Vista’s troubles bode well for the Mac
Windows users are refusing to “upgrade” to Vista.
The latest evidence that Vista has fallen flat on its pretty Aero face has arrived in an announcement from Microsoft that it will continue selling Windows XP due to customer demand for the older OS. Microsoft had planned to stop selling XP as of January 31, but now will sell it until the end of June.
Earlier this year some PC manufacturers, most notably Dell, started offering XP as an option on many of its new PCs, also because of customer demand. That so many people would prefer a six-year-old operating system over Microsoft’s latest and greatest speaks volumes about how badly the folks at Redmond botched Vista. It’s a far cry from the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction that greeted Windows 95 a dozen years ago.
At this time last year most industry analysts were predicting that the years-delayed release of Vista (which finally went on sale Jan. 30 of this year) would hurt Mac sales. As it turned out, the opposite happened. The first two quarters of 2007 saw Macs selling at a record pace, with year-over year increases of 30 percent.
Over the past week analysts who follow Apple have been predicting another record-breaking quarter for the Mac when the company reports its earnings for the quarter ending this week. Most expect Mac sales to exceed 2 million units, far exceeding last quarter’s record 1.76 million units.
Instead of stimulating demand for PCs as have previous versions of Windows, Vista has inspired consumers to seek alternatives, and many are looking hard at the Mac. Apple’s adoption of Intel chips in 2006, coupled with the wildly successful iPod and the endless hype over the iPhone (keeping the Apple brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds) have created ideal conditions for large-scale switching.
Even some well-known long-time advocates of Windows such as Chris Pirillo have bailed on Vista. Not only has Pirillo reverted to XP on his PC, he’s been toying with Mac OS X for months. Here’s what he had to say on his Web site just today:
Do I recommend Windows Vista? Not a snowball’s chance in………..I’m waiting on Apple to release Mac OS X Leopard. As far as I’m concerned at this point, Microsoft is taking a huge hit. The future of Windows, in my opinion, is inside a Virtual Machine or Bootcamp on a Mac.
With Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard due out next month, the public stature of the Mac stands to benefit tremendously from the inevitable Vista vs. Leopard comparisons. Combine that with the height of Christmas shopping season, and we could easily see Mac sales set yet another record next quarter.
Who said the OS wars were over?
Comments
You are so pathetic. Microsoft taking a huge hit? With what? A couple of hundred thousand usersin record sales? You don't have proof these are people coming over from Microsoft.
Microsoft already sold 100 million licenses many months back and are poised for a billion licenses sold.
So what about Chris Pirillo, he is a nobody just a simple whiner. He is tech tiny, deal with it.
Posted by: Techticles | September 29, 2007 3:09 AM
Haha... I can't help but to laugh at the folks in redmond. I told you copying OS X wouldn't work! lmfao
Posted by: Ethan Kerr | September 29, 2007 4:27 PM
Techticles,
You should learn how to count. Vista sold 40 million copies in the first 100 days ending in April; in three months to include pre-sales from 2006. By the end of June Vista sold 60 million copies total; in six months. Which means that Vista sales slowed to half during those last three months. At that pace Vista would be at around less than 80 million copies now, provided that sales don't continue to slow - which by all reports they have.
80 million? Well thats meaningless since Microsoft plays with those numbers; one, Microsoft counts unsold PCs sitting on shelfs that have Vista pre-installed, two, hordes of people have been uninstalling those pre-installations and reverting to XP.
Besides at their current rate of sales it will take MS 10 years to hit one billion, assume they sell 100 million units this year. But being that most of us expect a major new version of an OS every 3 years, they won't get anywhere near a billion, unless it takes them another 6 years to develop another SP (service pack) update, which is all that Vista really is.
Posted by: James | September 29, 2007 7:23 PM
The perennial Windows/Mac wars wage on in their latest installment--but a little perspective is in order.
Windows has always been a rear-guard, catch-up operation, content to appeal to people for whom "good enough" is good enough to do the job at hand. And it does that with mind-numbing competence, assisted by bloated IT departments employed by CFOs who believe Windows is cheaper. It is cheaper, of course, but only in the short run.
Mac OS proponents, with their near religious zealotry, have always been a smug group, convinced as they are that computing should be an exercise in adventurous style.
I hope that Windows continues to dominate so that virus writers avoid writing for the Mac. Vista likely will dominate OS X for as far as the eye can see, but it will do so with all the charisma of an actuary summing a column of numbers.
But perhaps someday, better will be recognized as better than good enough. Perhaps with Vista and Leopard, that day will come.
Posted by: Larry Crockett | September 29, 2007 7:48 PM
Vista and Aero's pretty face appears to have a glass chin. It's only taken a couple of hits and already it's down for the count.
Posted by: Neil Anderson | September 29, 2007 8:17 PM