Microsoft Backs Away From Aggressive Vista Estimates
Friday, February 16, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Remember when Microsoft analysts were claiming that Windows Vista sales were going to be spectacular and spark massive growth in the industry because consumers would be falling over themselves to upgrade? Well, turns out those forecasts were a little bit too aggressive. Now though, Microsoft itself is admitting just that. CEO Steve Ballmer said as much yesterday in a strategy presentation to analysts, saying that Vista would create a "small surge" in PC sales in fiscal 2008.
It looks like the general trading market excitement over the release of Vista didn't exactly match up with the level of consumer excitement over the new OS. Now, numbers are being adjusted down to match more closely with reality.
More details at CRN.
Reply #2 Friday, February 16, 2007 4:38 PM
Reply #3 Friday, February 16, 2007 5:28 PM
Of course, like Philly says, Vista will eventually end up on most PCs simply because it is bundled by default with most new PCs sold. I think the biggest factor in the not-so-overwhelming reception of Vista is, and I doubt it would come to anyone as a surprise, the price.
Let's face it, the only thing that the average Joe sees new in Vista is the interface (it's also the only thing that MS advertisements for Vista advertise), and who's going to shell half a G for a new interface. Besides, for the average user, XP is good enough and that's all they average user really wants. Also add to that the hardware upgrade factor, as almost every article about Vista points out that unless you've bought/upgrade a system within the last year you'll need to upgrade at least one or two components (RAM and Graphics Card usually) to take full advantage of Vista.
Reply #4 Friday, February 16, 2007 5:40 PM
Reply #5 Saturday, February 17, 2007 9:33 AM
And all your software will still work.
Reply #6 Saturday, February 17, 2007 12:18 PM
I got lucky having a Technet subscription through our business, and I love Vista Ultimate, but I see where they screwed up here.
Reply #7 Saturday, February 17, 2007 12:55 PM
Reply #8 Saturday, February 17, 2007 4:29 PM
I know that I'm the anomaly among my female friends regarding the "look" of my computer. None of them bother to change the plain turquoise wall paper that comes with their original set up, much less change icons or cursors. Forget about all the rest. That's just not important at all to them. So Vista's bells and whistles isn't going to attract that crowd at all. They all have XP, it does what they need it to do, and they're not looking for anything else. To forget that those people are a large segment of the current computer-using population and to expect them to want to buy an upgraded computer just so that they can run Vista, is poor strategy and design, IMO.
Reply #9 Monday, February 19, 2007 8:08 AM
I don't see the need to always buy the new OS's. Since 3.1 I've had 95, ME9damn0 and XP. I will probably skip Vista. Whats the advantage? Moving wallpapers! What am I going to do, stare at it all day. I'll save the $150 to update and the cost of a new Graphics card. There are some things I like about Vista but not enough to spend the money.
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Reply #1 Friday, February 16, 2007 3:55 PM