Vista's 100m sales mark said to hide disappointing results
Although Microsoft's opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show outed record-setting Windows Vista sales figures, supplemental information suggests the software's debut may have been underwhelming in a larger context.
Citing Gartner Dataquest information, the report reveals that worldwide PC sales should tally up to about 255.7 million computers over the 12-month period, leaving Vista at just 39 percent of all new sales.
And as Windows XP was Microsoft's primary operating system until Vista's late January 2007 debut, the information suggests that the older OS has sold more copies over the course of the past year than its newer, more heavily promoted replacement — by a margin of 50 percent or more, the article notes.
The CES update also provides an opportunity to dissect the Windows creator's sales numbers. Microsoft was initially quick to report that its Vista sales rate more than doubled XP's, selling about 20 million copies in one month. In the following months, however, initial enthusiasm for the OS has reportedly petered out, slowing down over the year to where only 12 million units of the Windows update were sold in the fall 2007 quarter.
Microsoft's sales figure, while the best ever for a Windows release, also belies the change in market conditions. While Vista's 100 million mark bests Windows XP's 89 million, the PC market has doubled in size since the earlier version's October 2001 launch, indicating that Vista accounts for a considerably smaller portion of the market than XP did in the past.
The discrepancy is chalked up primarily to a lack of enthusiasm about the OS. Some PC vendors, most notably Dell, brought XP back as an option after customers complained about having to buy new systems with Vista pre-installed.
Apple has taken advantage of this reaction in its Get a Mac ads, claiming that users are "giving up" on Vista in favor of XP.
35 Comments
How Microsoft with all the dollar power can do such crap, again and again, amazes me. The day people know about Mac OS X, Windows will be history. The same for Safari vs Internet Explorer and QuickTime vs Windows Media Player. Inertia and only that is maintaining Microsoft.
We have to remember Leopard is going to be better, as it is tailored round specific hardware, and Vista must suit the needs to a huge combination of non specific configurations of PC.
However, Apple have the last laugh as they are brough out their refined Bootcamp, which means, people can have a high quality machine, with a choice of Operating system (Vista/XP running natively).
Apple can't loose really.
I use vista, but only for DX10. If DX10 were on xp, i would switch in an instant.
How Microsoft with all the dollar power can do such crap, again and again, amazes me. Inertia and only that is maintaining Microsoft.
My sentiments exactly, long gone are the days that Microsoft could enjoy its monopoly undisturbed. Maybe Mr Gates is very wisely abandoning a sinking ship. If they can't come up with something truly innovative their market share will very quickly evaporate.
Apple can't loose really.
Numbers for new Linux and Mac OS X users are definitely going to be on the rise in the next months (maybe even years). Apple needs to continue innovating and improving its OS though, expectations are getting higher
I am amongst a handful of Mac faithfuls in my organization. Two items of note: (1) More than a few colleagues have switched to a Mac in the past six months -- for their work; (2) The PC part of the organization -- which dominates -- has not switched to Vista yet. And, I have not seen any announced plans for the switch.