Posted on 07/30/2008 11:26:26 AM PDT by Salo
Business PC buyers are still overwhelmingly opting for XP, computer giant HP has revealed.
HP's revelation, made at the launch of a new range of business notebooks, flies in the face of Microsoft's persistent PR claims that Vista has sold tens of millions of copies — and is selling at a faster rate than XP ever did.
However, HP explained how Microsoft is coming up with these "Vista" sales figures.
"From the 30th of June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP licence," said Jane Bradburn, Market Development Manager, Commercial Notebooks for HP Australia.
"However, what we have been able to do with Microsoft is ship PCs with a Vista Business licence but with XP pre-loaded. That is still the majority of business computers we are selling today."
So, in other words, Microsoft counts a sale for Vista, even though the computer manufacturer has really sold XP.
Rob Kingston, Group Manager of Commercial Product Marketing for HP said, "Looking into the crystal ball, I don't think businesses will see much value in upgrading to Vista until late next year, and even so, Microsoft will probably have come out with something else by then."
HP's revelation casts doubt over Microsoft's claims about how many copies of Vista have been sold, as HP has made clear that although a sale may be counted as 'Vista', it may actually be XP.
Microsoft has told HP it will no longer be able to do this after January 2009, but HP's Jerel Chong, Market Development Manager, Commercial Notebooks, said the number one PC maker was already in discussions with Microsoft about how it could push this deadline back.
He said it actually suited HP well only selling Vista licences but actually being able to ship either Vista or XP on the computer. "There's a lot of extra administration that goes with offering both XP and Vista on every computer, and it's all in one now," he said.
He said the feedback he was getting from customers was that they simply hadn't had the time to do full compatibility testing of all their business applications with Vista yet and that the high time and monetary cost of rebuilding system images wasn't worth it while the economy was down.
Tech ping.
They should have named it, Windows ME 2007
Fixed it, no need to thank me.
Ping.
Bring knee pads...
Interesting.
The hd shot craps on my laptop.
I figured it was worth 50 bucks to replace it rather than buy a new one with Vista.
Nobody I asked said Vista provided any advantage to them so........
About 4 hours of work, but worth it IMHO.
Has anyone other than Microsoft released a Vista only program yet other than cutesy screen gadgets? It wasn't all that long ago when developers finally abandoned Win 98 compatability and started requiring XP.
Bring knee pads...
Dang!
I have one steaming pile of crap desktop with Vista. A driver can’t be found for the new printer I bought at the same time. It runs hot, shuts down when it overheats. Just a general pile of junk.
Big box store screwed up my order for an XP desktop replacement and a laptop and now can’t find the machines I want with XP.
So, after being with Microsoft since the beginning of time to run my small office, I’m switching to a Mac.
If I put out a piece of junk like Vista, my company would be dead.
Microsoft’s determination to force Vista down the throats of its unwilling customers has a lot to do with DRM.
Windows BOB 2007.
you forgot windows 2000, which was a big improvement over 98, but you are spot on.
vista BLOWS.
Windows 2000 Pro was a very good OS.
Wow! Almost a half hour and the Microsoft vendors haven’t showed up and flooded this thread with multiple “Vista is really wonderful, you are just too stupid to realize it!” or “Vista is great, it’s your fault for not spending $1000s of dollars & weeks of you spare time upgrading your brand new computer” posts.
Must be a record
Windows 2000 was an update of NT, not 95, 98, Me, or any other OS designed for home use.
Heh. Microsoft just recently announced that it will be ending support for Windows 3.11 embedded.
Because moving from one version of Windows to another just means you have a whole bunch of new bugs to learn how to get around.
Still is. My old desktop keeps a' chuggin'...
But mostly I'm using my XP laptop which is a lot newer.
“Windows 2000 was an update of NT, not 95, 98, Me, or any other OS designed for home use.”
So is XP
aside from a couple of minor annoyances, I’m actually enjoying Vista
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.