In about another month Windows XP will no longer be an option for people and businesses looking to buy a new computer, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition wanting to keep XP alive. In Israel today Steve Ballmer told the press that Vista is selling very well, and that it is the operating system of choice for nearly 100% of new consumer PC’s. Well, duh! Trying to find retailers that are still selling computers with XP is rather tricky, but you would expect that after a new operating system has been available for a year and a half.
The real dagger for Microsoft has got to be the fact that, according to Ballmer, 45% of businesses are buying new computers with Vista on them. It doesn’t sound all that bad when it’s worded that way, but it means a majority still find comfort in running a more mature operating system. He cited application compatibility as the main reason Vista has had a bit of a rough start, but went on to say that’s changing as the programs are getting upgraded.
What will be interesting to see is whether there is a surge in computer purchases as the end of June 2008 rolls around. Are businesses going to push to get new computers before the looming XP deadline is reached? Should we all be stocking up on retail licenses of XP to sell on eBay after the deadline hits?
In my eyes this is all a natural progression of technology. If everyone always had the chance to stick with using XP then they would probably never upgrade, and ten years down the road we may not be any better off than we are right now. Hopefully the move to end XP sales will get the Windows community to unite and find solutions to the problems some Vista users are having, and we’ll be able to live in peace… until the next version of Windows is released. 
this wouldn’t be the case if providers made software compatible with Vista. In my case, the shoddy programmers haven’t gotten up to speed on this.
Your point is well taken. The problem with Vista is that it requires a hardware upgrade and that costs money, as well as the software itself.
I know you can’t stop progress, but a pain in the wallet is not something you would like to feel. Ouch!
I’d say it’s more than 55%. A lot of companies are buying Vista and downgrading to Xp, but MS count it as a Vista “sale”.
Our Uni IT service was thinking of a Vista roll-out this summer but has pushed it back to summer 2009 now, just to make sure every program that’s going to be upgraded to work will do so. Knowing some of their PCs there will need to be upgrades happening around the same time as well.
For business user, Vista offers nothing new. It only offers large cost to deploy since it is not compatible with existing hardware and software. I think MS will make a huge mistake if they stop selling xp for business user, and will drive many to look at Linux systems and open office. As someone already mentioned business conversion probably would not happen until at least 2009 in either case.
How convenient for XP SP3 to make crash and burn…
Huh?
They are getting a lot better though.
I’m not by any means saying that someone should go out and buy a computer for the sake of being able to run Vista. I just say that if you’re already going out to buy a computer that there’s not much sense for a consumer to go out of their way to try and get XP.
It’s gotta be more because they will of course inflate the numbers to make Vista look better. I’m sure there are plenty who have gone with that downgrade plan since it also provides a cost-effective way to upgrade/switch back to Vista in the future.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for some universities to start making the transition over to Vista, and if yours is pushing it back to 2009 they might as well just wait for Windows 7.