Microsoft's Vista sales power up

[areteichi]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6660367.stm

Man, I wonder when will be the time when people start migrating to the free world.

[DoctorMO]

I feel sorry for them.

[Adamant1988]

I feel sorry for them.

I'm not. If they're happy with it, let them use it. As long as ISVs support something else too I'll be happy...

[mips]

I personally do not know of anybody that has rushed out to go and buy Vista. Considering you can buy a PC for the price of the OS I don't see many people doing so until they absolutely have to.

I also suspect the majority of those sales are due to OEM Vista bundled/forced with new PCs.

[Outrunner]

Well, I just hope it works out for all those people that bought Vista. If no, then hopefully they'll discover GNU/Linux and open source software and live happily ever after... err, got carried away there...

[ComplexNumber]

Microsoft's Vista sales power upyeah, right. so says microsoft. i'd advise people to take it with a pinch of salt.
from what i've gathered, vista is not doing so well at all......and its amazing how a company can put a spin on statistics to make things look better than they are.

[Barrius]

I've used various incarnations of Windows since 3.0, watching it leapfrog past better OS's including IBM's OS/2 (I've used 2.0 thru Warp 4). I'm amazed that Linux hasn't gotten a bigger share of the market until I read about Microsoft's constant threats against it's competitors - then it sinks in. I've come to despise their software. Here at the office we have some 60 odd PC's, upgrading them all to Vista with the latest Office packages and accompanying security patches, anti-virus and malware packages etc would cost us about US$40,000 not including the labor to do so. It takes between 4-6 hours to install the OS and all the other programs we use - Ubuntu takes less than an hour.

I'm just wanting to get one machine installed with Ubuntu, and even though I'm no fan of Beryl/Compwiz or Vista's window effects, if that what it takes to help get every Windows machine here upgraded to Ubuntu then that what it'll take.

[Lucifiel]

Hmmm... besides bundled sales and OEM, maybe many of these figures are from companies and corporations which upgraded over to Vista?

The question is: how many of these 40 million were copies bought off the shelf by consumers? Hmmm... at least a few million, I think.

Also, 40 million copies worldwide or 40 million copies in one country? If it's worldwide, then it's not such a big figure, then.

[Barrius]

PS. Even though I have 3 copies of Vista in hand, I have yet to install it on a machine at work - then everyone else will want "their" computer upgraded. I did install on a home machine to see what all the hype is about - colour me very much unimpressed - the constant requests for permission (logged in as administrator) bug me to no end. Visual effects? LOL! Some folks must be very easily impressed!

[starcraft.man]

Here (http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/vista_40_million_sold.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K000053 5) is a good article that covered this.

I have to agree with many people above, the 40 million number is VERY deceptive. There are a lot of things Microsoft does to fudge the numbers, first and most prominently this number does not actually represent consumer sales, this figure is the number that is "in the channel" that basically means it represents the number of licenses Microsoft has (unfortunately) sold to retailers like Dell HP etc, as OEM.Therefore for all we know those licenses could be sitting around the distributors and no one is picking them up (think of it like Sony shipping 5 million PS3s to European retailers, if only a million get sold 5 million are still in the channel). In addition to selling to distributors, the number also represents direct sales to large corporate entities and governments.

Now, another thing deceptive, this does not in any way reflect how many active users are choosing to USE Vista. So if 5 million of those Vista licensees chose to downgrade to XP, they are still counted as a purchase of the Vista license since that's what they had first (either preinstalled on their computer or they chose to try it).

In the end, the 40 million number is really just to distract from the obvious, people really aren't being wowed by vista.

This line from the above article really sums it up best:


"'Sold' does not equal 'deployed,'" said Al Gillen, IDC's research vice president of system software. "If you went out and tried to find the portion of that 40 million that went into businesses, you will find a lot of the machines have been downgraded to Windows XP, which is perfectly legit."

So don't worry, Vista isn't doing that well.

Note to Barrius: Yes, some people are easily impressed/satisfied. That is why a good chunk of MS products get use, because their "acceptable" rather than "great" :)

[kevinlyfellow]

I personally do not know of anybody that has rushed out to go and buy Vista. Considering you can buy a PC for the price of the OS I don't see many people doing so until they absolutely have to.

I also suspect the majority of those sales are due to OEM Vista bundled/forced with new PCs.

I know people who rushe... oh wait, they found ways of acquiring for free... never mind.

Some microsofties I know were excited by it, but talking to them after they got it (free from companies/school site licensing) they just kinda shrugged and said, "Yeah, its nice."

[mips]

Hmmm... besides bundled sales and OEM, maybe many of these figures are from companies and corporations which upgraded over to Vista?


No corporate in their right mind would upgrade to Vista so soon unless they have an egit for a CIO. You wait 1-2yrs for the product to mature & settle before you let it loose in your company. And during that period you do LOTS of lab testing and role it out to 'beta' testers which is usually the IT staff and handful of others for testing.

[Lucifiel]

No corporate in their right mind would upgrade to Vista so soon unless they have an egit for a CIO. You wait 1-2yrs for the product to mature & settle before you let it loose in your company. And during that period you do LOTS of lab testing and role it out to 'beta' testers which is usually the IT staff and handful of others for testing.

Right. I didn't know that. ;) Now, I do. :)

[DJ_Max]

I also suspect the majority of those sales are due to OEM Vista bundled/forced with new PCs.

I can't help but agree with you. I'm currently looking for a laptop, and I'm having a hard time finding one that suits my needs without Vista. Oh, and for some odd reason (not really) most places "recommend" Vista Ultimate....

[ComplexNumber]

I have to agree with many people above, the 40 million number is VERY deceptive. There are a lot of things Microsoft does to fudge the numbers, first and most prominently this number does not actually represent consumer sales, this figure is the number that is "in the channel" that basically means it represents the number of licenses Microsoft has (unfortunately) sold to retailers like Dell HP etc, as OEM.
yup, in other words, units shipped. not units sold and deployed. BIG difference. that 40 million figure figure also don't account for returns where people have been disatisfied...and there have been a lot of them.
the actual figure for units sold and deployed is more like one or two million.



and for some odd reason (not really) most places "recommend" Vista Ultimate....hmmm i wonder why that is :rolleyes:

[juxtaposed]

Oh, and for some odd reason (not really) most places "recommend" Vista Ultimate....

I think it's part of the agreement microsoft makes with OEMs.

[ComplexNumber]

I think it's part of the agreement microsoft makes with OEMs.
its more likely to be the fact that customers need to splash out that much extra to buy a bigger and more powerful PC.

[mech7]

Well vista has some nice features and i guess people are bored at looking at the same os for 5 years in a row :p

byw most places recommend Home premium not Ultimate, which is really logical if you look at the feature list.

[LaRoza]

Subtract 1 for the statistic, I bought it, January 29, and overwrote it with Ubuntu soon after, so numbers bought is deceptive.

[Gargamella]

I personally do not know of anybody that has rushed out to go and buy Vista. Considering you can buy a PC for the price of the OS I don't see many people doing so until they absolutely have to.

I also suspect the majority of those sales are due to OEM Vista bundled/forced with new PCs.

When Xp was out I knews there was a lot of people going to buy it and to upgrade...with vista I know only few of my friends, and half of them got back to XP

[tehbeermang]

If they're happy with it, let them use it. I like that outlook honestly. It doesn't make those of us who enjoy Linux look like elitists.

[firedancer]

:lolflag: a friend of mine his father helps ppl upgrade their pc's

so some come to him with a pc which had 95,98,2000 hoping to get vista installed , then big deception , their being told to buy a new pc (some of which already bought the program)


toss another pc in the whereever


so my friend and I were thinking hmmm get all those pc's or introduce them to something else install it for them fix it to their liking , start a small bussiness


well now my friend doesn't want others to know linux (mr.unique)
cause where i'm from not many know about linux or use it

should i promote it or not


i'll be having a ton of pc's and laptops in the near future (working one puppylinux)


:lolflag:

[DoctorMO]

I'm not. If they're happy with it, let them use it. As long as ISVs support something else too I'll be happy.

No I still feel sorry for them, they only see a product; have no freedoms; are unable to share in the creative community and information is being withheld from most of them about the real world of computers. what is not to feel sorry about? no the only thing I could possibly feel is deep sorrow for all those people who have paid for vista.

[hardyn]

from what i've gathered, vista is not doing so well at all......and its amazing how a company can put a spin on statistics to make things look better than they are.

46.29% of all statistics are made up!

[starcraft.man]

Subtract 1 for the statistic, I bought it, January 29, and overwrote it with Ubuntu soon after, so numbers bought is deceptive.

ROFL, proved mine and others point exactly. MS is living in a detached bubble if they think anyone is using it... only person I know who upgraded to Vista is a friend of mine who kinda is a big fixated on windows, he thinks I'm kinda stupid for using Ubuntu, to each his own though :p


46.29% of all statistics are made up!

LOL, no kidding, like 4/5 dentists recommend toothpaste X and then competitor Y gets 3/5 or 7/10 to recommend it in their commercial. Most of the numbers used in marketing are laughable, less they come from a trusted third party >.>.

[FuturePilot]

I feel sorry for the owners of 90% of computers.

[karellen]

No I still feel sorry for them, they only see a product; have no freedoms; are unable to share in the creative community and information is being withheld from most of them about the real world of computers. what is not to feel sorry about? no the only thing I could possibly feel is deep sorrow for all those people who have paid for vista.

you may feel whatever you want to feel. but using an os or another doesn't necessarily make a person smarter or dumber or wiser or subjects of pity. for them it's just a tool, it's their choice and as long as they respect your choice you should not engage in some shallow judgements

[mips]

hmmm i wonder why that is :rolleyes:

Lol, maybe it has something to do with the price and the fact that you will probably need a new pc as well.

[Daveski]

you may feel whatever you want to feel. but using an os or another doesn't necessarily make a person smarter or dumber or wiser or subjects of pity. for them it's just a tool, it's their choice and as long as they respect your choice you should not engage in some shallow judgements

The problem is that many of them don't understand that they have a choice. Indeed many people do not realise that there is a distinction between they hardware they buy and the OS 'bundled' with it.

[Tundro Walker]

Vista is Microsoft's first new operating system in five years, and the company said that more than three quarters of its sales have been for the software's premium versions.

...because the lesser versions are about as useful as a tick on a dog's a**.

[starcraft.man]

...because the lesser versions are about as useful as a tick on a dog's a**.

LOL ya, I've actually seen some sites selling basic.... and people buy that cuz they think its better than just plain old xp >.>. It boggles the mind, what I'd like to know also is why not just make one version and make it 250$ thats reasonable to me. Or even 300$. All these versions (7 now, used to be 3 with XP) do nothing but confuse people, I mean look at mac, its one version for all, so is ubuntu (well sorta, considering you can customize your server to be desktop and remove guide from desktop to get server, its all interchangeable)

[karellen]

The problem is that many of them don't understand that they have a choice. Indeed many people do not realise that there is a distinction between they hardware they buy and the OS 'bundled' with it.

who cares? if they don't know how to choose I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince them. I had better things to to

[hardyn]

The problem is that many of them don't understand that they have a choice. Indeed many people do not realise that there is a distinction between they hardware they buy and the OS 'bundled' with it.

Well they do and they don't... its a bit of a circular problem.

the more common software is for windows only... its takes more users to get more common software ported to linux... you don't get more users in linux because the more common software because its all written for windows.

[DoctorMO]

who cares? if they don't know how to choose I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince them. I had better things to to

We would only ask you to if Windows was the community open source project. as it's a commercial proprietary it is subject to the rules of the market place.

By creating many versions without educating the market other then their OEMs and various channel partners has done nothing but cause confusion. while it may show higher return in the first few months; resentment will increase within the market for these products. not because they're bad but because they are presented in such a bad way to customers.

[brim4brim]

I know a few people who are buying new computers who's mainly want to make sure they get XP instead of Vista with their laptop and will take lower specs to get it.

Basically people don't want Vista and a large part of that might be the problem Linux faces in trying to break the market.

People don't want to change OS and XP has been out for a long time. Even the technophobes know how to use it at this stage. Basically people are happy with the way XP looks/works because they are familiar with it and don't want to adopt another OS, even if it is just another version of windows.

[Iarwain ben-adar]

I feel sorry for the owners of 90% of computers.

What about the other 30% ?


Iarwain