Vista Away Free

Microsoft has teamed up with PC vendors to promote the delayed Vista OS by offering PC buyers worldwide a free upgrade coupon, as a way of encouraging them to buy a Vista-capable PC as early as possible, according to market sources, citing information leaked from Taiwan-based PC makers.

With the coupon offer to kick off in October, prospective buyers who have planned to purchase a Vista-enabled PC in the first quarter of 2007 when the new OS is launched, will be encouraged to take up a Vista-capable PC in advance, the sources asserted.

Ray Chen, president of Compal Electronics, confirmed the coupon offer at a company investor conference held yesterday, stating that the free upgrade coupon, together with the availability of Intel's 64-bit-enabled Merom processors, will help boost demand for new PCs in the fourth quarter of this year as well as in the first quarter of 2007.