- Related Stories
-
Microsoft gears up for annual hardware shindig
May 14, 2007 - Related Blogs
-
Microsoft confirms Windows Server '08 name--again
May 13, 2007
That's more than the total install base of Windows' largest competitors, Gates quipped as he began his keynote at the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here.
"As of last week, we've (sold) nearly 40 million copies," Gates said. "That's twice as fast as the adoption of Windows XP, the last major release we had."
Confirming news that had already leaked on its Web site, Microsoft also announced Windows Server 2008 as the official name of Windows Server "Longhorn," which is due to be finalized later this year.
In announcing the Windows Server 2008 moniker, Gates poked a little fun at his company's penchant for less-than-dynamic product names.
"We've been working hard thinking about it," Gates said. "We played around with a couple different ideas, but what we are going to go with is...Windows Server 2008. We know it's a surprise for us to pick something so straightforward."
Video:
Microsoft to Rally the technologies?
Vista features aim to unify hardware and software.
Gates also announced several new partners for its Windows Home Server product, including Gateway and Medion. Microsoft has already said that HP will have home servers based on the technology later this year.
"This will come out in the fall," Gates said. He also said that smaller computer makers, known as system builders, will also be able to build products based on Windows Home Server. Microsoft has positioned the product as a central repository for media such as photos, movies and music as well as a more seamless way to back up PCs in the home.
Microsoft also announced the results of a study it commissioned IDC to do that found for every dollar Microsoft makes off Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, other technology companies will take in an additional $18. IDC also found other companies will sell more than $120 billion in products and services around the two Microsoft operating systems.
See more CNET content tagged:
Bill Gates, Microsoft Windows Server, WinHEC, Medion, Microsoft Windows Vista
did you guys finally give up?
I cant wait to hear from your guys comments today about how the numbers were of coppies sold were false and how people were forced to buy it...
All true, but thanks for pointing it out again Ricky.
I saw a person use Vista yesterday - on his Macbook...
Don't fret about the linux or mac crowd. They are happy with their OSs and any news about vista doesn't impress them one bit.
As for the rest of us, we're all upgrading our hardware so we can enjoy vista when we do upgrade, adding to that 40 million count...
I. And I dont have to come up with ways that the figures were
distorted, just google "vista sales figures" and you will see plenty of
analysts doing it for me.
I used to be a mac hater like you, and then someone challenged me
to use one for 6 months. Its amazing what an eye opener that
experience was.
Yes, I have tried Vista.
Bill, you're such a marketer...
So it is obvious that MS will find a way to claim 40 million copies sold. Nice PR stunt, but it is a meaningless number.
It could be advanced bulk sales to PC makers who will then install those copies as they build their PCs over the next 2 years. It could be sales to a few corporations that have "unlimited" contracts that allow them to deploy as many wintel boxes as they want etc etc etc.
Consider this: how many PCs capable of running VISTA have been built ?
I bet MS wouldn't legally be able to say that 40 million computers are running VISTA today.
remaining profits as the MS slide continues. The number of
copies actually installed and running would be a terrible reality
that neither MS nor their investors are ready to face.
For the world's advice to be "wait for SP 1 if not SP 2 before even
attempting to go to Vista" after five years in development,
somebody clearly got stuck with 40 million copies - the
overwhelming majority of which won't even see their first boot
for another 6 months to a year.
How many are OEM pre-installs.
How many are retail copies?
As usual you have to take this with a grain of salt, actually a huge pile of salt. A single number doesn't tell the story, even if that number isn't rounded up.
That MS is publicly fudging numbers and at the same time have gone into serious FUD mode just shows how desperate MS is to hide the fact that the Titanic is slowly sinking.
I know people that work at the local best buy, the only copies of Vista walking out the door are forced sales because they bought a new computer.
I have found from actually running the OS that it is very stable. The dreaded user account control "feature" is very annoying...for about a week. I never see it anymore. The sidebar is flat out awesome. For all you firefox users out there who tout the ability to create plugins, imagine the power of building plugins for the desktop that can pull in info from nearly any source.
I find it amusing that people trash MS for building an OS with unnecessary bells and whistles like Aero and with the same breath, praise OSX for design.
All that aside, in the interest of fairness, vista on a laptop sucks power like crazy. That needs to be addressed. Maybe more granular power settings would help.
As far as where the 40 million copies sold comes from, I don't know. But neither do you!!! just another assumption based on an anti-Microsoft bias.
RAM, 32 MB Mobility Radeon, and it ran like a pig. You know
why? Because it meets the minimum requirements.
The problem with Vista's requirements is that the bells and
whistles that are tacked on are completely unneccesary. And if
you can't run them, there is little reason to move to it. For
mobile users (like myself) XP is still running perfectly fine, and
there is very little reason to upgrade. I could pay money to
upgrade my RAM, or even purchase a new laptop, but why? What
is the justification? So I can see pretty translucent windows that
blur stuff behind them? That isn't justification.
OS X's bells and whistles are not to the same degree as Windows
Vista's. Whether you have a Quartz Xtreme capable card or not,
the actual windows don't change at all. They look the same.
Some fancy effects might not work, but that isn't what makes OS
X nice. What makes it nice is the simplicity of file management,
the ease of use and accessibility, and the lack of crashes. It isn't
about useless 3D effects when you're looking for the windows
you want (which is completely useless by the way).
By the way, I have Vista Business installed on a partition on my
iMac and it runs perfectly fine. I have spent considerable time
with it and have found that I hate it. The new explorer is
horrendous, and the security features (user account control...
ugh) are intrusive and ruin the experience. Little pop-ups still
abound from the task bar, and the side bar is a terrible
translation of Konfabulator/Mac OS X Dashboard.
I'm glad my copy was a free one through my job and I didn't
waste my money on it.
Try running linux with all those same bells and whistles on that same 4 year old average computer and you will see that Vista is a bloated pig.
All these whiners have to say is "MS is evil, therefore their stuff must be crap"
I have found from actually running the OS that it is very stable. The dreaded user account control "feature" is very annoying...for about a week. I never see it anymore. The sidebar is flat out awesome. For all you firefox users out there who tout the ability to create plugins, imagine the power of building plugins for the desktop that can pull in info from nearly any source.
I find it amusing that people trash MS for building an OS with unnecessary bells and whistles like Aero and with the same breath, praise OSX for design.
All that aside, in the interest of fairness, vista on a laptop sucks power like crazy. That needs to be addressed. Maybe more granular power settings would help.
As far as where the 40 million copies sold comes from, I don't know. But neither do you!!! just another assumption based on an anti-Microsoft bias.
rate, the average Mac functional life span would have to be 7
years, whereas people only seem to hang on to their Macs for
5.5 years.
OTOH, MS is reporting licenses shipped (OEMS and licenses
included in Enterprise agreements). Only a small fraction of
those licenses are actually being used/shipped so far. It's not
like 40 million people are going to have Vista this year. The
estimates I've heard have been closer to 1/10th that (in a big
part due to large businesses largely ignoring Vista).
If that's true, then Mac's OS X would seem to have a lead on
Vista as far as installed base. For that matter, so do the top 3
Linux distributions.
Meanwhile I am among a half dozen friends who are non-techies and have been using Vista for a while now quite happily and without any problems at all.
The Vista that doesn't touch those things works very well. Robust even. Alas my sound isn't quite right, my media Center is corrupt in some way, I can't sync my PDA (after actually getting it set up correctly and syncing once already) and so on.
If you know where to look you can find a laundry list of issues that Vista thinks it has.
BootCamp), but I know my girlfriend's father has had a load of
issues with his copy. He purchased his laptop with it pre-
installed about a month ago and has a number of issues ranging
from disappearing sound drivers, to software that just won't
work any more.
I think somebody else hit the nail on the head in saying that
power users are the ones which will have more trouble. They will
demand better performance and customization and will end up
disappointed when everything, ranging from hardware to
software, no longer works.
MACHINE! Now I have ELEVEN functional, secure and productive
systems! Has been that way since my first Mac in 1987. Did you
morons ever stop to think that if Dell, HP and all the other PC
(piece 'o crap) makers put the same quality of components in
their machines they wouldn't cost the same?
How stupid can you be? You GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Since
2001 I have replaced every PC in my office, one at a time, with
Macs. With each purchase, my profits increased from the
productivity.
NO ONE will ever convince me that buying a Windows PC is a
better deal, no matter how much they try to imitate Apple...
computers and software because it's "cheap". Then they
complain, cry and bang their fists in frustration because they
can't get any work done due to the viruses, errors and general
useslessness of the extra crap loaded in Vista that interrupts
productivity.
Mac user for 20 years and counting... with never a blip. No
crashes, no viruses, no equipment or operating system failures...
for 20 years.
As for price? You get what you pay for. It's so simple, even a
cave man could understand it.... If you want productivity,
security and functionality, buy a Mac. You want headaches,
security breaches, loss of income, loss of information and lots of
hours on the phone with IT... get a Windows PC!
PS: Try setting the power to "ON"
The 20" imac is $1500 and probably would last 5-6 years. Then again, my 4 year old dell is running vista ultimate with aero just fine and cost $750. Is a mac twice as good? Maybe, but not to me. Again, if that logic held true in the rest of our lives, we should all be driving Rolls Royce's to go to the grocery store...
Noticing the effects and needing the differences are two different things. For Joe Consumer, the machine that renders a web page is irrelevent. Network latency probably accounts for more delay than the machine itself.
Anyway, I am happy to spend my money the way I want to and so are you. That's what's great about America bud. Use whatever you want.
Google Docs you say?...
- learn to read
- by jehrico May 15, 2007 2:44 PM PDT
- The article says 40 million copies SOLD. Not 40 million distributed, downloaded, etc. But 40 million SOLD. If you can't figure out what all SOLD encompasses, then shut up and quit posting.
- Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 3 pages (155 Comments)