I recently saw an article saying that Microsoft, afraid of losing market share in some foreign countries, will soon offer a "discount" version of their XP operating system, perhaps for around $40. That version will not be marketed to Americans, who will still have to pay upwards of $200 for the USA version.

This is similar, and equally galling, to the situation we currently have with the drug industry. American drug companies develop wonder drugs, convince the doctors and the public that we need them, and then charge very high prices for their wares. The drug companies insist that the high prices are meant to recoup their cost of research and development. That might sit right, except that the companies then sell the drugs at lower prices to countries that have lower personal incomes. This is why many Americans cross the border into Mexico and Canada, where they can buy the drugs they need at discount prices.

It stands to reason that if the drug companies can make a profit selling their new wonder drug to Canadians and Mexicans at a dollar a pill (and be assured they are not losing any money selling outside the USA), then they can likewise make the same profit selling the pill to the folks back home in the USA for the same dollar. When they charge the Americans five dollars for the same pill, it's price gouging, plain and simple.

Americans, as everyone knows, are all rich, so we can easily afford exorbitant prices more than our friends in foreign countries. The price of the pill is not based on how much it cost to manufacture, and it is not based on how much the R & D costs -- it is based on our ability to pay.

And now Microsoft wants to do the same with software. The price of the XP operating system won't reflect the R & D cost, or the manufacturing and distribution cost. It will be higher priced in the countries that can afford to pay the most, and Americans will get raked over again. Microsoft won't lose any money selling XP to the folks in Thailand for $40 -- that's probably what it really costs, with a modest profit built in for Bill Gates. But Bill didn't get to be the richest man in the world by looking for modest profits, did he?