Vista price cuts announced for the US and elsewhere will not be extended to Britain, the company said today.

It seems, translating from a statement written in dense Microsoftspeak, that the company has already being cutting prices here and sales are considered healthy enough to do without further encouragement.

It is unclear whether these cuts go further than correcting early mark-ups on Vista, the initial prices of which indicated that Microsoft accountants were under the impression that the dollar had achieved parity with the pound.

The company statement said: "Microsoft is confident that combination of the compelling new features and capabilities in Windows Vista and the new pricing will help further build demand across a broad range of consumers and small businesses.

"This confidence is based, in part, on the success that we have already experienced in the UK. Since November 2007, we have been running a regional promotion to test the new pricing and have seen a significant increase in our sales of Windows Vista Full Packaged Product.

"While our retail partners ultimately set the prices in the market, we anticipate that the new pricing of Windows Vista SP1 in the UK will be largely comparable to those people are seeing today."