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Vista selling well!?
22 comments- TAGS:destkop, Linux, Mac, Mac OS X, Microsoft, sales, Steve Ballmer, Vista
- IT TOPICS:Hardware, Linux, Macintosh & Apple, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft
Whatever drugs Steve Ballmer is on they must be very, very good.
That's the only explanation I can come up with for Ballmer telling the Australian press that he's amazingly pleased with Vista sales.
Unlike arguing the virtues of XP vs. Vista, or, as has increasing become the discussion, Linux vs. Mac OS vs. Vista vs. XP, where personal preferences comes into play, no CEO could possibly be happy with their main product's sales if it were Vista.
Here are the cold hard facts. Microsoft reported on March 25th that its Windows sales had dropped 24% in the last quarter. For the same quarter, IDC said PC sales were up 15%. Now, I'm no financial wizard, but I do know a thing or two. Microsoft's Windows sales, to the best of my knowledge, have just suffered their hardest fall ever at the same time that PC sales were significantly up. This isn't just bad, this is absolutely horrible.
Back in March, Microsoft CFO Charles Liddell actually had the chutzpah to say that the drop in Windows sales wasn't due to lackluster Vista sales. Instead, the problem was due to 'unlicensed' PC sales and the higher growth of emerging markets. If you can follow that logic and come up with the same conclusion he did, do let me know, because it makes no sense to me.
If PCs are selling without Windows licenses attached to them that tells me that 1) Vista isn't selling and 2) desktop Linux is selling. As for the growth of the emerging market, well that explains IDC's numbers, but it still doesn't address Vista. Well, I guess it does in a way. I presume that emerging market PCs are also inexpensive PCs, like the Asus Eee line which is also doing gangbusters in the US. Those machines can run Linux, or XP, but Vista? Forget about it.
Looking ahead, I see even more trouble for Microsoft and Visa. In a Slashdot discussion, many people said that even if they do have Vista licenses, they're actually 'downgrading; to XP. That's hardily an unbiased group, but it also agrees with what I've been hearing from business executives.
Happy about Vista sales? No matter what he may say to the press, there's no way that Ballmer can be happy with Vista's sales.
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