Week in review: Microsoft getting lucky with 7?

It looks as though Microsoft may have a winner in Windows 7, at least in comparison to Vista.

The software giant saw relatively strong early adoption of Windows 7 in the 10 days since its official launch. According to Net Applications, more than 3 percent of PCs accessing the Web in the past two days have been doing so using the new operating system. Usage of the operating system has been growing strong in recent days, though Windows 7 already accounted for 2 percent of global Web traffic in the days ahead of its formal launch.

Judging by its initial sales, Windows 7 is certainly proving more popular than Vista. Microsoft sold 234 percent more boxed editions of Windows 7 than it did Vista in the initial releases of both products, according to research released by NPD Group.

In actual dollars, Windows 7 has also been more successful than Vista. However, early discounts on pre-sales copies and a lack of a promotional boost behind Windows 7 Ultimate led to revenues only 82 percent greater than those of Vista.
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T-Mobile experiencing widespread outage

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[The_happy_switcher]

Maybe castle number seven built on the previous 6 swamp castles will actually float this time.

[kojacked]

Happy: So how's Snow Leopard doing against Windows 7?

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/october-2009-os-stats-windows-7-passes-snow-leopard-linux-1.ars?utm_source=microblogging&utm_medium=arstch&utm_term=Main%20Account&utm_campaign=microblogging

I thought so... Even with Snow Leopard's significantly cheaper price Windows 7 is doing better. Is that what has you so bent out of shape? Poor happy...

[Fil0403]

Seems to be "floating" quite well, judging from this article and having in mind that, in a little more than 2 weeks, it already has almost double as much market share as Snow Leopard in more than 2 months (http://4a94b8f5.linkbucks.com).

Is that what upsets you? :-)

[shellcodes_coder]

@kojacked: Call him The_Sad_Switcher :P

[CrashPad63]

Your name change has not changed your view of what is good about OS's. Sad truly sad!

[jabberwolf]

Oh well Windows 7 is meant to be virtualized as well most OSes in the future.. oh except OSX..
You'll be stuck with that company that will continue to gouge you.

In the meantime, users, professionals, software vendors, hardware vendors, just about everyone is moving on from fascist owned OSes.

Soon to come, iphone emulator to run apps via web or flash... Apple doesnt own those apps, not sure how they are gonna try and rape vendors anymore.

[kojacked]

"@kojacked: Call him The_Sad_Switcher :P"

Nah, I'll just stick with "the_sad_bitcher" or "my little pony". I'm sure his favorite color is pink and has a big unicorn sticker on his mac book.

[ckh1272]

@kojacked and Fil0403--I know that you're trying to get a little "rise" out The_Happy_Switcher (which is what he was trying to do), but let's keep things in perspective. With around 85% of the market to Macs 8-10%, Wn 7 better double sales of SL. What would that say about Microsoft if it were anything less. This is just a no brainer but it's not a reason to jump and shout just yet. A six month and then a one year evaluation would be a better way to gauge the progress of these two OSs. Sorry, I had to throw some logic into the discussion because I know it goes against everything some people around here stand for, but it had to be done.

[Random_Walk]

@ckh... now, now - it took a lot for them to get all coordinated like that! ;)

[ckurowic]

How can they say "strong sales" when its been out for what, a couple of weeks? They said the same thing about Vista. Tell me after a year. Also, all these new PC's ship with a 7 license whether or not it gets used, just like Vista and XP before it.

[darkxeno]

Im with you ckurowic, its way too early to tell how its doing check back in six months.

[baconstang]

I'm sure it will do much better than Vista. Maybe Enterprise will even go with this one. But check back next year for a relative judgement on sales.

[ikramerica--2008]

What's interesting, is according to the early adopter polls, the problems and incompatibilities with 7 are little different than with Vista at first. About 1/3rd of people are having moderate or major issues. That's a lot. And these are early adopters, the most savvy and/or masochistic computer users out there.

The only major difference is marketing. MS did a great job of either convincing journalists, or flat out paying them, to be positive about 7 this time.

Yet, these "strong sales" come mostly due to huge SALES on hardware. Discounts. Why would one need to discount computers so heavily if 7 really was the end all be all? Why would Best Buy need a "Home Makeover," subsidized by MS, to push such a flawless, worthwhile OS? One has to wonder. It will be a good holiday season, but why? Because of people waiting to purchase a computer due to Windows 7 release and the economy, coupled with massive discounts? Most likely. Because, as the Apple commercials point out quite well, there are going to be many customers that would otherwise wait simply because they were burned with Vista, so only a crazy discount will sway them. Like $1200 for 3 computers at Best Buy, no matter how low end they are.

Windows 7 is very good. But it's perfection is hype. There are driver issues, there are incompatibilities, there are troubles migrating from XP and even Vista in some situations, etc., etc. These same kind of things hit Vista at first, these same kind of things hit OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 in pockets (failed migrations, mostly).

That's the reality of new OS releases. All the rest is just marketing hype, dutifully propagated by cnet and others...

[tenbosch]

You talk as though someone is forcing people to buy new 'Microsoft' PC's. All of these people buying new PC's have every opportunity to buy something else (aka Apple) or just simply do nothing, which essentially means staying with XP. No matter how you look at it, these are definitely 'strong sales' and not simply a fluke or luck. Especially given the difficult economic times. The growth of Windows 7 is truly spectacular. If you choose not to believe it, that's your own misguided option. For me, I'm hanging on to my MSFT stock, as I only see it going vertical. I have a hunch, I'm not going to loose.

[GajaKannan]

Got to agree with ikramerica--2008 on his comments. If an OS is that good they dont have to discount or give it for free... Did anyone say Ubuntu was free... Based on ikr's comments, Unbuntu is that good, that canonical should charge $1000.00 per copy of ubuntu. BTW, the same goes for free Andriod for mobile, lets charge money for such a good mobile OS...

[B-Ri]

The article does mention that 7 sold 234% more than Vista so that sounds strong to me. It is early but the indicators are good which is what this article is talking about. I have heard the argument about new pcs are counted whether the os license is used or not. I realize this is a tech audience but I think you are forgetting that you are in that bubble. How many regular people buy a pc and then immediately throw ubuntu on it? I'm sure that some do but it is probably not a high percentage, if it was then market share numbers would start reflecting that wouldn't they? Vista had a lot of FUD as well as some genuine issues that caused people to stick with XP but if you run 7 for any length of time you have no desire to switch back to Vista or XP. People reading CNET should realize that anytime an OS is upgraded their are inevitably compatibility issues that come up. That isn't completely up to MS they can't force companies to support the new OS.

[Will_in_BC]

The statistics in the article compare the boxed retail sales of 7 and Vista. Licenses shipped with PCs are not included

[kojacked]

"according to the early adopter polls, the problems and incompatibilities with 7 are little different than with Vista at first. About 1/3rd of people are having moderate or major issues." Really? 1/3rd? Are you sure about that or is that just your personal guess? Sounds like someone who was HOPING that Windows 7 was gonna go down like Vista. I hate to break it to ya but it's not. Sure Vista had it problems and Microsoft was slow at fixing them but Windows 7 is night and day in comparison. Keep the FUD coming... If you wann bash Microsoft be sure and do it to something worthy like IE or WinMo...

[eltoro2827]

windows 7 is great.

[sensi2]

Oh Jeez another brainwashed cultist writing from its cave. To have 1000+ brand boot licking comments is beyond the pathetic, either you have far too much idle time -i.e. no life- or you are on a payroll. Helpless in both cases.

[captain_numerica]

You must be new to CNET... :)

[Cameochi]

Guess I must be one of those "masochistic" types because I installed Windows 7 as soon as it arrived. Thus far it has worked flawlessly. This is the first OS I have ever installed before SP1. The upgrade went quickly and easily. However, you have to do your homework with any new OS and make sure your drivers and software are compatible - especially if you are upgrading from XP. Windows 7 is not shy about letting you know when something isn't going to work. Seems to that's a lot better than installing the software and finding out later there are problems. I've used every OS ever put out by Microsoft except Windows 2000 and I don't think I missed a whole lot there. Windows 7 is the BEST OS I've used and I've had no issues with it which is more than I can say for Vista or everyone's beloved XP. XP had it's fair share of problems at first tto but now that it's at SP3, people have forgotten about that. If you do your homework, you will have no problems with Windows 7. My prediction? Windows 7 will be the most popular OS ever put out my Microsoft. It will become the next "XP" because of its stability and overall polish. Right now I work in XP and it's a dinosaur compared to Windows 7. I work for a government agency and we are planning to upgrade to Windows 7 this coming year. Windows 7 is going to be a big winner for Microsoft.

[kemblite]

If you read most Win 7 reviews in the net you will read:"This time Microsoft got it right". The question is if this will be the reality. Only when millions of users after 6 months of usage provide their feedback we will know if all the hype is true. I won't be a guinea pig, I'll wait at least 6 months to even consider upgrading my XP PC to 7.

[unifex_]

Why would you want to "upgrade" your XP PC? Is it not working? I will never understand people buying boxed OS versions in shops - just why? You get a PC with an OS pre-installed. Unless something is horribly wrong - and I never experienced anything like that - why bother?

[peteyy]

Windows 7 is very good, not perfect, but good enough to warrant an upgrade. I moved from XP to 7 about a month ago with a corporate SA license. My PC is faster and more stable. I use photoshop and MS Flight Simulator. I never could run Flight Simulator in full graphics mode on XP, now I can with 7...no change in hardware. I've heard from at least a dozen IT management peers that they are recommending the upgrade to thier companies. Those recommendations will trickle down to consumers. I was and remain impressed. Microsoft got it right this time.

[yshaggy]

I have a few friends that use computers on the regular and only one
of them has jumped to 7

[empirestatebuddy]

Win7 is definitely better than Vista, but, to be fair, Vista was never as bad as the media (and Apple) said it was. I mean, Vista sold 350 million copies and runs on 20% of the world's PCs. Mac OS is on less than 5% of the world's computers. So, if Vista was a flop... what does that make the others? The reality is, Microsoft's competitors can only dream of a flop that runs on 350 million computers. My guess is that Win7 will sell strongly based mostly on good word-of-mouth. I installed it on my netbook and it actually runs much better than XP did. I almost didn't upgrade, because I was afraid that a lot of the Win7 reviews for netbooks were hype, but I'm glad I took my chances. Win7 works great on netbooks.

[pentest]

Vista wasn't bad because of market share numbers? What kind of stupidity is that? Vista sucked arse, and badly.

Besides OS X is north of 10% and rising,all at the expense of MS.

[unifex_]

@ pentest - actually Vista was not bad at all. 7 is indeed faster - but to say that it's much better - I see no reason. Both run well though.

[empirestatebuddy]

@ pentestP: First you say that market share doesn't matter... and then you mention market share. So which is it?

As for Mac's market share... yes, in the US, it's just above 10%... but, worldwide, it's below 5%, and Win7 is already above 4%. In a week, Win7 will likely pass Mac's total worldwide market share. Sneer all you want at Windows, but the numbers don't lie.

Here are StatCounter's numbers:
http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-daily-20091021-20091108

[Dan7637]

uh if mac os x came down to windows prices which do you think will sell more?

[empirestatebuddy]

MacOS is cheaper than Windows.

[deniceels]

You mean free to students? Hopefully... Apple does that....

[SkateNY]

I don't really care about OS wars. What I do care about is that my shares in AAPL have appreciated 600% in the past five years, while MSFT has remained flat.

What has all their hallowed market share done for their investors?

[Fil0403]

That is a very intelligent attitude for a shareholder, I mean, everybody knows hype and popularity is what really matters in the stock market business, not actual sales and market share, that's for suckers. Of course buying low and selling high is always a good deal, but for buying low you need to be low, something Apple has been and Microsoft not; what you should (also) care about (and something you should probably learn as a shareholder) is something called "relativity": if you compare the evolution of AAPL shares with other companies', you will find out that they have actually appreciated the same or less than that of most companies in the same time period; in other words, AAPL shares went from low to high, Microsoft shares have always been high; that means Microsoft is a safe company to invest on, Apple is not (the same way they went high they can go low any moment); in the end of the day, the decision is yours: investing in a company responsible for the world's most used operating system and office suite, with a foot in almost every household and business in the world, or a company whose only market-leading product is an MP3 player, on which its fate depends upon.

All their "hallowed" market share has made many MSFT shareholders millionaire; how millionaire are you? Or maybe you prefer to explain us if AAPL is so good and profitable and MSFT is such a money-loser and sucks so much, why MSFT has total assets of aprox. $77M and total equity of aprox. $40M against Apple's aprox. $40M and aprox. $20M* (I want even comment on your figures, because you make the 1st mistake in the book - not providing a source)?

PS: For someone who advertizes Apple the way you do, the use of the word "hallowed" in your comments is quite ironic and self-definable.

PS2: This is called "the other side of the question" (something else you should also care to learn).

* Source: Wikipedia.

[ckh1272]

Fil0403 says-"I want even comment on your figures, because you make the 1st mistake in the book - not providing a source"

@Fil0403--Just curious, but where is the source for your figures or do we regularly practice double standards around here?? I'm not saying I disagree with either post, but how maintaining some consistency if you are going to "fault" someone.

[ckh1272]

Oops, left out a word. I meant "@Fil0403--Just curious, but where is the source for your figures or do we regularly practice double standards around here?? I'm not saying I disagree with either post, but how ABOUT maintaining some consistency if you are going to "fault" someone."

[FF2009]

but of course the sales are up. Every new PC/Laptop you buy this days comes pre-installed with W7

duh, what choice people have this days when they got to Best Buy to buy a PC?

nada, nothing but Windowz

[Fil0403]

"but of course the sales are up."
I must be imagining that crisis.

"Every new PC/Laptop you buy this days comes pre-installed with W7"
When did Apple decide to pre-install W7 in Macs?

"duh, what choice people have this days when they got to Best Buy to buy a PC?"
Mac?

"nada, nothing but Windowz"
I must be imagining all those Macs and people who use Linux, then.

PS1: Yes, brace youself, a Mac is also a personal computer. Unless by "PC" you mean a Windows machine, in which case I'll leave it up to you to realize the stupidity of your logic.

PS2: Yes, brace yourself, anyone is free to install Linux on top of Windows (of course, unlike Windows, it's free, which certainly put many people off).

PS3: Most market share statistics used and shown are based on usage, not sales, which means they are actually mirroring how many people are actually using each OS, so it's irrelevant what OS a machine comes with; anyone is free to buy a Mac or install and use Linux instead of Windows.

[Fil0403]

"Microsoft getting lucky with 7?"

Yes, that's exactly what it is, "luck". Curiously, when Vista became a commercial flop, it wasn't "bad luck", it was just the company and the OS that sucked.

Makes sense.

[lazycat202]

"luck"?? I decided to install Win7 because of "luck"? accidentally? :P

[freebird1974]

Everyone is talking about how cheaper Apple's operating system. Keep talking. Because people will use what they know and people know Windows. Linux people are computer hobbyists, Mac people are graphic artists and everyone else is Windows. Apple had their chance back in the 80's but they thought Windows would never get as big as it did. But it did. Linux never had a chance to gain in the market because Windows was already dominating the market by the time Linux came.

Apple had a damn good computer and that was the Apple IIe. This was the computer that made Apple in the first place. But Apple thought the Mac would do better. It did though in graphics, but not in general usage though.

[shellcodes_coder]

Windows 7 will rule!!

[pentest]

You shills said that for Vista and 7 is still unreasonably bloated and buggy.

When 7 can run a full desktop with all the 3D graphical bells and whistles with RAM usage under 500 MB then maybe it will be worth looking at.

[lazycat202]

not many people have enough to buy 3D hardware. If they want to check email, surf net, and typing, why should they need 3D for? waste of $$!!

[ckh1272]

Sorry pentest but show me a system that will run all bells and whistles with only 500MB RAM and I'll show you an older computer. No PC or Mac can do that as far as the new OSs and systems go.

[gofalcons]

hey pen, this article isnt about apple, go away troll

[Fire Balls]

@Pentest. I take it you haven't used Windows 7 yet.. out of box with a clean install the memory usage is well below 500MB but you like to ramble on about things you don't know about. It's cool we all lose our minds and like to pretend we know what we are talking about sometimes.

[pentest]

Sales were up for Vista for a few weeks. All the fanboys bought it and no one else did.

The fact is that if the enterprise doesn't buy 7 in a big way, Microsoft is in serious trouble.

Problem is, like Vista, there is no compelling reason to buy it.

[David Dudley]

I think that AppLocker is a good reason for enterprises to move to Windows 7.

[unifex_]

But of course there is no compelling reason to change the OS - the only possible reason would be the old OS not working properly which is not the case. Why else would you change? Big companies don't chase the eye-candy, many still use 20-30 year-old software that definitely does not require a new OS.

[lazycat202]

"Problem is, like Vista, there is no compelling reason to buy it."

how come so many people bought Win7? you're saying that they've no brains to make their own decisions?
did you try to do some networking in Win7 and BitLocker in Win7 yet? They work flawlessly and integrate into main main servers seamlessly.

I don't know if Win7 works for you or not. But, for me, it's working very well. No faulty! I didn't regret that I upgraded all of my 12 PCs to Win7 Ultimate.

[gofalcons]

whatever pentest you troll. ive upgraded several pcs for customers this week myself and the other shops in town have been doing upgrades as well. regular people are upgrading.

[SkateNY]

Tell it to the stockholders. They've been buried for years.

[bratzdad]

I installed Windows 7 after buying a $29.00 copy of Home Premium. Yhe experience is awsome! tThe upgrade went quickly and flawlessly. The Microsft-based comperter in my cave (some of the posts above accuse Microsoft users of living in caves) runs dual 24 inch monitors for an even better experience. Now I can write my homework papers and look at two or three references at the same time. I am completely happy with Windows 7. Of course, some of the posters above have a good point; I really had no reason to upgrade because my Vista program was running fine for the last couple of years. Vista was a good program also. I have never had a problem with Vista, XP, or 2000. My Windows 98 machine caught some kind of bug after I Napstered for six months straight. Shouldn't have opened the screensaver... I'm sorry to hear that Apple users are so teriffied of upgrading. I am glad that they are such good neighbors that their concerns gravitate to users of other operating systems. I know that victims of domestic violence might find it hard to trust of love members of the opposite sex again, even those who are safe and not abusive. I hope that Apple users can eventually get over their fears of upgrade trauma, even upgrade that are performed "for no reason", and on other peoples computers. I am glad that I live in a cave. Otherwise, Apple users might be peeking in my Windows to see what I am doing. I am sure, that with therapy, a few Apple users might eventually be attracted to members of the opposite sex.

[cnelson]

Great post and well written summary of all the ranting. I've had DOS2.0, 2.1 and almost every version of MS since then. My latest excursion was into Vista....that was a horrible 2 months getting drivers, programs that worked with Vista, and probably > 50hrs on the phone withe MS support. I rebuilt my system software 4 times.....BUT...for the past 18 months it has worked flawlessly. My upgrade to Win7 Home Premium was a stark contrast. Installed easily, found everything, and has worked very well. I only wonder why I upgraded though as I don't see much difference over Vista.

[EvanSei]

I wouldn't say MS got lucky I would say they got smart finally listening to the costumers, of course MS will get cocky and windows 8 will blow chunks we all know that.