With the new Windows Eee PC approaching, Laptop Magazine recently reported that the price of the Windows Eee PC 4G is $400. The price of the current Eee PC 4G is also $400 (Amazon) with Linux. This means one of two things happened.

The first possibility is simply that there is going to be a price drop. That would be just fine and good. Yay. Whatever.

The second possibility, however, (and please note, this is only a possibility, not a fact) is that either Asus is absorbing the cost of Windows or that Microsoft is giving XP to Asus for free. If either one of these is happening, it is not OK with me.

For Asus’s part, it is not their business to determine what operating systems cost. By making Windows free, they give Microsoft an unfair advantage that they should not be given. If Windows is the one giving XP away for free, that is just as bad as bribing bloggers with expensive laptops.

Keep in mind that the explanation could just be a price drop, which would mean nothing bad is going on, but the EU should keep an eye on this.