Two pieces of news have come out of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the final day. One is that the software company will cut the retail price of Vista. The other is that Microsoft knew that the specs for the new operating system encouraged users with slow machines to buy the software. Redmond was aware that Vista would not run well on low end machines.

The price cut may be a sign of weakness. Microsoft says Vista has sold well, but many citizens have stayed with older versions of Windows to save money and considering Vista has received mixed reviews. Performance problems on inexpensive machines as probably not helped.

The cuts are for consumer versions of the software. According to The Wall Street Journal

“The changes are seen as a response to the falling prices of new PCs, which made the software price seem disproportionately large in comparison to that of a new system with Vista installed.”

That reasoning seems a bit thin. Reaction to the OS has been lukewarm. Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new operating system has received better reviews and that may be helping the Mac take market share from PCs.PC companies may well have pressured Microsoft to drop prices.

A weak product is not something that a flagging PC industry needs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Original post by Douglas McIntyre

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