Posted on 02/15/2007 2:15:09 PM PST by JohnSheppard
Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista at retail stores significantly trailed those of Windows XP in each product's first week on shelves, according to new figures from NPD.
The market research firm's data showed the number of copies of Vista purchased was nearly 59 percent less than the number for its predecessor XP, looking at the first week of sales. Revenue was also down, but less dramatically, with the dollar value of first-week Vista sales off 32 percent from that seen with XP.
Vista went on sale both on retail shelves and on new PCs on January 30. Businesses with volume license contracts have been able to get the new operating system since November.
Although boxed-copy sales were weaker, PC sales during the launch week were up 67 percent over computer sales in the same week a year earlier, NPD analyst Chris Swenson noted.
"Thus, the preliminary data suggests that consumers are getting the message that they need a more robust system to take advantage of some of the new features in Vista, and thus a relatively smaller number are opting to upgrade older machines with the new OS themselves," Swenson wrote in an e-mail.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
I went to Best Buy today to see Vista. It looks mostly the same, but just flashy and maybe a little harder. One thing to note, new pc's and laptops are really, really cheap right now. My IT friend says Vista is a memory hog. Don't even attempt with less than a Gig of RAM.
It seems like XP was more of an improvement for the user, Vista seems to be more of an improvement for those wanting to inflict DRM on us...
Vista gave my sista a blista, mistah...
That's why sales are down as against XP (well, that's one of the reasons). Who the hell wants to go out and buy anywhere between $50 and $500 worth of RAM that you currently don't require just so you can pay $159 or more for an OS you don't really need? Or, in my case, a new computer would be required, as my notebook has 1Gb max memory - not nearly enough for Vista, due to shared display resources. Then, I'd have the pleasure of dealing with involuntary DRM disabling, conflicting resources, unsupported drivers...etc., ad nauseum. My next computer will either be a Mac, or I'm switching to Linux.
People are hording and buying XP because they are afraid that they will all sell out... sheesh...
I decided to buy a MacBook today. I kinda went to Best Buy in vain. I just don't have the patience for another incarnation of Windows 95. I will always have to use Windows at work, but I sure don't have to use it at home.
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM $139.99
You are better off getting the XP SP2b and doing the trick, and using the Vista for FREE... ;)
I got a copy from a friend. It will let you install for 30 days without a key code, The trouble is that it will not work with my peripherals. Modem, Network card, and sound card don't work. on mine. You are supposed to be able to download an update that fixes that but without the modem or Network I can't get it. So I'm back using XP until they get it straightened out. It looks pretty though.
What network card etc. do you have? maybe you need to download the drivers from their website with XP and burn yourself a driver cd. :)
What network card etc. do you have?
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It's a old one "Net Gear FA311R" I tried their site and they only support up to XP I tried the one on the site and installed it but Vista said It didn't recognize it. I spent all day yesterday trying to get Vista working and all morning re-installing XP. A learning experience, and don't we all hate those!
The v1 version is the one I have. The box I'm playing with is old but I keep it fairly up to date. I won't try anthing new until I've tried it on this computer. As far as linux goes I believe I have used the DEBIAN live disk on this one and the net card worked then. Thanks for the suggestions though, It's always good to get help when things don't work.
I have used the DEBIAN live disk on this one
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No that is wrong, I was trying out a Linksys Wireless G when I used the DABIAN live disk.
yea, no problem I'll try answering questions if i can... someone had a networking problem the other day.. wish I could have helped more, but thats not my area.. I'd get a new nic they are really cheap... you could probably get one that would work free after rebate somewhere...
No suprise there. There's a significant hardware jump for Vista which there wasn't for XP. I would expect the Vista numbers to be more along the lines of 95s, which got most of its initial sales on new machines. Even though Vista has a 32-bit version most of the casual market is going to think of it as a 64-bit OS and not even contemplate putting it on a 32-bit machine. Add to that the fact that they put out a 64-bit version of XP and there's little immediate reason for a non-geek to upgrade to Vista.
My Vista purrs right along with 1 gig of RAM. Right now I have Firefox (with 5 tabs open), Outlook, Word, and Messenger running and still have 525MB of free RAM left.
I love Vista.
Isn't firefox a browser? Why not MSIE?
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